Fairfax District Court procedures are particularly no nonsense for felony cases and domestic criminal court, says Virginia criminal lawyer

Fairfax District Court (FDC) judges — and all judges — know the fully finite personnel and other resources available to adjudicate not only felony and misdemeanor cases, but also the slew of traffic infractions and civil cases that annually come to the courthouse. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that Virginia District Court trials and other proceedings can move quickly, and I prepare for trial accordingly. Appellate courts look at whether lower reviewed courts have exercised sound discretion in limiting how long each part of the trial — and the entire trial — lasts. At the same time, Virginia District Court literally are courts not of record (with no recordation device run by the court, so the parties need to bring their own court reporters or recording device), which means commonwealth appellate courts will not be reviewing any recorded records of District Court judges’ actions. In any event, if any reminding was needed about how no-nonsense FDC judges and all Virginia judges can be with managing their dockets, recently the county’s two District Courts put that in writing here for General District Court (GDC) for felony cases and here for the Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court (JDR), which for criminal cases deals not only with under-18 people charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses, but also adults charged with crimes against family and household members. For even lengthier reading, take a gander at the Fairfax GDC administrative procedures manual.

Your Fairfax criminal lawyer needs to know and internalize court rules, to use them to your maximum benefit

In law school, reading court rules and statutes at first often seemed dull, lifeless, and heavily detailed and convoluted. Fortunately, because I in part attended law school to learn the language and law used to oppress, I snapped out of any funk over that by remembering that real humans are affected by rules, statutes, and judicial opinions and orders, and that the better I understand and effectively apply all of that law, the more I can achieve the best possible results for my clients. Consequently, by the time I had my first job before my second year of law school, I ended up soaking in researching and updating federal regulations and their updates when a law clerk at a federal agency, and that has served me well right up to today, for instance when I defend misdemeanor cases in federal court that are charged under park police regulations. Reading the above-linked Fairfax District Court procedures is no entertainment match for reading riveting literature, but Virginia criminal defense is not about entertaining the defense attorney — although I am fortunate that I continue to love defending my clients, and find the experience as fresh as when I started — but about pursuing the best possible results for defendants.

Fairfax District Court procedures alone make it important for you to obtain a qualified criminal defense lawyer early on

Fairfax District Court procedures — and so many other aspects of the Virginia criminal law — can read like a dry foreign language. Archaic terms and phrases still permeate legal documents, including “I ask for this” in proposed orders, and “further your affidavit sayeth not” in signed witness declarations, on top of all the Latin and other unusual phrases that fill the standard Black’s Law Dictionary as a tome. Your Virginia criminal lawyer hopefully will embrace every aspect of the law to own it as best as possible for your defense. If you walk into your trial date with no lawyer, be ready for the possibility of being eaten alive, sometimes without even knowing that you have indeed been eaten alive.

Your Virginia criminal defense lawyer needs to be ready for trial, and you can enable that readiness

Fairfax District Court procedures put Virginia criminal defendants behind the eight ball if they hire a lawyer to close in time to court, both because you have a more finite number of lawyers available for your court date as you approach that date (and Fairfax JDR judges may not be welcoming when a lawyer asks to continue a criminal trial date for a JDR case for which s/he already had a date conflict at the time of being hired), and because it is ideal for your lawyer to have sufficient time to prepare for trial and any felony preliminary hearing (PH). In that regard, on June 23, the Fairfax JDR court issued the above-linked rules, that include: “It has long been the policy of the Court to grant a continuance only upon finding an emergency or other compelling reason. No continuance will be granted other than for good cause and upon such terms as the Court may impose. The agreement of counsel, alone, does not constitute good cause for a continuance. Counsel should not waive the appearance of any subpoenaed witness without prior approval of the Court.” For Fairfax GDC felony / preliminary hearing cases, that court recently put in writing that continuance “requests for second preliminary hearing dates will only be granted for good cause shown. The agreement of counsel, alone, does not constitute good cause for a continuance. Counsel shall not waive the appearance of any
subpoenaed witness without prior approval of the Court.”

Should I schedule a court hearing if I will not have a lawyer with me for my Virginia trial or preliminary hearing date?

Why roll the dice about whether you will on your Fairfax District Court — or any Virginia court — trial or preliminary hearing date be granted a postponement by the judge for you to have more time to obtain a lawyer? First, even if you are not sure if you have the financial resources to obtain a qualified Virginia criminal defense lawyer, you can still meet with lawyers to find out how much they are billing. Second, if you wish a court appointed lawyer, you will find out if you financially qualify for such defense by going to court to seek such assistance. Finally, if you need to ask the court for more time to obtain the funds to hire a lawyer, your going to court before your trial or preliminary hearing date will at least tell you then if you are being granted such relief, and your asking for such relief in advance of the trial or preliminary hearing date can enhance your chance of having such relief granted by saving the time of witnesses to come to court for that currently-upcoming date, especially if you ask for such a postponement well before your current court date.

How do I transcend written procedure to win my case?

You want to beat your prosecution for alleged violation of the Virginia DUI, felony and misdemeanor laws. Ideally, your criminal defense lawyer will deal with Fairfax District Court — and all court — procedures with absorbed knowledge and dexterity, fully integrated with the rest of your defense, including investigating and obtaining and fully understanding and synthesizing discovery and evidence, fully preparing you and your testimony for court, fully understanding and internalizing the applicable law and applying it to your defense, and fully preparing for the necessary persuasion approaches in your case, while updating that approach as your defense proceeds, because nothing should allow to stagnate in defending your liberty.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz relishes defending people charged with alleged Virginia DUI, misdemeanor and felony offenses, because he knows he is on the side of the angels and truly believes in your cause, whether or not you have committed the offense(s) alleged against you. Call 703-383-1100 for your free initial strictly confidential consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending case.