Category Archives: Criminal
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Florida Law Does Not Consider Product Tampering A Harmless Prank
On April Fools Day, it’s fun to fill the sugar container with salt and wait until your parents figure out why their coffee tastes weird, but in the eyes of the law, product tampering is no joke. If you intentionally tamper with a consumer product, you can be charged with a second-degree felony, and… Read More »
Directed Verdicts Are An Eleventh Hour Victory For The Defendant
If your case goes to trial, your greatest hope is that the jury will deliver a verdict of not guilty. Once the jury goes to the jury chambers to deliberate, it is anyone’s guess what the verdict will be, but at least you will know how your case ends. Until the moment the trial… Read More »