Rescheduling marijuana away from being a Schedule I or even Schedule II drug, federally, is essential. A federal Schedule I controlled substance is a dangerous drug that has no recognized medicinal benefits; that is how marijuana currently is scheduled in federal law. A Schedule II...
Leniency offers by cops abound in their efforts to convince criminal defendants to waive their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that criminal defendants and criminal suspects should not communicate with police about their case without the presence...
Search warrants do not automatically preclude successful Fourth Amendment challenges. Today, Ian Christian Carlson happily saw that truism applied to his benefit. Carlson v. Virginia. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that police generally are barred from investigating for possible criminal activity by going...
Private prisons and private jails abound in the United States, and are popular with many investors. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, my concerns about private prisons include the risk that the prisons will put investors' profit interests above treating inmates right, and about possible limited...
Virginia drug law is tough on defendants. As a Fairfax drug lawyer, I know that merely possessing a Schedule I or II drug is Class 5 felony carrying up to ten years in prison. Marijuana possession remains a misdemeanor jailable up to thirty days, with...
Criminal discovery reform in Virginia finally achieved a breakthrough in 2018, when the commonwealth's Supreme Court directed a mid-2019 substantial discovery expansion for felony criminal defendants. This Virginia discovery reform needs to be seen as but a first step, seeing that it does not cover...
Dirty urines are a risk for any controlled substance user on supervised probation before their court date. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that staying off illegal drugs is easier ordered than followed. Fairfax criminal lawyer warns criminal defendants not to throw in the...
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....
