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After attending a great mid-August mountain retreat celebrating Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) with several hundred people -- complete with kirtan with Krishna Das (lead singer of the precursor to Blue Oyster Cult), Nina Rao, David Nichtern (who wrote "Midnight at the Oasis", for starters) and more; talks by Robert Thurman and more; and a deep rapport with many -- Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz returned from the mountains and found himself repeating old patterns in dealing with such challenges as tailgating drivers.

Three weeks later, Jon Katz joined his friend and peace teacher Jun Yasuda for a whole weekend at her battery-recharging peace pagoda in upstate New York, where the days were filled with mindful eating, doing concrete work, stacking wood, driving through the beautiful mountains to Bennington, VT for supplies, and repeatedly chanting the Odaimoku and sections of the Lotus Sutra. By then, Jon got back on track with the importance of focusing on both an open heart and internal peacefulness -- together with keeping touch with like-minded people -- as the way to integrate this practice in dealing with challenging people and situations, where sometimes the most challenging people are really ourselves. This applies well both to his personal life and life as a criminal defense lawyer.

Blessing us in joining this Beat the Prosecution episode is Raghu Markus, a friend of the late Ram Dass and executive director of the Ram Dass Love Serve Remember Foundation (donate here and subscribe here to the foundation's extensive learning material). Raghu talks about connecting with Ram Dass and their mutual guide Neem Karoli Baba (Mahara-ji), how Raghu's father's joining Raghu and Mahara-ji in India marked a turning point in their father-son relationship, and how Raghu also can be challenged in fully applying his lessons from Mahara-ji in dealing with challenging situations. This is about constant daily practice, work, and connecting with like-minded people.

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 info@KatzJustice.com, 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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When Fairfax criminal defense / DUI lawyer Jonathan Katz joined with Ramsey Clark in defending the Plowshares activists for their 2000 criminal jury trial for their depleted uranium action, one of the group's supporters suggested getting ideas from lawyer David Walsh-Little , who served as standby trial counsel to the Gods of Metal Plowshares Five in 1998. In the interim, Jon instead consulted with another lawyer who had defended a slew of political activists.

Now, twenty-five years later, Jon Katz for the first time talks with David Walsh-Little, about winning with a devotion to true justice. David and his wife met in college and organized against Gulf War I when Jon was visiting peace protestors during lunchtime across from the White House, three blocks from the corporate law firm where Jon then worked, several months before Jon transitioned to his true love of criminal defense, with a nearby public defender's office. David became a public defender lawyer, and then transitioned to running a legal office from the Viva Catholic Worker House in Baltimore, followed by returning to public defender work at the state and then federal levels, and now in his solo law practice. In law school, David worked for William Kunstler and Ron Kuby.

David does not see a secret to beating the prosecution beyond full devotion to our clients and strong experience. He makes a good point about the times that prosecutors ensnare themselves in weakness. David is a progressive lawyer and a true believer in the work he does. This episode is also available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmJnytznE2c .

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 info@KatzJustice.com, 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, Virginia criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz's teacher Gerry Spence lived until 96 years, and transitioned from his body on August 13, 2025. Gerry has had a profound and lifelong impact on Jon Katz's personal and professional lives, as he has had on thousands of people's lives.

Great public defender lawyer Shalev Ben-Avraham in this episode joins Jon Katz in diving deep in illustrating the great gifts from Gerry and in deeply thanking and bowing to him.

No liner note substitute exists for listening to what Jon and Shalev have to say in this episode.

This video is also available on YouTube and on Apple Podcasts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk_U4BajNnI

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gerry-spences-gifts-live-on-talk-by-his-students-jon/id1721413675?i=1000722965208

This video is also available on YouTube and on Apple Podcasts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk_U4BajNnI

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gerry-spences-gifts-live-on-talk-by-his-students-jon/id1721413675?i=1000722965208

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 info@KatzJustice.com, 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