Criminal Defense

The battle lines are drawn. Prosecutors and police are not the friends of the criminal defense. Judges are at best the referees. A criminal defendant needs an able lawyer at all stages of the prosecution.

A poker face is preferable with negotiations, so that the opponent does not see when the criminal defense lawyer is flinching or exulting. A good example from cinema is in Pretty Woman, where Richard Gere's and Julia Roberts's characters arrive at an agreed price for...

In this day and age of quality and relatively inexpensive recording devices, Virginia should join the 21st century by having its District Courts record their proceedings. Until that day comes, I will bring a court reporter or my audio recorder, depending on the situation.

None of us are safe from being prosecuted, making effective assistance of criminal counsel essential. Too many politicians, police and prosecutors have a penchant for painting the criminal law in terms of black and white: "You do the crime, you do the time;"

Virginia's Court of Appeals asserted this week that it complied with Supreme Court case law when permitting a warrantless blood draw in a DWI case where the defendant was neither asked whether he would take the test nor refused. I disagree. Wolfe v. Virginia, ___...

In Virginia, willfully failing to appear for a felony court date is a Class 6 felony, jailable up to five years with a fine up to $2,500.00 Willfully failing to appear for a misdemeanor case is a Class 1 misdemeanor, jailable up to one...

Ronald Bert Smith, Jr.'s Alabama execution -- discussed separately by me today -- is an example of the fallacy that lethal injection can be assured to be painless. Alabama news reporter Kent Faulk witnessed the execution, and describes the following

For defending criminal and DWI prosecutions, the defense early on needs to move to preserve and obtain video, audio and photographic evidence of and related to the incident. At first blush, the criminal defense lawyer might ask whether it is better to try to make...

In court and beyond, we are offered many opportunities to react angrily to others' seeming trespasses and lack of consideration. Some police and prosecutors try to talk uncalled-for trash about my clients. Other cars cut us off on the road. Others at restaurants and elsewhere...

Human nature leads jurors to look to the trial judge for reassurance, comfort and guidance, in the midst of warring lawyers, legalese, and witnesses running from the dull to interesting to incomprehensible and everything in between.