Drugs
Virginia’s drug chemist lab is more backlogged than ever before
Virginia's government drug chemist lab is more backlogged than ever before, as confirmed in its August 16, 2017, memorandum here  That trend does not seem like it will be reversing any time soon.
Search warrants are the police tool for finding contraband in homes
One may consider his or her house to be her castle, but police often use search warrants and alleged exigent circumstances to disturb our privacy and serenity in that castle. One such approach is for police to get an excuse to enter a home (for...
Virginia drug defense – The hype of no suspended driving for a marijuana 251
Virginia 251 dispositions for drug and marijuana possession are not necessarily the panacea that numerous police, prosecutor and judges elevate them to be. Talk is abuzz about a July 1, 2017, Virginia law change that no longer requires a judge to suspend one's driving privileges for...
Daniel Blue obtains a rare Fourth Circuit published conviction reversal
Let us not have high federal conviction statistics become self-fulfilling prophesies. Criminal defense lawyers can reassure their federal prosecution clients, and all clients, that each case needs to be reviewed and prepared individually for the chances possibly to obtain the same excellent results that Daniel...
Is misconduct so deeply ingrained in police culture that videotaping will not soon reverse the situation?
Police have awesome power. Power conferred will lead to power abused.
Having police misconduct so ingrained in so many police from generation to generation, that old habits will die hard, and the right systemic changes will not come about right away, particularly when the systemic changes...
Virginia- Police may not inventory-search cars with unfettered discretion
When police claim the accused possessed contraband, a key path of attack is to seek to suppress evidence of the seizure and search that turned up the alleged contraband. Praised be Virginia’s intermediate appellate court for recently overturning a contraband-bearing car inventory search, because: “[W]e...
