Criminal Defense

Resisting arrest law risks excessive police use for charging unruly criminal defendants, as do charges of disorderly conduct and felony assault on law enforcement. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have my eyes keenly attendant to that reality when defending each client charged with such...

Case outcomes for criminal defendants can improve overall when Fairfax prosecutors bow out of most misdemeanor matters. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I recently experienced such benefit. Although a prosecutor can be more reliable for producing discovery in conformity with Virginia Rule 7C:5 and Brady v....

Challenge police searches if the search leads to your being prosecuted. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I know that the Exclusionary Rule of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment will sometimes yield the suppression of the evidence seized by police. Aaron Emile McArthur is a recent beneficiary...

Coaching has perhaps become an overused phrase by those offering that category of professional services. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I view lawyer counseling not as Chris Farley's cracking us up as the man in the van down by the river. Instead, I know that...

Challenges abound with the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office's recently-announced shift to only prosecute a limited universe of misdemeanor cases. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that this change is a double-edged sword, both providing opportunities and hurdles to the defense. On the one...

Child sexual offense prosecutions involve particularly damning accusations. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that additionally the prosecution in its case in chief may attempt to inform the jury of the defendant's conviction of another sexual offense.. Va. Code § 18.2-67.7:1.; Va. S. Ct. R....

Lighthearted actions by criminal defense lawyers with police and prosecutors may seem like weakness to those untutored in persuasion. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I have witnessed time and again that doing the opposite from unnecessarily putting cops and prosecutors and anyone else in fight...

Contraband items can come in the form of illegal drugs, illegal weapons, and a whole host of other illegal items. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that defenses against such prosecutions sometimes includes challenging the proximity of the defendant to the suspect items in...

Killing convictions can be an extra challenge to obtain for prosecutors, because the victim is never available to testify in court. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I find this week's Warnick v. Virginia appellate opinion affirming a Northern Virginia murder conviction to be instructive for criminal defense...

Update information rolls in on Virginia criminal law changes with the usual July 1 effective date. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I address below the expanded felony Circuit Court discovery rules, attorney-issued records subpoenas, and prospects for even more criminal defendant-beneficial law changes with the...