Category Archives: Criminal Defense
Lawmakers Mull Expanded Hate Crimes Law
Because of an increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Semetic incidents, Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax) wants to extend hate crimes law coverage to include ethnicity. Helmer’s bill would offer protection for Jewish people who may not identify with the religion, but whose heritage is connected to the culture. “My sons, like many other children, have faced antisemitism… Read More »
Breaking Down Forfeiture Proceedings in Virginia
Depending on your perspective, civil forfeiture, which is covered in Section 18.2-46.3 of the Virginia Code, may be the most essential or most oppressive law enforcement tool in the state. Essentially, this provision allows law enforcement to seize and sell any property related to criminal activity, such as a bank account associated with money… Read More »
Triple Shooting in Virginia Beach on Christmas Eve
An apparent shootout killed one person and wounded two others, and police have no leads or suspects. Shortly after midnight Sunday, the Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) responded to a report of shots fired in the area of Riverbend and Lakecrest roads. There, officers found two men who had been shot. One of them… Read More »
Top Five Non-Moving Violations in Loudoun County
Most people cannot drive more than four or five blocks without violating at least one provision in Virginia’s extremely complex traffic code. That’s just the moving violations. Many vehicles are not street legal, making their drivers subject to a stop at any time. The next step in a traffic stop is usually a criminal… Read More »
An Unsolved Mystery Right Here in Virginia
A 21-year-old man who was convicted of aggravated malicious wounding, grand larceny, and hit and run is still on the run a month after he escaped from custody. The Greensville Correctional Center inmate escaped while he was getting medical care in St. Mary’s Hospital in Henrico County. He escaped when two officers watching him… Read More »
Cops Use DNA Evidence to Locate Cold Case Suspect
A 51-year-old New York man is in custody and facing charges for a murder he allegedly committed thirty years ago. In November 1994, a 37-year-old woman was found stabbed to death inside her home in Springfield, Virginia. Her 2-year-old daughter was in another part of the house during the stabbing. While investigating the case,… Read More »
Does Back to School Mean Go to Jail?
It could, according to a new Virginia law that addresses the problem of swatting (falsely summoning law enforcement) at a public or private school. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed the new law in the gymnasium of E.C. Glass High School, a school that saw multiple swatting incidents during the 2022-23 school year. “These aren’t… Read More »
Rapper Allegedly Shot 10-Year-Old Boy in Franklin
Police are looking for a suspect in the shooting death of a small boy. Authorities say the suspect is armed and dangerous. The 23-year-old woman is wanted for first degree murder and related firearms charges in connection to a shooting in the 300 block of Artis Street. According to investigators, the woman and three… Read More »
Endgame: Resolving Drug Crime Charges in Virginia
In the early days of the Republic, criminal trials resolved almost all drug crime and other crime charges in Virginia. The landscape began changing in the 1880s. As the nation grew, taxpayers were unwilling to pay for more courts and prosecutors. To speed cases through the system, the plea bargaining system began. As late… Read More »
Kinds of Reckless Driving Charges in Virginia
During the pandemic, empty roads encouraged reckless driving. Two-thirds of professed speeders said that, since traffic volume was so low, they didn’t think they put anyone else in danger. That logic might have worked during coronavirus lockdowns, but it doesn’t work today. Police officers and criminal judges, who are determined to break this bad… Read More »
