On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Thursday, May 17, 2012
About 10 months after a federal judge angrily overturned a murder-for-hire conviction of a Prince William County man in connection with a 2001 shooting death, the Virginia Attorney General's office is moving forward with an appeal of that decision. The conviction was based in large part on the testimony of the admitted shooter of the victim, who claimed at first to be hired by the defendant but later recanted his story.
A panel of judges from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments over whether to reverse the lower court's decision to vacate the 2002 verdict, which led to a death sentence for the defendant, now 30. In overturning the conviction, the judge said that prosecutors knew that the shooter lied on the stand about the defendant's involvement and kept evidence from criminal defense attorneys instead of turning it over as required.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, May 11, 2012
The former head of the Federal Aviation Administration will not face trial for allegedly driving under the influence after the judge presiding over the case dismissed the charge. While the defendant's legal issues have been resolved, the dismissal came too late to rescue his career at the FAA, following his resignation from the agency's top spot in December.
As we discussed in our Dec. 7, 2011 blog post, the then-director of the FAA, J. Randolph Babbitt, was pulled over the evening of Dec. 3 while he was driving in Fairfax. The officer later claimed that he pulled over Babbitt after witnessing him driving on the wrong side of the road. The officer administered a field sobriety test that measured Babbitt's blood-alcohol level at 0.07, below the legal limit in Virginia. Despite the result, the officer arrested Babbitt for DUI.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, May 4, 2012
In certain cases, prosecutors in Fairfax County may offer a diversion penalty instead of taking the case to trial. Diversion programs are often used in juvenile cases, but sometimes adults are also offered this alternative to criminal prosecution.
An elderly woman who authorities say intimidated a witness in her boyfriend's sexual assault case was given a diversion penalty last fall. But now prosecutors are threatening to charge the woman, 81, after all because, they say, the woman has not paid the entire restitution she was ordered to pay.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Drug Charges on Friday, April 27, 2012
Police in Chesapeake, Virginia, say that a series of recent drug arrests were not the result of random traffic stops, which would be illegal under state law. They say the searches are justified because the officers can smell marijuana coming from inside the suspects' vehicles. Even when the officers are several feet behind in their own vehicles -- and even when no one is smoking marijuana in the car.
As one Chesapeake officer said in testimony related to a criminal proceeding, several members of the force can smell marijuana coming from the outside by turning on their squad car's fan and pointing the vents directly into their faces. As much as it may be hard to believe, the officer said the marijuana odor comes through "clear as day." Officers follow the vehicle they suspect the smell is coming from until they are sure it is coming from that vehicle, then pull over the suspect.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, April 20, 2012
In Virginia, it is vital that the judge presiding over a criminal trial be as neutral as possible about the case before him or her. A bias in favor of the prosecution or the defendant may cause the judge to rule on an important matter, such as whether to admit a key piece of evidence, without properly following the law. The possibility of a conflict of interest, such as a personal relationship with someone connected with the case, is taken so seriously that most judges will withdraw from a case if even a hint of a potential conflict arises.
As suggested above, the conflict of interest does not need to be major, such as being related to the victim in the case. For example, in the George Zimmerman case, the judge presiding over his murder trial withdrew on April 18 after it came to light that Zimmerman contacted a law partner of her husband to possibly be his defense attorney.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Sex Crimes on Friday, April 13, 2012
A statewide effort between dozens of law enforcement agencies at all levels has resulted in the arrest of 20 people across Virginia, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said. The online sting operation the task force used to target the suspects was dubbed "Operation Phalanx," and resulted in charges of online solicitation of a minor and distribution of child pornography.
One of those arrested is a 35-year-old Fairfax resident. He was the only person in Fairfax County to be caught up in the sting, though officers made nine arrests in the Northern Virginia-D.C. area. The operation involved digital forensic work and probably also had police officers posing as minors online, though Cuccinelli provided few details of how Operation Phalanx, which began in 2011, works.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Monday, April 2, 2012
In a close vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 2 that jail officials may strip-search any arrested person without having to justify that invasive search with a reasonable suspicion that the person is carrying contraband in their body. The majority opinion appears to defer to the government's discretion to do what it sees fit to prevent weapons and drugs from entering the nation's jails, even as the court disagreed on the extent of the problem.
There have been several cases in recent years of people whom guards subjected to a strip search upon arriving at jail despite being arrested for minor criminal offenses. The defendant at the center of the Supreme Court case was arrested after police pulled over his car for speeding while he was in the passenger seat. A computer search appeared to reveal that the man had a warrant for his arrest for failing to pay a fine -- though the man had paid the fine -- and police brought him to jail.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Sex Crimes on Thursday, March 29, 2012
Five Fairfax County men that federal prosecutors say are members of a local chapter of the Crips street gang are facing charges that they lured teenage girls into prostitution. The men could face life in prison if convicted, according to news reports.
According to court records, the U.S. Attorney's Office claims that the men met teen girls in the area by various means, including Facebook, in public and on the Metro. The defendants would complement the girls' looks and convince them to have sex with men, prosecutors say. The men, who are said to be part of the Underground Gangster Crips, would split the profits with the girls and party with them.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, March 23, 2012
A man who worked as an administrator in a Fairfax County law firm has allegedly been involved in crimes related to check forgery. Authorities say he apparently cashed a forged check in Atlantic City then left the country. According to a search warrant, the 36-year-old man deposited two checks at a TD Bank on Jan. 20. The checks were drawn on an account for the American Iranian Kurdish Community, Inc. The man is the owner of the company, according to state records. The company supposedly had only $100 in the bank at the time the man deposited the checks.
The next day, the man allegedly went back to the same bank and withdrew cash and got a cashier's check for $250. The man is accused of digitally altering the check, changing the amount to $250,000. He later cashed the $250,000 cashier's check at an Atlantic City casino. According to police, the man, his son and his wife left the country. Police did not say where the family went, other than to say it was to a different country. The man allegedly had foreign passports with fictitious names and dates of birth for himself and his family.
On behalf of Karen Scarborough, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Thursday, March 15, 2012
After a federal judge's ruling that a Virginia man's 2001 murder trial was an "extreme malfunction in the state criminal justice system," the commonwealth's attorney who led the prosecution in that case has resigned. The Culpeper County, Virginia, chief prosecutor said in a statement that his resignation was to avoid a "protracted battle" over his office's conduct during the trial, which the federal court found included the use of a jailhouse informant who lied under oath and the coaching of one of the other defendants to have him provide false testimony.
Doubts about the defendant's conviction for the 1996 death of a 74-year-old woman during a home invasion have persisted ever since he was found guilty of murder and given a life sentence. No physical evidence at the scene of the crime connected the then-teenage suspects to the crime. One of the defendants agreed to a plea deal in exchange for testifying against the other two, but on appeal last month, a U.S. District judge found that the defendant's testimony was based on details of the crime given him by county authorities, not his personal knowledge.
