Drugs

Harsh Virginia drug laws remain despite the commonwealth's liberalization personal marijuana use. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see this week's harsh nine-year prison sentence for Brittney Griner for smuggling less than a gram of THC oil as an opportunity for prosecutors, judges and jurors...

Virginia drug overdose situations have the potential of barring a conviction when the criminal defendant meets the standards of the commonwealth's good samaritan law for ovedosing drug users. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I find it wonderful that -- for the time being -- overdosing...

Drug distribution (DD) is a damning Virginia criminal charge that anyone would want to avoid. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I here tell you about your negotiating possiblities and sentencing exposure and possiblities when charge dwith such an offense. Because of the harsh potential sentencing...

Virginia mistrial law gives prosecutors even wide shenanigan latitude before a criminal defendant may benefit from making a mistrial motion (MM) l and arguing that the Sixth Amendment Constitutional Double Jeopardy clause bars a retrial. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see that the Virginia...

Virginia LEO (law enforcement officers) do not automatically get the right under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment to search a car or other place merely for seeing an alcohol bottle that is not sealed together with some drug contraband, because that is not probable cause by...

Fairfax drug defense -- as well as in the rest of Virginia -- continues to be a critical aspect of criminal defense, despite the wonderful inroads with marijuana in the commonwealth, in such respects as eliminating penalties for personal possession of up to one ounce...

Police hassling exasperates me as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, civil libertarian, and human being. Having police is part of the so-called social contract where society relinquishes vital aspects of its freedom in order to receive protection from the government apparati. However, police and government are...

Contraband possession convictions can result from unlawful possession of drugs, weapons, obscenity or other unlawful material. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that such possession is defined as knowledge, dominion and control over the material. Based on that, knowing presence near unlawful substances unrelated...

Virginia crime suspects who do not assert their Constitutional Fifth Amendment right to remain silent are often shooting themselves in the foot, and rarely do more good than harm when talking with the cops without having a lawyer who arranges a debriefing agreement that provides...

Virginia drug dealer identification is the topic of the one of this month's Virginia Court of Appeals opinions. Dwayne Allen Ray, Jr., v. Commonwealth of Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (Feb. 1, 2022). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that courts are not as demanding...