Drugs

Pretextual inventory searches of police-stopped automobiles -- where the real police motive is to conduct an unlawful search -- are inevitably going to take place in this climate where appellate court caselaw allows police to stop a motor vehicle for a moving violation, where the...

Cocaine convictions and all other convictions often come about only because the suspect / Virginia criminal defendant did not assert their Constitutional right to silence under the Fifth Amendment. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I cheer when defendants assert that right, and often bury my...

A probation conviction (PC) can happen with a dismissed prosecution, if a new criminal law violation is still proven. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I was disappointed to see a Virginia Court of Appeals opinion (thankfully unpublished, so not binding on any court, but which...

Firearm drug defense goes against two Virginia statutory monstrosities. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I am constantly working to avoid the harsh collateral consequences and sentences that can follow from a drug conviction, a firearm / handgun / pistol / weapon conviction, or from a...

Missing link arguments can be made in a drug possession or drug trafficking prosecution to allege that the substance tested by a Virginia state chemist cannot be sufficiently proven to be the same substance that was originally seized by law enforcement. As a Fairfax criminal...

Closeness to contraband is the last thing you want. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the Virginia appellate courts will not have bleeding hearts for your protests if police find illegal drugs or other contraband near you after you have fled from the...

Virginia contraband defense commonly includes arguing a failure of the assistant commonwealth's attorney / prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt (BRD) that the defendant had knowledge, dominion and control over the alleged contraband.  As a Fairfax drug lawyer, I know that convicting the accused...

Car privacy (CP) is an oxymoron in Virginia. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that you can be a sitting duck for police if they pursue a fishing trip or worse against you in a motor vehicle that contains contraband or otherwise has evidence...

Intrusive warrantless searches of one's body are ripe for challenges. As a Fairfax drug lawyer, I am delighted that the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned a grossly bodily-invasive streetside search of a suspect, even pulling on his underwear to see his bare skin underneath, followed...

Consent searches not only do not serve Virginia criminal suspects' interests, but invite huge headaches that could have been avoided or minimized by simply having declined a police search. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I remind you that you have a Fourth Amendment Constitutional right...