Serious Traffic Defense

Criminal lawyers in Arlington are abuzz over a new Reckless Driving defense stemming from a case appealed from the Arlington County Circuit Court. It is a common fact pattern: a police officer investigates a car accident in which a driver was driving erratically. He performs a drunk driving (“DUI”) investigation, but abandons it when the Preliminary Breath Test (“PBT”) turns out to be low. Can the police use this low PBT in order to help…

The federal National Transportation Safety Board  (“NTSB”) today voted unanimously to recommend a nationwide reduction of the “legal limit” in DUI cases from 0.08 to 0.05.  To illustrate what an extreme drop this would be, one is presumed sober under current Virginia law if his blood alcohol content (“BAC”) is below 0.05. Many people can reach a BAC of 0.05 with one to three drinks.  Since few can tell when they are 0.05 versus 0.04,

QUESTION:  I am charged with the felony “Hit and Run.”  The victim went to the hospital, but was told that her temporary back pain was the muscle – no broken bones.  Does this count as an “injury” to support the felony charge? ANSWER:  In Virginia, for Hit & Run cases, “injury” is defined very broadly.  It includes muscle pain caused by the accident. Virginia Code § 46.2-894 is one of the Hit & Run statutes. 

Question:  I was charged with DUI and Refusal.  Is Virginia’s Refusal law constitutional?  I never affirmatively agreed to a breath test — Virginia just “implied” my consent and now I’m being punished for revoking a consent I never actually made.  Since when can one impliedly waive a constitutional right? Answer:  The United State Supreme Court recently held that it is unconstitutional for demand a blood sample from one arrested of DUI (drunk driving) without a

Any time before a judge accepts a guilty plea and finds a defendant guilty, the judge may amend the charge to a different, lower crime and find the defendant guilty of the lower crime, according to an important recent opinion from the Supreme Court of Virginia. Most criminal law attorneys long thought that prosecutors choose the charges (the alleged crimes on which the defendant is accused), the defendant pleads guilty or not guilty to those