Cocaine is what Ella Fitzgerald gets no kick out of , but in Virginia, a conviction for the mere possession or use of cocaine or any other Schedule I or II drug kicks the defendant with a Class 5 felony offense carrying up to ten...
MaryJane/ marijuana legalization is about freedom of choice, personal privacy, and shrinking our overgrown police state. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I urge Virginia's lawmakers this legislative session to make major inroads for decriminalizing and ultimately legalizing marijuana....
Repeat drug offenses risk enhanced sentencing, says Virginia criminal lawyer. Repeat drug convictions risk mandatory minimum and enhanced prison sentencing both on the Virginia state and federal court level. As a Virginia criminal attorney, I know that the financial incentives to deal illegal drugs might...
Object to inadmissible jury sentencing evidence, or have the Virginia criminal defendant suffer the consequences. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that in the heat of battle the defendant's lawyer needs nevertheless not to overlook both objecting timely when an objection needs to be...
Drug field testing should not be used to justify pretrial detention nor a conviction, says Fairfax criminal lawyer. Drug field testing is used by police to claim probable cause to search and arrest suspects, and by prosecutors for making pretrial detention/bail/bond arguments, and by Virginia...
Witness unavailability for the prosecution will not automatically avoid a conviction for a criminal defendant, which I have said many times as a Fairfax criminal lawyer. Mitchell Larnell Bennett learned that lesson when the Virginia Court of Appeals last week affirmed his felony drug distribution...
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...
