Criminal Defense

Failure to register and re-register as a sex offender is a jailable offense in Virginia, whose statutory law requires such registration for those convicted of murder and such sexual offenses as sexually violent offenses, carnal knowledge with a child of thirteen to fifteen years old,...

Secondary traffic offenses in Virginia are traffic violations that expressly do not permit the issuance of a traffic citation, summons or ticket unless in conjunction with a primary offense, which is a violation of one of more other traffic or criminal laws of the commonwealth....

Special need is sometimes used by police to try to justify stopping people when they do not have probable cause nor individualized reasonable articulable suspicion to stop, frisk or search a person for evidence of criminal activity. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I am disheartened...

Convincing people starts from engaging them as human to human. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I know that this engagement is not solely directed at their minds, but at their levels at the gut, heart , and feelings -- their feelings of inspiration from the...

Voir dire -- French for "to speak the truth" -- is the phase for Virginia lawyers to ask questions of the potential jurors / venire members, to assist in seeking to strike potential jurors for cause, seeking to rehabilitate them from being stricken for...

Declining requested breath or blood testing in a Virginia DUI case does not automatically mean that the DWI defendant will avoid blood alcohol content (BAC) evidence from being obtained. Very frequently where I practice as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, police are obtaining search warrants to...

Race-based juror strikes by either party's lawyer is Constitutionally prohibited. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the importance for defense lawyers timely to raise well-Virginia Supreme Court justice is unconvinced by prosecutor's claim of race-neutral reason for...

Flex Your Rights has added me to its eight-member Advisory Board. As a Fairfax Criminal Lawyer, I am honored to be joining such civil liberties fighters as Ira Glasser (Drug Policy Alliance president and past longtime ACLU exective director) and Billy Murphy, who is a...

Unreasonable refusal convictions for declining to be breath or blood tested for blood alcohol content, amount to a civil offense for a first charge and a criminal conviction for a subsequent offense (after a prior conviction for DWI or refusal). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer,...

Fast guilty and no contest plea hearings in the Virginia General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court are common in Northern Virginia counties where appear. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that this approach with agreed pleas and sentencings between...