Fourth Amendment

Searching homes is not permitted by police under the Fourth Amendment without a search warrant, consent of a resident, or exigent circumstances. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that one present occupant's objection to such an otherwise consensual search trumps the consent of the...

Beating a DWI prosecution can stem from such approaches as convincing the judge that the traffic stop or arrest did not pass Fourth Amendment Constitutional muster, and convincing the factfinder(s) that the prosecutor has failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. One of my...

Special need is sometimes used by police to try to justify stopping people when they do not have probable cause nor individualized reasonable articulable suspicion to stop, frisk or search a person for evidence of criminal activity. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I am disheartened...

Tire chalking is a common way for police or other parking ticketers to monitor whether a vehicle has overstayed the maximum duration for a parking space. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I know that any incursion of government employees onto one's property might implicate the...

Sure outcomes are rare in criminal defense, says Fairfax criminal lawyer. Sure outcomes should never be relied upon in criminal defense. We need look no further than the many split decisions of the United States Supreme Court to know that, being human, judges and jurors...

Search warrants do not automatically preclude successful Fourth Amendment challenges. Today, Ian Christian Carlson happily saw that truism applied to his benefit. Carlson v. Virginia. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that police generally are barred from investigating for possible criminal activity by going...

Acquittal is the ideal goal of going to trial. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, my view is to go to trial rather than entering a guilty, no contest or Alford plea, where the benefits and possibly lower risks of doing otherwise are not...

Fairfax criminal lawyer celebrates SCOTUS's keeping some teeth in the Fourth Amendment. Privacy rights are critical to criminal defense, including the essential Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and against warrantless searches that require search warrants only issued upon probable cause. As a...

Virginia DUI lawyer obtains DWI victory at the suppression hearing stage. DWI victory and criminal defense victory is preceded by substantial preparation. including keeping updated on the relevant science and law, obtaining and fully analyzing the case evidence, and working as a team with my...