legislation Tag

09 Feb

Marijuana field testing- Virginia criminal lawyer opposes such trial evidence

Marijuana field testing is junk science. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I say so, because even a drug chemist's testimony is subject to reasonable inquiry and sometimes attack, even when the chemist is completely legitimate with his or her credentials and honesty....

2018 / Criminal Defense / Drugs

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16 Feb

Virginia criminal law continues being backwards with crabbed discovery & low felony theft threshold

Virginia has long been backwards with crabbed criminal discovery rules and a decades-long $200 threshold to convict for felony theft. In this year's Virginia legislative session, the Commonwealth remains backwards in the above respects, as follows: The Virginia House of Delegates tabled the criminal...

2017 / Criminal Defense

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03 Jan

Err on the side of legislating too few rather than too many crimes

Why do I so vehemently oppose the proposed Virginia bill to make reckless driving a jailable offense when coupled even with as minor a traffic offense as exceeding the speed limit by one mile per hour? My visceral opposition stems from my belief that this...

2017 / Criminal Defense

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03 Aug

The Oak Flat example of politicians disrespecting Native Americans and the environment

I was recently reminded of the legislative rider monster when learning one year late about the success that Arizona's senators had in December 2014 in adding a legislative rider to the defense reauthorization bill (signed into law by President Obama) that had failed on its...

2016 / Jon's news & views

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16 Feb

Tell your Virginia House member to join the Senate’s support of less draconian reckless driving laws

Virginia's Senate has approved legislation increasing the reckless driving by speed threshold and allowing jurors rather than only judges the option to convict a reckless driving defendant of the infraction of improper driving....

2016 / Criminal Defense

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