jury instructions
Instructing the jury to your benefit as a Virginia criminal lawyer
Instructing the jury to your benefit must be front and center to your Virginia attorney, and not an afterthought, nor a slapdash exercise. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that attorneys may feel relief and/or exhaustion at finishing the evidentiary part of your trial...
Virginia convictions are not available without sufficient statutory specificity
Virginia convictions are a scarlet letter. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that before such harshness can be inflicted on a criminal defendant. I also know that jury instructions on the applicable law must be sufficiently worded, so as to avoid convictions based on...
Jury instructions must be correct says Fairfax criminal lawyer
Jury instructions need to be correct. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that might sound obvious at first blush, but the appropriate instructions are not always given to jurors, and can result in serious harm to criminal defendants. Praised be the Virginia Court of...
Criminal defense- Beware executive liability and the two-inference jury instruction
A January 19, 2017, opinion from the federal Fourth Circuit provides important insight into the criminal liability of corporate executives, and the so-called "two-inference" jury instruction. United States v. Blankenship
