The government recently dismissed a simple assault charge against a Koehler Law client in Washington, D.C. The dismissal came after the defense produced evidence supporting our client’s claim that he had acted in self-defense. Our client, an 86-year-old man, had been accused of pushing a much younger woman who approached him with a camera during a political demonstration on the …
A D.C. jury recently acquitted a Koehler Law client of carrying a pistol without a license (CPWL) and other firearm offenses. According to the evidence presented at trial, our client found an abandoned firearm in an alley near the shopping mall where he worked. He picked up the gun intending to turn it over to the police. Before he could …
According to the “independent justification” requirement, an order to leave public property must be given by a person with authority based on some established policy, rule or regulation. Otherwise, the government cannot prove the elements of the criminal offense of unlawful entry. *** Dr. Derek J. Morris was attempting to file a pro se petition for a writ of certiorari …
According to recent opinion issued by the D.C. Court of Appeals, Darrell Jones v. United States, __ A.3d __ (D.C. 2025), the defense must prove “incapacitating intoxication” in order to negate the mens rea element of a criminal offense. ***** “Voluntary intoxication” is generally not a viable defense to a criminal charge in Washington, D.C. As Joshua Dressler puts it …
From the Latin for “elsewhere,” an alibi defense is based on the physical impossibility of a defendant’s guilt: the defendant could not have committed the crime because he or she was somewhere else at that same time.
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.
There is a “buyer’s agent” defense in D.C. after all – at least with respect to drug distribution charges involving marijuana.
The standard for asserting self-defense in an assault case involving a police officer is still whether or not the police officer used excessive force during the arrest.
You are allowed to use a reasonable amount of force to protect property. This is true “regardless of any actual or threatened injury to the property by the trespasser.”
Words in the law do not always mean what their dictionary definitions say they mean. With respect to a prior consistent statement, for example, it is not really, as suggested by the rule, that such a statement must be offered to rebut a charge of “recent fabrication.” Instead, it is “only that the alleged contrivance be closer to the trial …
The D.C. Court of Appeals was apparently feeling charitable. In Adrian Lee v. United States, 61 A.3d 655 (D.C. 2013), a decision issued last week, the Court bent over backwards to justify and explain mistaken jury instructions issued by the trial judge. Even as it reversed him. Adrian Lee was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and of carrying a dangerous weapon …
Your client is heading home, minding his own business, when he comes across what appears to be a homeless man sleeping on a bench at the metro station. Sticking out of the man’s coat pocket is a shiny new I-Phone. In a moment of weakness, your client grabs the I-Phone and is immediately taken to the ground by both the …
The judge doesn’t like my idea of a “grace period.” In fact, he chuckles when I propose it: “I have never seen any case law on that,” he says. I was not trying to be funny. My client has been charged with both unlawful entry and unauthorized use of a stolen car in which he was a passenger. Unlawful …
How can you not love the criminal defenses? With the government burdened with proving every element of an offense beyond a reasonable doubt, one criminal defense strategy is to challenge the identity of the perpetrator. Yes, says the defense lawyer in an alibi defense. I am sure the crime was committed, and wasn’t it a particularly egregious one at …
Assuming you did nothing to encourage or instigate the activity, there is nothing illegal about being present during the commission of a crime. There is also no duty, upon coming across a crime in progress, to prevent that crime from occurring. This is true even if you are with people who are actually committing the crime. These principles lay the …
The innocent or momentary possession of a firearm or any other type of contraband is a valid defense in Washington, D.C.
Many laypersons suffer from misconceptions about the protections offered by the Double Jeopardy Clause contained in the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. As Blonde Justice pointed out in one of her funnier posts, for example, double jeopardy does not cover the situation in which the defendant is forced to show up twice for court appearances on the same charge. Nor does …
We are having trouble with the sliding door on our mini-van. I take it back to the Toyota dealership shop a couple of times and spend a fortune to get it fixed but there still seems to be a problem with it. Finally, when I complain about having to fix it once again, the mechanic swears to me that …
Self-defense is an affirmative defense to simple assault and other assault charges in D.C. Self-defense is the use of force to protect oneself, one’s family or one’s property from a real or threatened attack. It is an affirmative defense, meaning that the defendant has the initial burden of raising it. In D.C., once the defendant has been able to introduce …