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Suspects need to be silent with police says Fairfax criminal lawyer

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Suspects need to be silent with police says Fairfax criminal lawyer

Suspects who talk with police are cruising for a bruising, says Fairfax criminal attorney

Suspects and everyone else have the right to remain silent with police. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have seen too many criminal defendants create their own nooses by not keeping their mouths shut with police. Even in states requiring a person to identify himself when police have reasonable suspicion of a crime, that can be done non-verbally by producing identification.

Canton Johnson’s verbal diarrhea got him convicted of two counts of possession with intent to distribute LSD and Ecstasy (respectively) where his silence probably at worst would have gotten him simple drug possession convictions. Johnson v. Virginia, Record No. 0899-18-1 (Va. App. June 11, 2019) (unpublished).

Fairfax criminal defense lawyer on suspects being a sitting duck when carrying contraband with burned out vehicle lights

While possessing LSD / acid and MDMA / Ecstasy (formally ,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine), Canton Johnson drove a vehicle with broken brake light. Police love stopping vehicles even for minor violations, as a way to justify the stop in the first place or else to see if they find DUI, contraband, or other jailable criminal activity. The Supreme Court allows that.

Smoking marijuana in a car invites police searches

As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I repeatedly see police having a field day by claiming probable cause to search vehicles and suspects for marijuana when they claim to have smelled smoked marijuana in the car. Smoked marijuana has an unmistakable stink, Johnson’s stopping officer smelled burnt cannabis in his stopped car. That provided police not only with probable cause to search his car for marijuana but also to search him.

Fairfax criminal lawyer on police authority to search incident to arrest before arresting

Once police have probable cause to arrest suspects, they may conduct a search incident to arrest of the person even before arresting him or her. Johnson. Consequently, even though Johnson’s police officer did not intend to arrest him for marijuana possession, Johnson reminds us that probable cause depends only on objective facts, and not the subjective opinion of the police officer.

Virginia drug attorney warns about calling police as witnesses

Hopefully recognizing the risks of doing so, Johnson’s attorney presented the testimony of a police officer to state that evidence (apparently due to a modest amount of seized drugs) was consistent with personal use of LSD and Ecstasy. However, when the prosecutor informed the same testifying cop that Johnson had admitted to selling drugs, the officer then testified that the circumstances were consistent with drug distribution.

The court sitting without a jury convicted Johnson of both possession with intent to distribute LSD and MDMA, each of which carries up to forty years in prison. Va. Code § 18.2-248. An online records check indicates that Johnson did not appear for sentencing, which is pending for September 2019. Usually criminal appeals to the Virginia Court of Appeals take place after sentencing .

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan L. Katz has successfully defended hundreds of clients charged with drug offenses ranging from possession to sales to cultivation. to discuss your defense with Jon Katz, please call his staff at 703-383-1100 to schedule a confidential consultation.

CALL FOR A FREE IN-PERSON MEETING about your court-pending Virginia criminal or DUI case

Posted in Drugs and tagged Ecstasy, Fairfax criminal lawyer, LSD

Very impressed by his experience, expertise and the efforts he takes to remain on the cutting edge of his legal specialty

I saw Jon present at a national educational seminar last month. I was very impressed by his experience, expertise and the efforts he takes to remain on the cutting edge of his legal specialty.

Tim Semelroth
Source: Google
He was masterful in his strategy

Jon Katz represented me in a case where I was charged with speeding, failure to comply and DUI. I felt strongly that I was improperly stopped as I was paced at only a few miles over the speed limit. Jon was straight forward that this was a slim margin chance of victory yet fought hard to prove this point. He was masterful in his strategy and more importantly in his cross examination of the officer and challenging the prosecutor. They were no match for his knowledge of the law and his ability to convince the judge it was an improper stop resulting in acquittals on all charges. He is an excellent attorney and all around great guy who even gave me a ride to the airport.

J.
Source: Avvo
He runs a meticulous outfit, and his support staff was excellent.

FAIRFAX CRIMINAL LAWYER I met Jon two days ago. He had started driving from Fairfax at six in the morning – crossing nearly the entire state to defend me in a small town that looked like it was frozen in the nineteen-forties.

The town looked like a set for Mississippi Burning. There were some beautiful buildings – but it also seemed menacing. I had been charged in this small town, and had spent months trying to arrange an adequate legal defense – from my home in Miami.

When I was first charged, I was overwhelmed by the situation. I then did what you are doing now: looked thru online reviews for the best lawyer for my case. Jon fit the bill so I called him. Since then, it has been several weeks of intense back and forth with him. He runs a meticulous outfit, and his support staff was excellent. They worked very hard to collect and compile all the useful documents. Everything worked. No mistakes.

I had multiple phone conversations with Jon, but, because of the long distance, had not met him in person. The court date was two days ago. I had arranged to meet Jon in a diner a few blocks from the courthouse. Before Jon arrived, I was in pretty bad shape. I had made a series of stupid mistakes, which had led to the charges, and I understood that, if things didn’t break my way – I was facing serious prison time. Jon walked into the diner, and sat down across from me. He has more than a passing resemblance to Bobby Kennedy. He also has something rare: Star Power. People in the diner, and later in the courthouse, followed him with their eyes. He is a person who immediately meets your eyes, and holds the eye contact. It was like suddenly being in a John Grisham movie, and you are on the side of the angels. Think of it like having Gus Grissom from CSI Las Vegas, sit down across from you at a diner- and he says he can help you. Jon ordered a black coffee and lifted two huge brown paper binders on to the table. He carefully flipped thru pages that he and his staff had organized with tabs. He had all my important defense documents immediately accessible.

Jon and I walked a few blocks to the courthouse. The sky was a steely overcast slate grey. We went thru the security guards with their holstered Glocks. He went thru some heavy doors to talk to the Prosecutor. The court doors then opened and we were directed to approach the bench. The prosecutor was an attractive woman, in a perfectly tailored outfit. She started talking to the Judge and seemed to be advocating FOR ME! I don’t fully understand what happened, but Jon had arranged for the case to be amended downwards, and then an on the spot dismissal with no guilty plea, no conviction, and several thousand dollar fines were reduced to a hundred dollar court cost.

We left the Courthouse – back into the worn brick town. He drove me to my hotel in his vintage sport’s car. I was left standing there outside my hotel on a cold January day in rural Virginia. My life had changed in a matter of hours. Jon had saved my life.

K. H.
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