Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Is Internet Real Estate Crime Conspiracy The New Organized Retail Theft?
In the old days, the courts recognized nonviolent petty crimes as acts of financial desperation and not of malevolence. Even in the nineteenth century, when Les Miserables was written, everyone understood that no one steals a loaf of bread in order to get rich; they do it because they are hungry and cannot afford… Read More »
This Year In Florida Cannabis Legislation
You wouldn’t know it from the smell of weed wafting from every living room and every pool deck in Tampa, but cannabis is still mostly illegal in Florida. So much has changed with cannabis laws that it is understandable that you can hardly keep track of all the latest developments, even if you have… Read More »
The Reid Technique Is As Scary As It Sounds, But You Have The Right Not To Get Drawn Into It
Perhaps you know someone who has a way of taking everything you say and do and interpreting it in a way that reflects negatively on you. Maybe you have a jealous ex who would accuse you of cheating whenever you came home late, but when you came home early, she said it was because… Read More »
“Altered Molly,” A New Synthetic Cathinone, Takes Over Florida
Today, it is possible to benefit from the research of scientists from all around the world, simply by searching the Internet. You can find thousands upon thousands of published studies with a simple Google search, some of them on websites that do not even require a subscription, and if you read them carefully enough,… Read More »
How Brady Disclosures Can Help You Get Acquitted
Somewhere, an aspiring screenwriter has stayed up late reading Kafka and has an idea for a screenplay. The entire movie takes place in an interrogation room. In a variation of the Reid technique, the investigator outlines several scenarios by which the defendant might have committed the crime and asks the defendant to choose which… Read More »
Probable Cause And Florida Criminal Cases
What all defendants have in common at the beginning of their criminal cases is that they may have committed a crime. If it were obvious to everyone that you were innocent, and no one ever suspected you of anything, you would not be in criminal court. After meeting with your lawyer, you might decide… Read More »
What Does It Mean When Your Case Ends In Nolle Prosequi?
Is getting acquitted the best possible outcome in a criminal case? Yes and no. If you plead not guilty to criminal charges, and the jury returns a verdict of not guilty at trial, then you are cleared of the charges forever. Even if investigators later find incriminating evidence that the prosecution did not present… Read More »
Pill Presses: Harmless Ecommerce Gig Or Drug Trafficking Paraphernalia?
If drug users are creative enough, almost anything can be drug paraphernalia. Everyone has a friend of a friend who turned an apple into a pipe for smoking weed. If you are making pot brownies, then a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix from the dollar store is drug paraphernalia. Pill presses are different. … Read More »
How To Get Post-Conviction Relief In Florida
You don’t have to be a criminal justice reform activist to know that some of the people who receive criminal penalties have been wrongfully convicted. Almost anyone who has served time in prison has met numerous inmates who complain that some aspect of their trial or sentence was unfair, even though, as the stereotype… Read More »
Are You Obstructing Justice If You Just Go About Your Business Until Your Trial?
In some comedy sketches, authority figures seem determined to punish the common man for any and every little thing, and when the everyman character dares to ask why, the tyrant keeps issuing more and more demerits until a ridiculous number of them pile up. The likes of Franz Kafka also wrote about similar situations,… Read More »