Beat The Prosecution- Fairfax, Virginia, Criminal Defense / DUI Lawyer

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In 2015, Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz finished court early enough to rush over to the Mindful Leadership conference in Arlington, eager to meet such great teachers as Roshi Joan Halifax, Jim Dethmer and Rhonda Magee. Sold out, said a front desk person. A woman overheard my asking what I could do about that, and she sold me her extra ticket. 

This conference was so good that it would have been worth flying coast-to-coast for such an experience. Learning applications of mindfulness to my life and work are very important. Among the best teachers for that at this conference was author of Awake at Work (and more) Michael Carroll -- currently with Global Coaching Alliance, and a student of such advanced teachers as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche -- who immediately captured me with leading a grounding sit followed soon after with the story of a tollbooth angel who would greet people even at the most trafficked, sweaty and stressful times of day, hand them an M&M candy, and wish them a nice day. 

Michael bridges any gap between mindfulness and Buddhist teachings and applying them to the real world, including the rough and tumble of the workplace, and, in this episode, the courthouse. 

I should have known long ago already about highly accomplished samurai and Five Rings  author Miyamoto Musashi, but did not, other than hearing about Five Rings. In this podcast interview with Jon Katz, Michael masterfully relates the lessons of Musashi's masterful defeat of Sasaki Kojiro to its applications to our own lives. 

Michael is a life tourguide who helps reveal plenty, including lessons and truisms that are right in front of our eyes, but that we have yet to see more clearly. Check out -- and read -- his books and more here. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz named this podcast Beat the Prosecution in sync with his teacher SunWolf's watchword that reality is no obstacle. By shooting for the stars, great outcomes be achieved in court. Nonetheless, plenty of criminal defendants get convicted, requiring all criminal defense lawyers to be great at sentencing. 

Recently, Jon Katz's fellow criminal defense lawyer Bret Lee told Jon of his and lawyer Marvin Miller's Northern Virginia federal criminal defense client Felicia Donald, saying she was willing to be on Jon's podcast. Dr. Donald is a physician who in 2020 entered a guilty plea to one prescription drug violation count involving opioids and one health care fraud count. Despite the prosecution's request for a fourteen year prison sentence and to include obstruction of justice in her sentencing guidelines, Dr. Donald's legal team obtained a sentence that was half of that, and that avoided a finding of obstruction. 

Dr. Donald is Jon Katz's second former inmate to appear on the Beat the Prosecution podcast. A big difference between the two is that the first such guest, Susan Crane, engages in peace actions against armaments and military facilities, admits her actions and asserts their justification under international law. Most other criminal defendants, including Dr. Donald, never seek any prosecution nor attention to their prosecution. Where most convicted criminal defendants would prefer to keep a low profile about their cases, Dr. Donald does a big service to current and future defendants by here discussing step-by-step her oversight in not securing a lawyer before she reported alleged wrongdoing by one of her employees to law enforcement officers (LEO) and before she turned over her cellphone and business documents to LEO, how she chose her initial and subsequent legal team, how she weathered the storm of incarceration during the pandemic and found opportunities to help fellow inmates, how she witnessed seriously inadequate health care for numerous inmates and dealt with her own serious health issues as an inmate, and how she obtained a sentence commutation under the CARES Act. 

For this episode, then, beating the prosecution is about obtaining the best possible sentence and being as resilient as possible from the point of arrest to the time of release from incarceration. Jon thanks Felicia Donald and Bret Lee for joining him. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz first met local highly-regarded immigration / crimmigration lawyer Ofelia Calderon (Merrifield, Fairfax, Virginia) nearly 20 years ago at a Cinco de Mayo celebration, introduced by Jon's then law partner Jay Marks who subsequently became Ofelia's law partner for a few years. Ofelia is the third immigration lawyer on this Beat the Prosecution podcast, and for good reason, with Ofelia being the first immigration lawyer to join us after Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleashed a slew of unfriendly, dangerous and often downright civil liberties- and due process-violating policies and actions against a slew of non-United States citizens. 

Many of Jon Katz's criminal defense clients are not United States citizens, and need to know what to do when police, judges, courthouse officials and jailers ask them about their immigration status, not only with direct questions but with such more subtle questions as "Where were you born?" This episode tells you how to handle your encounters with such authorities. 

Also motivating Jon's invitation for Ofelia to join this episode is her involvement as a board member of the Virginia Legal Aid and Justice Center (I recommend donating, here), which has this great Rapid Response toolkit for dealing with such practical immigration emergencies as being ready with powers of attorney to handle real estate and personal property assets of those detained by the immigration authorities. 

Ofelia is a true believer for the rights and interests of non-United States citizens. Jon was totally invigorated by this talk, and anticipates that you will be, as well. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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South Dakota trial lawyer Charles Abourezk has a compelling story as a lawyer and beyond that role. He grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, and advocated for Indian Americans before and after law school. He represented indigenous people's interests at the United Nations. He produced and directed radio and television programming concerning Native Americans. 

Charlie is Chief Justice of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Supreme Court in South Dakota; Justice of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Appellate Court; Justice of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Appellate Court; and Special Judge for Oglala Sioux Tribal Courts. 

Charlie attended the Trial Lawyers College in 1997, two years before your podcast host Jonathan Katz attended. There, Charlie particularly took to psychodrama. He remains and teaches actively on staff at the National Psychodrama Training Center. 

Charlie's late father James Abourezk was the first United States Arab American senator, who subsequently founded the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). He was a strong advocate for Native American rights while in the U.S. House and Senate. 

Law enforcement once searched Charlie's home on the reservation, and followed him around for a period of time, I take it due to his support of Native Americans. He says such an experience makes you stronger. 

Charlie strongly and aptly believes in the power of psychodrama for winning in court. His devotion to Native American rights made inviting him for this interview all the more compelling for Jon Katz, whose close friend and spiritual teacher Jun Yasuda strongly supports Native American rights. 

This episode is also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0P1dKoSM5A and Apple Podcasts. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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Every criminal defense and other trial lawyer faces the possible moment of truth about how to handle an unjust judicial directive. This week's guest Rosa Eliades -- along with lead counsel Richard Kammen (who wore a kangaroo pin to Guantanamo court and has pointed words about the military commissions), and co-counsel Mary Spears -- in 2017 obtained approval from now-former Marine criminal defense Brigadier General John Baker to withdraw as civilian defense lawyers for Guantanamo defendant Abd Al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Al-Nashiri, due to their not receiving judicial authorization to share critical but classified evidence with their client. 

The story did not end there, when their military commission judge -- Vance Spath -- not only would not accept that withdrawal, but ultimately ordered 21 days of home detention (later stayed by another authority) for contempt against that  general for correctly releasing the trio without first checking with judge Spath. I wrote more about this case in 2017, here. 

Rosa and Mary obtained relief from the D.C. Circuit in 2019 (In Re Spears & Eliades,  921 F.3d 224 (D.C. Cir. 2019), as a remedy for the conflict of interest of Judge Spath's (unrevealed to the defense in 2017) having had a pending application to be an immigration judge, through the same Justice Department involved in the prosecution of Mr. Al-Nashiri. What would have happened had that judicial conflict and related relief not taken place? Having been a contract lawyer rather than Defense Department employee, Rick Kammen separately obtained relief from Judge Spath's actions. 

Rosa continued until early this year doing criminal defense as a civilian lawyer with the U.S. Department of Defense's Military Commissions Defense Organization. Now she is based in Washington, D.C., with her solo law practice, also doing consulting for lawyers, with her company called Emergence Consultants. 

Rosa is the sixth among Trial Lawyers College attendees and instructors to appear on our podcast. Fairfax criminal lawyer Jon Katz attended in 1995. The TLC focuses heavily on winning through finding the persuasive story in our case, working closely with our clients, investing and integrating ourselves into our client's case and cause, discovery who we truly are as people and lawyers, and being our best real selves, engaging in psychodrama and scene re-enactment.

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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One of the two founders of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education -- Harvey Silverglate -- figured the group might no last much past ten years beyond its 1999 founding. Instead, Silverglate, describes the group -- renamed Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression  -- as having filled the gap that was left when the ACLU became more of a progressive organization and less of a free expression protector.

Fairfax criminal and DUI defense lawyer Jonathan Katz first met criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate over twenty years ago through their mutual membership in the Naitonal Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He met First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere -- now FIRE's chief counsel -- through their mutual membership in the First Amendment Lawyers Association, of which Bob is a past president. Both Bob and Harvey are CATO Institute scholars.

Jon Katz has advised a conservative student referred by FIRE, in his campus disciplinary proceeding when his private university trampled on his right to videotape a campus speaker and university-paid public figure when no advance warning had been made against such recording activity. Jon was also referred by FIRE to advise a state university professor whose First Amendment rights were violated by being suspended from his job due to an uproar by numerous alumni and members of the public after he appeared as an unwitting hotseat guest of the O'Reilly Factor (on which show Jon has twice appeared, and also has appeared twice on the Radio Factor.) Worse, the federal government zeroed in on this professor, and dragged him through a six month trial (which Jon did not handle) that resulted in acquittal on numerous counts and a hung jury (10-2) on some additional counts.

What becomes readily apparent in this Beat the Prosecution episode is that staying true to our principles helps criminal defense and civil liberties lawyers win in court. Harvey tells of the jury nullification that delivered him acquittals of around 30 people prosecuted for trespassing in the carrying away from the office of a Harvard dean in his chair, in protest over the Vietnam war, with the prosecutor then declining to prosecute the approximately 70 additional defendants. Bob tells about winning in the Supreme Court against a prosecution under a statute criminalizing the filming of dogfighting and other animal cruelty ("crush films"). Visit here to donate to FIRE and here to become a member. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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In this Beat the Prosecution episode, Fairfax, Virginia, criminal / DUI defense lawyer Jon Katz talks with the fifth public defender lawyer to be on this podcast. Arlington County, Virginia, senior public defender Michael Cash is a true believer in his clients and his work. His successful law school application to the University of Virginia Law School proclaimed his goal to do indigent criminal defense work. His story is riveting, including how he does public defender work for his profession, and public defender work on his free time. 

Michael recognizes that being a tireless advocate for our criminal defense clients can wear down the prosecution and bring us closer to successful negotiated case settlements. He enjoys creating and filing innovative motions that bring his clients closer to the yes of a desirable case outcome. Michael views public defender work as the greatest lawyer job. How many people say that about their jobs? 

When Jon Katz was a public defender lawyer for five years in a neighboring state early in his career, he thirsted to meet colleagues among public defenders in that state who expressed a strong preference for doing criminal defense work. Usually he found that elsewhere, at national criminal defense lawyer conferences. Now, throughout Virginia are public defender lawyers and private practicing lawyers expressing that devotion. 

Now, we need to narrow the gap in the pay and available support resources between public defender lawyers and court-appointed private practicing lawyers serving indigent criminal defendants in Virginia. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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"I lucked out with getting interviewed by a great host." Those are the words of this episode's guest Fredilyn "Fredi" Sison, upon speaking for the first time on a podcast. 

Fairfax, Northern Virginia, criminal / DUI defense lawyer Jonathan Katz has known Fredi for years. Jon Katz and Fredi Sison are both graduates -- from separate years -- of the multi-week Trial Lawyers College, when the TLC was still at Gerry Spence's beautiful Thunderhead Ranch, outside Dubois, Wyoming, before the schism that led to the TLC's operating elsewhere. Fredi for years taught at the TLC, continues teaching at the two-week Trial Practice Institute of the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) that Fredi and Jon attended in different years as students, and joined TLC grads Mary Peckham and Joane Garcia-Colson not only to organize women lawyer training and development sessions through the Three Sisters group, but also with Mary and Joane co-authored  Trial in Action: The Persuasive Power of Pyschodrama (Trial Guides, 2010). 

Fredi for years, worked as a trial lawyer at numerous public defender offices. She now is a solo practitioner in Asheville, North Carolina, primarily handling court appointments, not wanting ability to pay to come between her and her clients. 

With the conviction rate being so high in federal court, Fredi redefines the meaning of winning, for instance when that means obtaining a partial acquittal, or working so hard on a sentencing that her client returns home that night rather than spending a lenthy time warehoused in prison. 

Fredi believes strongly in the persuasive power of psychodrama -- which we covered in an April 2024 Beat the Prosecution episode -- and improvisational approaches. Her devotion to delivering great criminal defense is inspiring and infectious. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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For the first time on Fairfax, northern Virginia criminal / DUI defense lawyer Jonathan Katz's podcast, we have one of his former clients joining us. Susan Crane has engaged in four Plowshares peace actions and calculates that she has spent nearly a total of seven years of her life in jails and prisons. 

Jon Katz was honored to have co-counseled with Ramsey Clark and Anabel Dwyer in defending Susan, Jesuit Father Stephen Kelly, Elizabeth Walz, and Father Philip Berrigan in Susan's third Plowshares action, in 1999 hammering on two A-10 military aircraft, to convert them due to the depleted uranium missiles they were equipped to fire. Pretrial, Jon convinced the judge to dismiss the sabotage and conspiracy to commit sabotage counts against the defendants, leaving pending property destruction and conspiracy to commit property destruction counts, and an assault count against Susan that she got dismissed when the jury could not reach a verdict on that count. When the judge prevented the jury from hearing testimony from defense depleted uranium expert Douglas Rokke, the defendants dramatically shut down their participation in the trial. 

When prosecuted, Susan and all other Plowshares activists admit her actions, but insists that they were necessary and permitted under international law. We hear Susan's lessons for beating the prosecution from her heart-centered, engaging approach that cares deeply about everyone, including those who arrest her. She was ready to share information about depleted uranium with a soldier who was exposed to it. When hammering on material at a Lockheed Martin facility, Susan's fellow Plowshares activist Steve Kelly suggested that the employee in the room call security, lest he face job repercussions otherwise. That employee whispered to them that their action was courageous, and a circle of employees arrived and observed their actions, without stopping them, until security arrived. That is engagement. 

Susan is an active member of the Redwood City Catholic Worker. She has devoted her life to helping others, from peace actions, to Peace Corps work, to helping renovate squats. Jon encourages people to donate to a Catholic Worker center of your choosing. To donate to Susan's Catholic Worker center, select the Catholic Worker House- Redwood City box at this website. 

This episode is also available on YouTube and Apple podcasts. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675

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Fairfax, Northern Virginia criminal / DUI defense lawyer Jonathan Katz knows the benefit of mindfulness and meditative practice to beating the prosecution and to living a great life. Jon Katz's main mindfulness practice is taijiquan / t'ai chi chu'an yang style short form (also known as 37 posture Cheng Man Ch'ing / CMC taijiquan). Jon has also been involved with lawyers mindfulness gatherings. Jon also benefits from the practice of Self Identity Through Ho'oponopono. This practice helps develop razor sharp focus, deep listening, and clearing out one's internal gunk. Right here in the nation's capital area are some great mindfulness teachers, including through the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. Two of IMCW's best teachers are Jonathan Foust and his wife Tara Brach (on whose Finding True Refuge YouTube series Jon Katz appears in 2012), who teach and speak both separately and jointly.

Jon first met Jonathan Foust at the 2015 Mindful Leadership Conference in Northern Virginia, when Jon was taken by Jonathan's warm, soothingly bursting positive energy. Jonathan still deals with his own challenge with chronic migraines; hear in this interview how he handles it.

Early in this interview, Jonathan leads a great short meditation, focusing on the three approaches of focus, flow, and releasing. Everything flows wonderfully from there in this talk.

For over two decades, Jonathan lived in the Kripalu ashram community. He is devoted to helping others, and virtually weekly presents online mindfulness / meditation teachings, and also at times presents in-person retreats, including his Year of Living Mindfully program.

Jonathan here talks about persuading others through positively engaging with others and recognizing their unmet needs, and how criminal defense lawyers, criminal defendants and others can prepare ourselves well for the battle by going on retreat, which I view not only as daylong and weeklong retreats, but even micro-retreats during breathing pauses or longer.

You will thank yourself for listening to what Jonathan has to say. With the dana / donation tradition, Jon Katz recommends people to donate here to Jonathan. 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at [email protected], 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text). 

If you like what you hear on our Beat the Prosecution podcast, please take a moment to post a review at our Apple podcasts page (with stars only, or else also with a comment) at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beat-the-prosecution/id1721413675