Criminal Defense

As a Virginia criminal lawyer, it is essential for me to be sensitive to the specific affects of Virginia criminal and DUI case dispositions and sentences on immigration status. Northern Virginia and the greater national capital region have a high percentage of non-United States citizens...

Great lawyer Gerry Spence wins trials by embracing and revealing his entire self, warts, fears, vision, astounding ability, oration, and all. For the entire month of August 1995, I was in Wyoming at the then one-year-old Trial Lawyers College, at Gerry's beautiful Wyoming Thunderhead ranch ten...

Contested sentencing in Virginia is a gamble. Unless the criminal defendant and prosecutor enter a plea deal involving an agreed sentence that binds the judge, the only sentencing guarantee is that the judge is prohibited from sentencing beyond the statutory maximum.

A cop needs probable cause to say s/he will search a suspect or the suspect's property. If the suspect responds by consenting to a search, handing over contraband or telling where the contraband will be found, the Defendant may still challenge whether the police officer...

A key part of criminal defense victory is for the lawyer to be convinced that the client should be acquitted, to feel that in the lawyer's heart, guts and bones, and to persuasively convey those feelings to the judge and jury.

The September 11, 2001, murders, happened sixteen years ago. Terrorists win of terror is allowed to erode civil liberties. Sadly, that erosion continues.

Once I am hired by a criminal defendant, what is left is for me to work the case and fully defend my client. That holds true even if I ultimately realize that more work is involved than is reflected in the fee agreed to with...

This week, Virginia's Supreme Court set a frighteningly low bar for enabling a conviction for taking indecent liberties with a minor, finding delivery of photos of partially-bared female breasts and fantasy talk was enough to convict Kimberlee Dietz. 

Criminal defense and persuasion benefit tremendously from a clear mirror. That mirror can be the magic mirror, where others are not likely to do any better than we give them the faith to do. That mirror can also be the spiritual mirror of the heart...