Always begin by reading the jury instructions. Florida jury instructions are online and can be found by a simple Google or Bing search. All my clients read jury instructions with me at our first intake meeting. Burglary is a two-part crime: that means there are two separate crimes that must…
“Virtual Searches” are not searches under current search and seizure law: South Florida criminal judges are entering a brave new world. What becomes of someone arrested in Fort Lauderdale for possession of cocaine when the search that leads to evidence is not physical but “virtual”? When an officer enters a…
The most litigated area of criminal law in South Florida concerns when a court should grant a South Florida criminal defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. Criminal law is mostly constitutional law: and the most focused constitutional amendment is the right to be secure in one’s property and to be free…
Violations of probation and violations of community control result in a violation of probation warrant being issued by the circuit or county court judge who handled your case. In Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, a probation officer who is handling the case will submit a request for a violation of probation…
Hamlet: “My words fly up my thoughts remain below, thoughts without words never to heaven go”. Too subtle for the 4th DCA? In a long awaited response to judges who find all cops credible and all defendants not, the 4th missed its chance to send a clear message to Judges…
With apologies to Elmer Fudd and Disney we headline the news that Wikileaks founder Julian Asange announced on January 17th, 2011 that a former executive at a major Swiss Bank had turned over a computer disc containing 2000 names of prominent individuals who, allegedly, engaged in tax evasion through offshore…
Florida criminal law creates a separate category of crimes under the general category of Domestic Violence. Battery, which means an unlawful touching, and assault, which means putting another in fear of an unlawful touching, are the element crimes in Florida under Domestic Violence criminal laws. A battery is a misdemeanor…
Florida criminal statutes for cocaine possession have three basic levels: one for cocaine users (small personal amounts), a second level is for those who sell or give cocaine to another (for free or for money), that is called “delivery” or “sale”. The third level, which carriers a thirty –year sentence…
The most common violations of probation are: moving out of state without permission, failure to pay money before the last month of probation, and another arrest after placed on probation. Not every violation is enough to get you before a judge; some are considered “technical” and are not punished. However,…
If you are under twenty-one years at the time of sentencing you are eligible in Florida to request your criminal case be sentenced under Florida’s Youthful Offender Statute. Crimes committed in Florida by those less than twenty-one years old on the date of their sentencing can be sentenced under the…