Jury selection

Objecting is part of the toolkit of a trial lawyer. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that non-trials are resuming this week in most Virginia counties, while jury trials are on hold, during Covid-19. For courts not resuming most trials, they are expected to...

As harsh as the Virginia criminal justice system generally is when compared to its two northern neighboring jurisdictions, a blessing in Virginia is that lawyers in criminal and civil cases get to question and talk with potential jurors at length in the jury selection/ voir...

Jurors in criminal and civil trials are obligated to follow their oath, which includes being fair and impartial, and not favoring one witness over another on the basis of the witness's profession nor personal connection to the juror.

Today, the United States Court of Appeals confirmed that said court has “never held that counsel can be relinquished by means short of waiver.” Consequently, the trial court’s finding of forfeiture of counsel by felony defendant Phillip Ductan’s uncooperative pretrial behavior during his criminal trial was...