by Faraji Rosenthall | Mar 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
What Happens to Your Car Insurance After You Are Convicted of a DWI? Depending on the severity of the defendant’s case and the various facts involved, a defendant’s car insurance rate will probably increase after a DWI conviction. The premiums could increase as much as 100 percent or more. This is also dependent on whether or not the defendant has other driving-related offenses. Some defendants’ insurer may drop them from their coverage or they will have difficulty finding and obtaining coverage. If a defendant is dropped from his current car insurance and needs to find a new carrier, prospective insurance companies will see the DWI conviction on his record. If a defendant’s car insurance is cancelled or raised substantially in response to his DWI conviction, the defendant might be able to get coverage from an insurer that specializes in covering high-risk drivers. The defendant may also get coverage from the high-risk division of a larger insurance company. This kind of coverage is called a nonstandard policy and usually has relatively high premiums. ...
by Faraji Rosenthall | Mar 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
How Can I Avoid Jail for an Assault and Battery? What does it mean to be charged with an assault and battery? First of all, what is an assault and battery? Virginia law actually defines assault and battery in two closely related ways. An assault and battery occurs when an individual intentionally inflicts physical harm on another or touches another in an offensive matter. An assault occurs when an individual attempts but fails to commit a battery with the present ability to accomplish the harm intended. An assault also occurs when an individual takes an action that is intended to put another in reasonable fear of harm. No actual contact is required for an assault. An assault and battery or an assault is typically charged as a class 1 misdemeanor and carries up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.00. In some special instances either crime can be charged as a felony. An assault and battery is a class 6 felony if it was committed because of the victim’s race, religion, color or national origin and causes actual physical harm. Similarly, an assault or assault and battery against a law enforcement officer, judge or magistrate can be a felony if the accused knew or had reason to know of the victim’s status. A domestic assault and battery can be a felony as well if there is prior history of domestic violence. So, will I go to jail? Not necessarily, but there is also no guarantee that jail time can be avoided. There are options that are available on a case-by-case basis. For example, the...
by admin | Nov 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
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by admin | Jul 26, 2013 | Uncategorized
Getting charged with a DWI in Fairfax is scary business, and not just because of the prospect of a night of fun having consequences for the rest of your life. If it’s your first encounter with the legal system, you have hundreds of questions. You won’t know what’s going on, who to talk to, or what happens next. If this is your second or third offense, you’ll know more of what’s going on, but will likely have questions about the implications of your previous charges. Either way, it’s best to seek the counsel of an experienced DWI attorney. But how do you know who to hire? We’ve put together some tips. Seek experience. You don’t want an attorney who handles probate law. You want a criminal lawyer with extensive experience in DWI cases. You want an attorney who knows the judge you’ll be facing, who has gone toe-to-toe with the prosecutor, who is familiar with the arresting officer. The judicial system can be faceless and impersonal, but a lawyer who knows the people he or she is working with can make a substantial difference. Ask for referrals. Yellow pages ads don’t tell you how respected a given lawyer is in their field. Ask people who have had DWI charges, or who know someone who has. It may be embarrassing, but your future may be riding on it. Schedule consultations with several lawyers before hiring any of them. You will want to feel that the one you choose is competent and capable, and the best way to know that is to compare a few. Ask about total lawyer’s fees. There...
by admin | Jul 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
Convicted and originally sentenced to die in 2002, a woman has become the 500th person executed by the state of Texas since 1982. The death penalty was re-allowed in the entire United States, by the US Supreme Court, back in 1976. Since the 1980s, there have now been a total of 1,338 executions in America. Of that total number, Texas has the highest number of executions, at 500, and the Commonwealth of Virginia follows with 110 executions. Executing women has been pretty rare in the years since 1976, since only 13 of the total executions in America have been women. Three years before the Texas woman’s execution, the last previous woman was sentenced to die in Virginia. The reasons for delaying the execution in the Texas case were sometimes based on persuasive pleas by the woman’s criminal defense attorney, showing that possible jury problems were important factors in this case. Three delays in her execution came in a single year because of serious questions concerning race. The executed woman, who was African-American, was found guilty by a jury that as mostly white…eleven of the twelve jurors were white. The criminal defense attorney argued that minorities were improperly kept from the jury. Previous trials in this same county (Dallas) have also suffered from allegations of possible jury unfairness, stressed the criminal defense attorney. In 2005, it took the US Supreme Court to stop an execution in Dallas County (with a different defendant that time), after proof of improper race profiling tainted a conviction. This case also showed the importance of getting experienced criminal advice immediately. Though the murder occurred in...
by admin | Jul 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
There’s a good possibility that no one will ever know exactly what happened at the moment of the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. What happened in the minutes leading up to the shooting, and the seconds after the shooting, may be the closest thing to really knowing. This also means the role of the criminal defense attorney is testing the limits of two witnesses to those two moments of time. The testimony of these two very different prosecution witnesses was strongly questioned in court by the criminal defense attorney. The first witness eventually conceded some important ground under questioning, The second witness, a friend of Trayvon Martin’s, also showed the growing importance of cell phones and recorded 9-1-1 calls in modern crime. The first witness was a neighbor, called by the prosecution, to testify about who was screaming for help at the scene. At first, the neighbor, who insisted “the voice” she heard calling for help must have been that of Trayvon. At the trial, under the intense questioning of the criminal defense attorney, the neighbor admitted the voice calling for help “could have” been that of a man with a high-pitched voice. The admission was seen as an important point by the criminal defense attorney to make the state meet its burden of proof. Described as the prosecution’s “star witness,” the second witness testified that she had been on the phone with Trayvon in the minutes leafing up to the shooting. But the criminal defense attorney had more success in shaking another part of the second witness’s testimony. The second witness had earlier said the voice captured...
