Criminal Defense

Fairfax speedy trial (ST) rights are critical both under the Virginia Code and the Constitution, just sa they are in the rest of the commonwealth. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I always keep my eyes on this right for all my clients. On May 31,...

Unlawful police seizure under the Constitution's Fourth Amendmentprecludes an otherwise vountary search from being voluntary. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I know that many judges will disagree with when a seizure has taken place. Fortunately, we have Virginia and federal appellate court opinions to provide...

Shooting into an occupied building risks a Virginia felony prosecution and conviction. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I read with interest one of the more recent Virginia Court of appeals opinions that deal with several critical aspects of such defense. Meade v. Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___...

Scrutinizing the credibility, reliability and recall of prosecution witnesses must be exercised fully and carefully by every prosecutor, rather than the practice I have seen too often in too many prosecutors in viewing a Virginia DUI or criminal defendant as guilty merely because they have...

LEP (limited English proficiency) Virginia criminal defendants are already challenged by insufficient statewide rigor for court interpreters, because interpreter certification is only encouraged but not mandatory under the Virginia Code and other governing provisions. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know this state of affairs...

Convicting for assault in the commonwealth requires an overt act, says Virginia criminal lawyer Convicting for assault (for instance under Virginia Code § 18.2-57 cannot merely happen with testimony that the complainant / alleged victim feared the defendant for his or her threatening words. As...

Virginia corporal punishment defense is so favorable to parents that it might create cringing in those who believe in rarely if ever laying disciplinary or punishing hands on one's child. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, my sole obligation and goal for a client charged with...

Virginia abduction law (VA law) underlines how humorless is the commonwealth's body of criminal law. As a Fairfax crininal lawyer, I know that a judge will not have any sympathy with any argument that the commonly understood meaning of abduction is forcibly bringing a person...

Defending against Virginia prosecutions is my profession, and is about protecting the Constitution's Bill of Rights, mainly the Fourth Amendment right against unlawful police searches, seizures and arrests; the Fifth Amendment's assurances that a criminal suspect's affirmative assertion of silence not be used against him...

Hearsay evidence faces more lax standards for admissibility than at a Virginia criminal trial. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I regret this state of affairs, but it is a reality that must be reckoned with. This is among the reasons that Virginia criminal defendants should...