Author Archives: Jay Butchko
You Are Innocent Until Proven Guilty, Even If The Charges Are For Sex Crimes
If you get accused of a crime in the United States, you have the right to the presumption of innocence and to due process of law. This is true regardless of your immigration status, the crime for which you are facing accusations, and the apparent strength of the prosecution’s evidence against you. Some criminal… Read More »
Medetomidine And Your Florida Drug Case
One of the most fun things you can do while high on weed is sit around and reminisce with your friends about all the things the teachers of your drug education course got wrong about drugs and how self-assured they sounded about it all. If you graduated from high school before the COVID-19 pandemic… Read More »
Giving Advice Can Be Part Of A Drug Trafficking Conspiracy
Most of the legal drugs mentioned at indictments, arraignments, and criminal trials are legal in some circumstances. Schedule I drugs, such as heroin and MDMA, are always illegal, but the other four schedules of controlled substances include pharmaceutical drugs that are medically useful enough to have legally approved medical applications but dangerous enough that… Read More »
Is Fentanyl Finally Loosening Its Grip On Florida?
If you need evidence that times change, think about the things that people feared a generation ago, or even more. In the 1980s, schools received a windfall of funding to ensure that children were terrified of crack cocaine; in those days, HIV was the deadliest disease one could imagine, even though the stereotypes about… Read More »
Second Chances Shouldn’t Just Be For Rich Kids
At Thanksgiving dinner, when enough alcohol flows, the grandparents start spilling secrets about the foolish and sometimes dangerous things their children did as young adults, and the grandchildren begin to see their parents in a whole new light. 19-year-old you bears little resemblance to 40-year-old you, and 40-year-old you is probably thankful for this. … Read More »
BIN Attacks: A New Form Of Credit Card Fraud
Especially around the holidays, people are hastening to retail stores and ecommerce websites with stolen credit cards and seeing how much loot they can buy before they get caught. Likewise, banks are on high alert for fraudulent charges. You have probably gotten some texts or emails this season that were obviously scams, some messages… Read More »
Nebbia Holds And Your Florida Criminal Defense Case
Facing criminal charges is nerve wracking under any circumstances, but it is exponentially worse when you watch the minutes until your trial creeps by, punctuated only by meetings with your criminal defense lawyer, from inside a jail cell. It is easier to tolerate if you can move about somewhat freely, even within your own… Read More »
Habeas Corpus And Your Florida Criminal Case
Students in civics classes tend to associate the Fifth Amendment with the right to avoid incriminating yourself, but there is more to the Fifth Amendment than that; it does more than just grant you the right to plead the Fifth when lying would get you into even worse trouble. The Fifth Amendment also contains… Read More »
Tips For Avoiding Escalation At A Traffic Stop
Traffic stops by police are not inherently conducive to justice. A police car can appear out of nowhere, flashing its blue lights at you, and put you on the defensive. Somewhere in Florida, a car is lawfully merging lanes on one of Florida’s highways as long, wide, and constricting as the deadliest anaconda in… Read More »
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 »