Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Can You Get Domestic Violence Charges If Your Partner Does Not Call The Police In The Moment?
Those of us who grew up watching Cops came away with the impression that domestic violence cases closely follow a script. A couple gets into an argument that escalates into a physical fight. The wife calls the police as soon as the husband throws the first punch, or even before. The police arrive quickly… Read More »
Speed Demon Drivers Can Face Criminal Charges This Summer
If you have a need for speed, then this month is the time to get it out of your system. In July, new laws are going into effect in Florida that impose tougher criminal penalties on drivers who vastly exceed the speed limit, even when they are not under the influence of drugs or… Read More »
Emojis As Evidence In Criminal Cases
People who are old enough to remember face to face communication and real time phone conversations can tell you how frustrating it is to communicate by text message. The same words can have multiple meanings depending on context, and when someone is texting you, you cannot rely on the person’s tone of voice or… Read More »
Can Young Adults Catch A Break In The Criminal Justice System?
The law gives judges a range of possible sentences to hand down for each offense of which a defendant might get convicted. Likewise, if the jury convicts the defendant of several separate offenses that each carry prison time, such as wire fraud and drug possession with intent to deliver, the judge might order the… Read More »
To Prevent LSD Freakouts, Florida Lawmakers Go After Spores
Last summer, two boys from Indian River County, ages 12 and 14, went to the emergency room because they were experiencing psychotic symptoms. The boys had ingested hallucinogenic edibles, sold under the pretense that they contained psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound found in psilocybin mushrooms. When police tested the edibles in the crime lab, though,… Read More »
Proposed Legislation Targets Nonconsensual Sharing Of Sexually Explicit Deepfakes
Whether sexually themed content is offensive or harmless fun depends on context. We can get drunk at a party, laugh uproariously at off-color jokes, and play strip poker, but if the people at the table next to us were behaving in such a manner while we were trying to have a serious conversation with… Read More »
You Can Go Free On Bond Even After A Guilty Verdict
Last week was an emotional and financial rollercoaster for Kisean Anderson, a South Florida recording artist known by his stage name Sean Kingston. Anderson and his mother faced trial after pleading not guilty to wire fraud charges after prosecutors alleged that they defrauded businesses out of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury… Read More »
The Three Ps Of Drug Possession
Peace officers make almost two million drug arrests every year. 80 percent of these arrests are for simple possession. Field officers often believe that, since these arrests are easy to make, the cases are easy to prove in court. But as outlined below, that belief is seriously misguided. Prosecutors must establish three elements, two… Read More »
Are Swiss Bank Accounts A Red Flag For Fraud, Or Is The IRS Just Jealous?
It isn’t just your imagination if you think that ordinary people like us pay dearly for minor breaches of the rules, while the wealthy brazenly act like the laws of nations do not apply to them. Swiss bank accounts are a powerful symbol of this. People who can afford to do so stash their… Read More »
Man Faces Manslaughter Charges After Elderly Father Dies Of Neglect
Neglect of elderly, infirm people often results in legal investigations, but only in the most severe cases does someone get criminal charges for manslaughter. Providing adequate care for a medically vulnerable person is difficult when you have limited resources, and emotional burnout only makes it worse. This problem can happen in nursing homes or… Read More »
