Criminal Defense

Executing people is wrong. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that even many former and current Virginia prosecutors now support the abolition of capital punishment. However, the machinery of state-sponsored death continues in many of the United States. Executing people convicted for being accomplices...

Incest law is commonly known to apply to relatives closely related by bloodline. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that Virginia law also criminalizes having sexual intercourse with one's minor stepchild. Specifically: "[I]f a parent or grandparent commits adultery or fornication with his...

Diffusing tense situations can take substantial self control when feeling that the other person has committed a major trespass. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know the persuasive and advocacy power of dissipating tension and never escalating it. Much happens in criminal court that...

Disclosing exculpatory evidence is the obligation of all prosecutors. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that prosecutors risk running afoul of this Brady disclosure rule by not making full inquiry of the police in the case and by not erring on the side...

Pill popping is all too common, but that -- without more evidence -- does not make a car's driver culpable in Virginia for one illegal drug pill found in the console between the front seats. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, not only do I...

Beating a DWI prosecution can stem from such approaches as convincing the judge that the traffic stop or arrest did not pass Fourth Amendment Constitutional muster, and convincing the factfinder(s) that the prosecutor has failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. One of my...

Cop arrest quotas are antithetical to the United States Constitution, civil liberties, and justice for criminal suspects and defendants. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that police have a temptation to justify their jobs in part through working to total up a high...

Penalty setting is an awesome power of jurors who convict criminal defendants in Virginia. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know the awesome power that juries have not only in terms of determining guilt or innocence, but also with recommending sentences.

Reefer decriminalization finally has passed the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, most likely to be signed by the commonwealth's Democratic governor after the two chambers' bill versions are harmonized. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer and drug defense attorney, I applaud this progress with...

Bench pushback is here in Northern Virginia, where judges will not automatically rubber stamp mutually agreed requests to dismiss criminal charges nor mutually agreed sentences and suspended imposition of sentence terms and conditions. Some judges will even ponder from the bench about whether certain prosecutorial...