Fairfax criminal lawyer on startling affirmance of car search after skipping field testing of suspected cocaine. Skipping field testing of suspected unlawful drugs does not automatically preclude a vehicle drug search in Virginia, as learned on in the Virginia Supreme Court's recent case of...
Fairfax criminal lawyer on the Constitutional standing hurdles for challenging police searches, Search challenges in court require meeting the threshold hurdle of standing, meaning showing that the criminal defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. As...
Fairfax criminal lawyer applauds marijuana's inroads with legalization, decriminalization, and medicinal use. Happy 420. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I learned long ago that 420, 4/20 (April 20), and 4:20 (as in toking near the end of the school or work day at 4:20 p.m.)...
Prolonged police traffic stops too often fly in the face of the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that police try to use traffic stops as a pretext to investigate for such more serious and unrelated...
Local news interviewed me on February 14, 2018, for its televised story aired the same date about the Virginia legislature-passed law permitting physicians to prescribe CBD and THC-A oils to patients. The local news segments with me begin here, shortly after minute 1:00. I blogged...
Virginia marijuana law is woefully behind neighboring District of Columbia and Maryland, which both do not criminalize possession of personal amounts of marijuana (but D.C. still criminalizes smoking marijuana in public). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that Virginia police overemphasize ferreting out marijuana...
Marijuana field testing is junk science. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I say so, because even a drug chemist's testimony is subject to reasonable inquiry and sometimes attack, even when the chemist is completely legitimate with his or her credentials and honesty....
Virginia drug sentencing can involve stiff penalties. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I fight to win drug cases, and, for any sentencing, to obtain the most favorable sentence...
Fairfax marijuana lawyer on the stark contrast between strict Virginia pot laws versus liberal marijuana laws in the neighboring northern jurisdictions. Virginia is one of the strictest states for marijutana law. How much longer can Virginia keep up such an anti-marijuana regime with its governor...
Police videotaping should be routine and available to the public, unless counterbalanced by sufficient concerns for protecting suspects' privacy and for not blowing open an ongoing criminal investigation. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that an incident picture and video can be worth a...
Drug sentencing court dates must include the criminal defense lawyer's taking into account how vilified illegal drugs remain to this very day by so many people. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that marijuana has come a long way out of such vilification. Here...
Virginia drug defense involves humorless statutes, sentencing schemes and sentencing guidelines. As a Fairfaxcriminal lawyer, I know that the sentencing risks for a drug conviction multiply when the conviction is not for mere personal drug use, and is instead for selling, distributing, manufacturing, or possessing...
Virginia drug defense for me frequently involves drugs that can be obtained by prescription. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that people can get prosecuted for alleged criminal possession of prescribable drugs/controlled substances in such ways as not having the medicine in a valid...
Marijuana decriminalization and legalization are near and dear to my heart both as a Fairfax criminal lawyer and as a civil libertarian. The sky does not fall with marijuana decriminalization...
Marijuana legalization efforts nationwide have come a long way over the past few decades, moving from decriminalization of small amounts in some quarters, to medical marijuana legalization, to legalization in several states, to outright legalized cannabis vending in such states as Colorado....
As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see a sensible connection between lawful access to marijuana and the decline of opioid deaths in states where marijuana is partially legalized....
Chain of custody involves the chronological movement, treatment, and physical changes of criminal case evidence from the time it comes into existence, and then is collected, packaged, transported, opened and repackaged. The importance of reliable chain of custody includes such factors as assuring the correct...
Does tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (marijuana's primary psychoactive ingredient) concentration correlate to impairment from marijuana/cannabis consumption? The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ("NHTSA") of the United Stated Transportation Department concedes...
Is a green tongue indicative of recent marijuana use? As a Virginia drug lawyer / marijuana lawyer, I have scoured Westlaw to find what the courts have said on the issue, finding only the below-three discussed relevant appellate opinions, all helpful for a defense of...
Virginia's government drug chemist lab is more backlogged than ever before, as confirmed in its August 16, 2017, memorandum here That trend does not seem like it will be reversing any time soon....
