Criminal Defense

Cocaine convictions and all other convictions often come about only because the suspect / Virginia criminal defendant did not assert their Constitutional right to silence under the Fifth Amendment. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I cheer when defendants assert that right, and often bury my...

Virginia appeals (VApp) to Circuit Court mean that your District Court sentence places no cap on your Circuit Court sentence, if convicted your second time around. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that with a VApp to Circuit Court, the entire proceedings are de...

Crimmigration warning (the first term means practicing criminal defense while helping to reduce adverse immigration consequences): If you are not a United States citizen, you may be subjected to the Trump administration's expanded and aggressive actions to detain and deport a large population of non-citizens,...

A probation conviction (PC) can happen with a dismissed prosecution, if a new criminal law violation is still proven. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I was disappointed to see a Virginia Court of Appeals opinion (thankfully unpublished, so not binding on any court, but which...

Firearm drug defense goes against two Virginia statutory monstrosities. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I am constantly working to avoid the harsh collateral consequences and sentences that can follow from a drug conviction, a firearm / handgun / pistol / weapon conviction, or from a...

Pouncing when the deal is right is an important part of fighting Virginia prosecutions. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I fully prepare my clients' cases to proceed to trial, thereby pursuing my clients' best defense, keeping in the defendant's hands the full control over approving...

Disarming allegedly dangerous people is the keyphrase for commonwealth legislators and Virginia prosecutors to use in claiming that a law or prosecution prohibiting or penalizing firearm possession or use passes Constitutional muster with the Second Amendment. That is the takeaway from the Virginia Court of...

Fairfax LEO mall shooting was the headline last year when a police officer (Wesley Shifflett) from this county shot dead a suspect (Timonthy Johnson) fleeing the law enforcement officer(s) outside Tysons mall. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I was disturbed, to say the least, at...

Fully engaging the person an attorney wants to persuade is essential. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer that truism was again proven when I negotiated a wet reckless disposition (without active jail time, a modest fine, and liberal restricted driving privileges) from a Virginia DUI prosecution...

Fairfax bench members -- meaning judges on that county's District and Circuit Courts -- mean business. This is true for all judges before whom I have appeared thousands of times during my criminal defense career. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know this to be...