Harsh judges are found in criminal court- How to manage that

Harsh judges are found in many Virginia criminal courts, as are more empathetic-seeming judges. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that people are ever-changing. The judge who at one moment or most moments seems unfavorable to criminal defendants may in your case on your court date be very favorable. The judge who your attorney is delighted to have may not meet your expectations. How do you handle an unfavorable-seeming judge? If that judge remains your judge, you and your attorney need to make the best of that situation, and need to enhance the judge’s likelihood to rule in your favor in one or more matters. One of my great trial law teachers aptly said that people often will not make more effort to benefit you than you expect, so erasing from your mind that your judge might come down like a sledgehammer is a good approach. If your court date changes, depending on your court and case circumstances, you might get a different judge the next time.

Should I change my mindset away from seeing judges as harsh or not?

Probably best is not to label any judge as a harsh judge, but instead always to know one’s judge for purposes of persuading them, including knowing their predilections, concerns and how to still obtain a favorable result with that judge. Even assuming the existence of judges who disregard their oaths (whether knowingly and intentionally or not), everyone is a human, and judges need to be approached at a human level. Judges and all humans have a concept of what is justice, and in effectuating that justice. It is ideal for your Virginia criminal defense lawyer to overlap your judge’s sense of justice with your own criminal defense interests.

How do I know who my Virginia criminal court judge will be?

In Fairfax criminal court and many other courts, it is often difficult if not impossible to know who will be your judge for your court case on a given date. For instance, many years ago the Fairfax County, Virginia, General District Court stopped its practice of publishing its judicial assignment calendar at least a few days before court dates, to the point where even a substitute judge who is in private practice told me that on days that he sits as a substitute judge, he is only told the name of the judge (who is out sick, on vacation or the like) for whom he is substituting, and not the names of the other judges present for the day. At best, we Virginia criminal defense lawyers can sense patterns in forecasting the percentage likelihood that a particular judge will be sitting in our court that day. (For instance, often but not always, the same Fairfax judge sits in the satellite courts of Fairfax City, Herndon and Vienna all week; and often the same judge sits at least three days during a given week in DWI / traffic motions / traffic courtroom 1D.) Even if you think you have gotten a harsh judge or good judge that day, a judge with a very busy courtroom may send some cases to another courtroom. A practical benefit of knowing your judge’s name in advance is to gear arguments and testimony to what may register best with that judge.

Will my felony plea judge be my sentencing judge? Does my trial judge have to be my sentencing judge?

Beware that the judge who takes your Virginia guilty or no contest / nolo contendere plea is not automatically going to be your sentencing judge. Similarly, your trial judge is not automatically going to be your sentencing judge. If sickness, death or other disability makes your trial judge unable to complete your trial or preside at your sentencing, the Virginia Code is liberal about enabling a new judge to complete your proceedings, with sound judicial discretion at work about whether to restart the trial from the beginning. Virginia Code § 19.2-154. That was underlined in the Virginia Court of Appeals case that originated in the Fairfax Circuit Court, in an opinion entitled Jaeyoung Lee v. Commonwealth of Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (2026). Fairfax Judge A presided at Lee’s jury trial for malicious wounding, computer trespass and other counts. (Even as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I read the allegations with gruesome dread, if they are true (about a defendant who instead of letting his former girlfriend move on with her life after breaking up with him, instead shooting and severaly injuring a male visitor, who purportedly was only a friend, but that should not matter)). Lee received a sentence of life plus 48 years from a judge (since retired) whom I have viewed as among the firmer sentencing judges on the Fairfax County Circuit Court, whereas the different judge presiding at his jury trial (and replaced for sentencing) has substantial criminal defense experience as a lawyer, and may have been viewed by Lee and/or his attorney (correctly or not) as possibly less harsh than sentencing Judge B. Lee argued on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion by assigning Judge B where the trial judge had “resumed at least some of his judicial duties by the time that the resolution of Lee’s post-trial motions and sentence were heard.” Lee rejects that argument, including where Judge B certified that he had familiarized himself with the record of his trial.

Who is the best, and least harsh, judge for my Virginia criminal case?

The reality is that plenty of the best potential judges for your Virginia criminal case are not judges at all and are in private practice or are working elsewhere. The benefits of being a judge are guaranteed pay and benefits, retirement pay, a full staff, job security (at least for one’s judicial term) and not needing to hustle for clients. The advantages being one’s own boss is having some level of control over the number and types of cases one handles, the benefits of not having anyone in the same organization tell the lawyer what to do, avoiding (as a judge) effectuating laws with which the lawyer seriously disagrees, and avoiding (as a judge) the risk of believing a witness who is lying. Nobody is perfect, of course, and you and your lawyer will need to make the best of your court situation, even if your judge is known often to be harsh. For me as a criminal defense lawyer, I welcome the challenge of finding how to persuade even the most challenging seeming judge to rule favorably for my client.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz knows that your criminal defense case needs to be tackled with the intensity and sharpness of a chess game, against Virginia felony, misdemeanor and DUI prosecutions. Jon will be delighted to meet with you for a free in-person confidential consultation about your court-pending prosecution, to answer your questions, formulate a tailor-made defense action plan, and to give you more confidence (realistic confidence) about your defenses, by contacting Jon’s staff at 703-383-1100, Info@KatzJustice.com and (text) 571-406-7268.