Search

Stay at home was announced by Virginia's governor this week, but thankfully with numerous exceptions to not make people complete prisoners of their homes. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer and civil libertarian, I encourage commonwealth residents to read the relatively brief stay-at-home order (Executive...

Reduce jail populations during this pandemic. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that doing so not only helps the health of inmates, but also reduces the risks of inmate unrest and rioting, and helps the health of jail employees, the general population, and judicial...

Coronavirus reactions have reduced courthouse activity in various jurisdictions, battered the stock market, closed government activities and many educational institutions, forced quarantines, imposed travel bans, and led to such government state of emergency measures as banning large gatherings of people. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer...

Executing people is wrong. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that even many former and current Virginia prosecutors now support the abolition of capital punishment. However, the machinery of state-sponsored death continues in many of the United States. Executing people convicted for being accomplices...

Pot criminalization unnecessarily taxes limited government budgets and civil liberties. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer and civil libertarian, I thank Virginia attorney general Mark Herring for recently stating his support for marijuana decriminalization as follows: "Virginia should decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, address...

Dismissing or not prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana possession cases is now the policy of the chief prosecutors in Portsmouth (except for likely still prosecuting juveniles for possessing marijuana) and Norfolk Virginia. As a Fairfax drug lawyer and civil libertarian, I applaud this move and encourage a...

Silence is the most critical first weapons of a criminal suspect. As a Fairfax criminal attorney, I know that clearly stating "I am not talking" -- or similarly clear words -- requires police to stop questioning a suspect. This is true whether or not the...

Pretrial release for criminal defendants involves the defendant's promise to appear timely for all court dates, pretrial release conditions and/or cash bonds/ bail. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer speaking for my clients' interests, I want my asset-limited clients to not have to struggle to pay...

Alcohol and drug programs are big business for DUI cases, other court cases, and non-court cases, employing a large percentage of people in Virginia and beyond. Yes, those programs often are better than if the only other choice is jai, but their very existence means...

Animals of the non-human variety sexually attract some humans, which is a condition known as zoophilia. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I know that in "the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V, 2013), the American Psychiatric Association listed zoophilia as a paraphilic behavior, but not generally...