Criminal Defense

Pot criminalization unnecessarily taxes limited government budgets and civil liberties. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer and civil libertarian, I thank Virginia attorney general Mark Herring for recently stating his support for marijuana decriminalization as follows: "Virginia should decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, address...

Teamwork is constant among the mix of police officers and prosecutors. Likewise, as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that teamwork between a lawyer and his or her client can spell the difference between winning and losing in court. While I have the relevant legal...

Fearless approaches backed by ability and experience are essential for defending the accused in court. As a Virginia criminal lawyer I know that in the heat of battle all that matters to win is ability, experience, wits, cunning and no fear. Enjoying the combat also...

Voters on June 11 favored reform-talking challengers over incumbents who had previously received the seal of approval of their long-serving predecessors, in Fairfax County and Arlington/Falls Church. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer who has maintained a sidelines wait-and-see view about how much more good than...

Waiving rights with police is all too common by criminal suspects who do not have attorneys. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that it rarely benefits an unrepresented criminal suspect to relinquish his or her rights to remain silent with the police, to have...

Testifying in Virginia criminal court requires thorough and intelligent preparation Testifying for the criminal defense is no merely simple exercise of engaging in questions and answers, which I know as a Virginia criminal lawyer. This is the second of a two-part article. The first part...

Testimony in court by criminal defendants needs to be carefully and thoroughly prepared in tandem with the defendant's attorney. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the decision whether to testify -- thus waiving the defendant's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent -- is...

Protecting the preliminary hearing (PH) right is critical, as underlined in my last blog entry. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that prosecutors sometimes will try to avoid a PH by direct indicting, by seeking a nolle prosequi/ non-prejudicial case dismissal (which cannot be...

Preliminary hearings in Virginia are an opportunity for the criminal defense lawyer to challenge "whether there is reasonable ground to believe that he committed" the alleged felony(ies). Va. Code § 19.2-218. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know how important is the preliminary hearing date...

Harmless error findings on appeal from a criminal conviction can preclude obtaining appellate relief. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I know that trial victory is better than waiting for the long process in the Virginia Court of Appeals or commonwealth Supreme Court to see whether...