Drugs

Bench pushback is here in Northern Virginia, where judges will not automatically rubber stamp mutually agreed requests to dismiss criminal charges nor mutually agreed sentences and suspended imposition of sentence terms and conditions. Some judges will even ponder from the bench about whether certain prosecutorial...

Psychedelic drugs can provide important health benefits for a variety of psychological ailments. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that for years, LSD, psilocybin, magic mushrooms / shrooms and other psychedelics got lumped in with cocaine and heroin for criminalization and sentencing ranges,...

DFS -- the Virginia Department of Forensic Science -- on January 24, 2020, announced (1) a new testing procedure to rule out industrial hemp and (2) no longer requiring a court order for the agency to test suspected marijuana. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I...

Marijuana dismissal for most simple pot possession (versus possession with intent to distribute) cases has arrived with the new Fairfax County and Arlington County, Virginia, prosecutors, who took office this week. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see this as a big leap forward for...

Cannabis decriminalization and legalization movement has been proceeding at a dizzying pace in numerous states over the last years, after previous decades of organization, toil and sweat by marijuana activists nationwide. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I deeply thank these activists for their accomplishments,...

Constructive possession of drugs, illegal guns, or other contraband is no less a crime than actual possession of contraband. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the foregoing legal truism alone is sufficient to make people think twice about those they choose to associate...

The criminal defense needs to be ready to raise and attack the following circumstances in prosecutions for possession to distribute drugs: Weight: Significant weight of the alleged drugs by itself does not constitute intent to distribute. For instance, when a medicinal user of marijuana finds...

Drug cases (marijuana and non-marijuana) are among the most common non-traffic / non-DUI prosecutions on Virginia criminal court dockets. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have defended hundreds of such cases, and provide some insights herein on such defense.

Revocation of probation is a risk that many criminal defendants do not consider as much as simply staying out of jail in the first place or getting released from jail as soon as possible. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that many convicted criminal...

Barring criminal defense witnesses is a risk for a trial judge. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the importance of convincing the judge to permit defense witnesses to testify and to preserve the appellate record in the event the trial court bars any defense...