Recent Blog Posts
Newly Enacted Florida Law Categorizes Eight Synthetic Opioids As Schedule I Controlled Substances
The classification of drugs on the five schedules listed in the Controlled Substances Act has less to do with their chemical composition or its potency than with its accepted medical uses and its abuse potential. Schedule I controlled substances are widely abused but have no legally accepted uses in medicine. Schedule II controlled substances… Read More »
Can You Get Criminal Charges For Breach Of Fiduciary Duty?
If you have a fiduciary duty to someone, you probably know it, even if you have never heard the word “fiduciary.” Fiduciary duty is a legal responsibility not to mishandle someone else’s money, and the duty applies when you have access to someone else’s money in a formal capacity. If your job requires you… Read More »
Indian River County Woman Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud For Her Role In Romance Scam
The world changes more quickly than the names of laws do. For example, you can be charged with wire fraud if there is evidence that you knowingly made false statements for your own financial gain, and the medium of communication through which you made those statements could, in theory, be attached to a wire. … Read More »
Will My Case Go To State Or Federal Court?
Most of the laws that affect your daily life are state laws, rather than federal ones. Case in point, federal law categorizes cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning that it is never legal, not even for medical use. Despite this, the majority of states have cannabis dispensaries of some sort, and as… Read More »
When Prosecution Witnesses Have Ulterior Motives, The Truth Will Prevail
Perjury is a crime, so why would someone lie on the witness stand? It turns out that there are lots of reasons a witness might make false statements to make a defendant appear guilty. Perhaps the witness is trying to conceal his or her own criminal activity by pinning the crime on the defendant. … Read More »
U.S. Senate Introduces Bill To Prevent Organized Retail Theft
It is difficult for anyone, even for prosecutors who go to great lengths to cultivate an image of being tough on crime, to argue that stealing merchandise from a retail store makes someone a danger to society. It is possible that, by charging you with all kinds of scary sounding offenses, such as retail… Read More »
What Floridians Should Know About The Kratom Consumer Protection Act
Kratom, which is the common name for the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree and products derived from them, has been at the center of legal controversies in recent years. M. speciosa is native to Southeast Asia and is a close relative of the Coffea genus of plants from which coffee is derived. In… Read More »
Broward County Pastor Faces Criminal Charges For Allegedly Forging Quit Claim Deed
Statistically speaking, criminal defense lawyers are not most likely to utter the words “quit claim deed” in a courtroom. In fact, if you know what a quit claim deed is, you probably found out about them while engaging the services of a family law attorney or estate planning lawyer. Quit claim deeds transfer ownership… Read More »
Clinic Owner And Respiratory Therapist Accused Of Medicaid Fraud
Healthcare billing in the United States is anything but a straightforward matter. Just try to make sense of a bill that you have received from a doctor’s office or hospital. When you call your insurance company to try to figure out why your bill is so expensive, you end up still responsible for paying… Read More »
At What Point Does Research Misconduct Become A Crime?
Time-consuming assignments present all kinds of temptations to cheat, especially when grades or money are at stake. It’s easy to feel superior to the rich kids in college and in private high schools that pay other people to do their assignments for them, but how sure are you that you would not do the… Read More »
