Five tips for representing indigent criminal defendants: (1) never push a plea, (2) don’t defend the system, (3) never contradict your client, (4) a light touch often works best, and (5) a thick skin will prevent burnout.
Find out more here about online DUI programs and courses that have been approved by the Office of the Attorney General in Washington, D.C.
Although “claim of right” is a valid defense to robbery and other theft offenses, the defense fails when the defendant takes more than the property whose ownership is in question.
Here is the information you will need to log in by Webex video or phone to D.C. Superior Court Criminal Division courtrooms.
Here are the 2022 Judicial Assignments for the D.C. Superior Court Criminal Division
Under the ‘forfeiture-by-wrongdoing doctrine, a defendant forfeits his Sixth Amendment right to be confronted by a witness against him, as well as his objection to the introduction of hearsay, if he wrongfully procured the unavailability of that witness with the purpose of preventing the witness from testifying.
Bias can be “a favorable or friendly feeling toward a party.” It can also be hostility toward someone, a motive to lie out of self-interest, and/or corruption.
Now that DFS has lost its accreditation, the government is looking for creative ways to prosecute drug possession cases, including amending the charges to attempted possession. There are equally creative ways to counter this strategy.
I won a motion to suppress in a drug case yesterday. The win was particularly gratifying in that it involved the notorious gun recovery unit (GRU) from the Metropolitan Police Department. One of the lead officers for the GRU testified for the government, and he was a difficult witness: He would not concede a thing. I usually begin with some innocuous questions. …
Police had the requisite legal basis – reasonable suspicion – to assume that one of four people present after gunshots were heard was the shooter.