Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Florida’s Hope Card Program Is Here, But You Are Still Innocent Until Proven Guilty
When politicians and party guests rant about the importance of being tough on crime, the part they miss is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Lonely people in online discussion groups can think of an endless array of minor misdeeds to criminalize and harsh punishments to mete out in… Read More »
Failure To Appear In Court
The identifying characteristic of Florida Man is that he commits minor criminal offenses in outlandish ways. The most recent manifestation of Florida Man to go viral online is Joseph Malinowski, who got arrested for trespassing at a dock in Tampa, and is also facing criminal charges for two counts of failure to appear in… Read More »
What Is Unlawful Carry Of A Weapon?
People sometimes use the expression “smoking gun” to mean clear evidence of a crime, but in most cases, the mere presence of a firearm is not a violation of the law. Whether it is legal to carry a weapon depends on context. For example, you lose the right to buy or own firearms if… Read More »
If Gabapentin Isn’t A Controlled Substance, Is Gabapentin Abuse A Crime?
Whether a drug is listed as a controlled substance is not determined entirely by its chemical composition; it is whether federal and state authorities consider the drug dangerous enough to subject it to tighter restrictions than those surrounding most pharmaceutical drugs. If extraterrestrials were to arrive in Florida and examine the molecular structure of… Read More »
Prosecutors Behaving Badly
You have probably heard terrible stories on the news about prosecutors bribing inmates serving life sentences with promises of parole in exchange for falsely testifying against defendants who, if convicted, could suffer an even worse fate. Prosecutorial misconduct is not always this egregious, and it can happen in legal matters where there is less… Read More »
Why Worry About Mega Opioids When There Is Rhino Tranq?
Mass communication and the ease of air travel have flattened many of the differences that make each city in the world unique. You can travel almost anywhere and find kids eating some of the same packaged snack foods, cheering for the same sports teams, and laughing at the same Internet memes as the ones… Read More »
Getting Caught With Drugs Isn’t A Fluke If It Happens Multiple Times
If you get arrested for drug possession for the first time, there is still time to reverse course. Silently count the minutes until you can meet privately with a criminal defense lawyer, and then a world of possibilities will open up. The whole thing may blow over quickly; the court may simply dismiss your… Read More »
The Fourth Amendment And Your Smartphone
You may have seen those cartoon drawings about online privacy that show search engines as a frenemy that compiles volumes of embarrassing and prospectively incriminating information about you. If you ever want to see a person’s worst side, look at an electronic device with which he or she connects to the Internet. If the… Read More »
You Can Establish Reasonable Doubt Even With Imperfect Research Methodology
If you ask people who have burned out of careers in academia what made them leave the career that was once their passion, the ones whose job duties consistently mostly of teaching will say that it was because, as time went on, their students devoted more and more time to cheating and complaining and… Read More »
Is Medical Molly The New Medical Marijuana? Not Yet!
A certain type of entrepreneurial mind thrives on the cultivation of brand identity; there is a reason that marketing is such a popular college major. For such people, designing logos, store décor, and product names for medical cannabis dispensaries must be an endless source of inspiration, even if they have never smoked a joint… Read More »