search warrants
Harsh child pornography laws- Fairfax criminal lawyer cautions
Harsh child pornography (CP) laws should make everyone think twice before even seeking out adult sexual material online and elsewhere. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that a five year mandatory minimum incarceration sentence is required for a federal conviction for receiving even one...
Verbally refusing a Virginia DUI blood search warrant should not be a crime
Verbally refusing a Virginia blood search warrant should not be sufficient to convict for obstruction of justice nor any other crime. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know of two private hospitals in and near Northern Virginia where some or all nurses will not draw...
Phone privacy is a right to be preserved by Virginia criminal defendants
Phone privacy is critical to criminal defendants and most everyone else. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the thirst that law enforcement has for seizing and searching people's cellphones, to investigate such alleged criminal activity as drug dealing, child pornography, and large-scale theft. Do...
Search warrants based on curtilage violation are invalid says Fairfax lawyer
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...
Fourth Amendment Bars Ordering A Suspect’s Erection
Fortunately, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has this month confirmed that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution bars ordering a male criminal suspect to produce an erection.
Police misconduct needs to be publicized, urges Fairfax criminal lawyer
Police misconduct needs to be publicized. As a Fairfax, Virginia, criminal lawyer, I know that letting police abuse remain in the shadows will perpetuate such abuse. Bringing it to the light of day enables public scrutiny to reduce police misconduct.
Virginia DWI Defense – The intersection of Birchfield, Wolfe, D’Amico & § 18.2-268.3
Here is the current Virginia state of the law for taking blood draws of DWI suspects without a search warrant: Virginia statutory law tells police to advise DWI arrestees who refuse breath or blood tests of alcohol and drugs, of the criminal and civil penalties...
Stop non-lawyer Virginia magistrates from approving search warrant applications and insert teeth into judicial search warrant application reviews
Virginia has a sad state of affairs that allows magistrates -- who are not required to be law school graduates unless they are a chief magistrate -- to review and approve search warrant applications. Virginia non-chief magistrates only need to have bachelors degrees.