Winning your criminal trial- Fairfax criminal defense lawyer tells you how to prepare for victory

Winning your criminal trial must be a goal of your Virginia lawyer. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that even if you prefer a plea deal, your prosecutor / assistant commonwealth’s attorney can be more motivated to agree to a favorable (and sometimes even great) plea deal when the threat exists that you may win your trial, and that the prosecutor will need to readjust their schedule for the day (or multiple days) for handling other pressing matters. One might logically think that a newer prosecutor (and many prosecutors handline Virginia DUI and other misdemeanors in Fairfax and other larger counties are newer assistant commonwealth’s attorneys) would want to gain more trial experience often by not agreeing to more favorable plea deals. However, in Fairfax (at the very least), if a prosecutor will not agree to a desirable plea deal on the first trial date, the Fairfax County General District Court’s procedures manual (see first paragraph on page 82) provides for either side to generally be able to obtain a continuance of your first DUI/ DWI / driving under the influence of alcohol and / or drugs  trial date prosecuted under Virginia Code (opens in new tab)§ 18.2-266, which means that Fairfax County Prosecutor A’s refusal to reach a plea deal in General District Court (opens in new tab) that is agreeable to you for your DUI case, leaves the burden of handling your case on that prosecutor’s colleague if your case does not resolve on the first court date. Even if your case is other than a Fairfax DUI case that can usually get continued on the first trial date, prosecutors know that if they settle few if any of their cases, they may find themselves in a situation not only where they do not have sufficient time to prepare for trial and to be at trial, but the court may not have sufficient time for all their cases to go to trial either. In fact, a common discussion among many criminal defense lawyers is that if every criminal defendant demanded a trial, at least the larger courthouses could end up grinding to a halt, including when one considers that the judges do not only hand criminal and jailable traffic matters in the first place.

If your lawyer aggressively prepares for winning your criminal trial, will that p*ss off the prosecutor? Never unnecessarily p*ss off people, but never fall on your sword either

Some of my clients ask if aggressively preparing for winning your criminal trial will p*ss off the prosecutor and/or police. That is a valid question. The valid answer is that one should not unnecessarily p*ss off people, but should never fall on their sword either. My experience as a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer is that when I am fully prepared for trial, negotiate from a position of strength of being trial ready, never bluff, fully obtain and know the essential evidence and law in the case, and talk with prosecutors and police respectfully, they respect me more than they would the prosecutor who begs for a favorable plea deal or other settlement offer. A case in point is a law enforcement officer (LEO) who told me he was referred for his criminal defendant friend by a prosecutor who told the LEO that the prosecutor does not like going to trial against me, and that prosecutor has had numerous trials with me, and has in many instances reached great negotiated settlements with me. Clearly, even though I was always fully aggressive with this prosecutor, I did so civilly, respectfully and honestly, and clearly did the opposite of p*ssing him off, where he paid me the high compliment of recommending me to a police officer, whose friend did hire me to defend them in their criminal case.

Do not let your Virginia prosecutor create divisiveness between you and your lawyer

Plenty of assistant commonwealth’s attorneys probably expect that they will create divisiveness between defendants and their Virginia criminal defense lawyers by offering lame plea deals and not budging from that. Prosecutors and police often will go to great lengths to place roadblocks in the way of your winning your criminal trial. On top of that, many prosecutors may expect that some criminal defendants will learn in the courtroom that defendants A, B and C have entered into a plea deal more favorably-sounding than what the prosecutor offers the defendant. First, the plea deal you hear in the courtroom may or may not be as good as it seems to appear. Second, no two cases are the same. The people entering seemingly favorable plea deals may have less ugly allegations against them, the prosecutor may have some challenges getting their necessary witnesses and evidence to your trial date and/or your criminal conviction history and/or driving record may be more checkered than that of the other defendants. So long as your Virginia criminal defense lawyer is performing well for you, your attorney may be your only real friend in the courthouse (your friends are your friends, but are not substitute for your lawyer), your close teamwork with your lawyer is not only beneficial for you, but can be so palpable to your opposing prosecutor and police officer(s) that it may yield a more favorable settlement negotiation and/or fewer or no shenanigans by them that seek to unsettle you or to seek to create division between you and your lawyer.

How to win your Virginia criminal trial? No instant solution exists. It takes devoted, hard, skilled, and experienced work.

Just as no pill exists automatically to remove all body fat and to make one physically fit, no magical mantra exists to winning your criminal trial. Nobody wants to undergo major surgery by a medical doctor who has never performed surgery. No military should go to war without any experienced veterans. No substitute exists for taking many cases to trial, and, of course, doing so with full preparation, excellent planning and strategy, and excellent execution. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I have successfully taken hundreds of criminal and DUI cases to trial, to the point that trials are not only second nature for me, but I love going to trial. I also know from taking so many cases to trial that more cases are winnable than many criminal defendants realize, at least when in the right lawyer’s hands. Many prosecutors know that I love going to trial, which can help settlement negotiations all the more. How to win at trial and not get eaten alive? Beyond gathering of essential evidence and witnesses and basic preparation is the work for persuasion, and to be prepared for curveballs from the judge, opposing witnesses, and prosecutors, for starters. Plenty of persuasive trial work for your criminal defense lawyer will spring from the lessons that I have learned and execute from the National Criminal Defense College’s Trial Practice Institute (which I attended for two weeks) and the Trial Lawyers College (which I attended for four weeks), and with the powerful approaches of persuasive storytelling, psychodrama (working through challenges with scene setting and role playing and reverse role playing) and great cross examination (where I have learned live repeated times from Larry Pozner, possibly the greatest cross examination teacher.) My Beat the Prosecution podcast episodes repeatedly cover how to win at trial, including the foregoing hyperlinks in this paragraph, and my interviews with great criminal defense lawyers Lisa Monet Wayne and David Lewis (both of whom are tough as nails, while acknowledging the profound responsibility they have for protecting their clients’ liberty), Andrea Lyon (who has had many spectacular trial victories and kept all or virtually all her many capital clients off death row), and Tony Serra (recently retired, who here confirms that he does not settle cases, and, refers the matter to another lawyer if it is going to be negotiated for a settlement).

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz approaches each client’s case as a unique opportunity to purse their best possible defense against Virginia felony, misdemeanor and DUI prosecutions. No defense is a cookie cutter exercise, but instead, for Jon Katz, is about throwing his full being and self into each client’s defense. For your free strictly confidential initial in-person consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending prosecution, please contact his staff at 703-383-1100, Info@KatzJustice.com or (text) 571-406-7268.