probable cause
Virginia High Crime Area Night Presence Helps Okay Cop Handgun Patdown
Virginia high crime are presence at nighttime are two factors that might increase your risk of being police-frisked for weapons, now that the Virginia Court of Appeals this week okayed such factors to be considered in evaluating the legality of such a patdown. As a...
Virginia DUI Victory from Successful Challenge of the Arrest
Virginia DUI victory can arise from a pretrial dismissal, suppression of the arrest, and a finding of lack of proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that preparation for such defense requires thorough attention to all the foregoing...
Curtilage seizure in DWI investigation addressed by Fairfax DUI lawyer
Curitlage seizures take place when police detain a person on “'the land immediately surrounding and associated with the home.'" Saal v. Virginia, 848 S.E.2d 612 (2020) (quoting Oliver v. U.S.., 466 U.S. 170 (1984). As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that because "the curtilage is 'considered...
Cops May Stop If Car Owner License is Revoked
Cops have extraordinary power in our overly-policed state, that stands in sharp contract to the ideal of our living in a free society in the United States. Instead, as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that have too much of a police state, and this...
Lucidity Arguments get a DUI Arrest Suppressed – Fairfax DWI Lawyer
Fairfax DUI lawyer wins trial after underlining defendant's lucidity despite his wobbliness with field sobriety tests. Lucidity arguments are particularly important for DUI defendants when their physical coordination is wobbly. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have experienced the benefits of such arguments, including in...
Virginia criminal defense – Three hour delay to arrest does not amount to stale probable cause
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution limits police authority to stop, seize, and search people and their property. Sadly, the United States Supreme Court over the decades has limited the strength of the Fourth Amendment in numerous ways, including the horrendous Terry v....
Virginia criminal defense — More on search limits on police following a positive drug dog alert
Using police drug sniffing dogs is fraught with unreliability. as further addressed here, here, and here. Despite this unreliability, Virginia law poses substantial hurdles to a criminal defendant's obtaining by a records subpoena data about the training and performance of the case's drug dog. Fortunately...
Pot Odor – Distinguish between the smell of burnt and raw marijuana
Pot odor is stronger when burnt than raw says Fairfax criminal lawyer Pot odor is often used by police to justify searches for more serious activity, where this is allowed by cops in the midst of constant marijuana decriminalization. (UPDATE: As a Fairfax criminal lawyer,...