Recent Blog Posts
Federal Government Considers Removing Cannabis From Schedule I Controlled Substances Category
Controlled substances are drugs considered dangerous enough that the law subjects their sale and consumption to more restrictions than it does with ordinary consumer products. The Controlled Substances Act classifies controlled substances into five different categories, known as schedules. Schedules II through V are pharmaceutical drugs with approved medical uses, but which also have… Read More »
Two Broward Men Face Charges In UberEats Scam
If you or I were to try to scam UberEats, we would probably claim that we never received our food, so that UberEats would send us a replacement meal and not make us pay for it, or else it would give us a refund, so we could get our next delivery meal free. If… Read More »
Retired Lawyer Pleads Guilty To Financial Crimes Related To An Investment Scheme
All defendants in criminal cases have the right to plead not guilty and go to trial, but more than 90 percent of defendants plead guilty. It is not only the defendants who cannot afford their own lawyers and are represented by public defenders who plead guilty; some of this number includes wealthy defendants who… Read More »
Florida Woman Pleads Guilty To Financial Crimes After Living Under False Identity For More Than A Decade
In the movie Identity Thief, Jason Bateman plays a nebbish named Sandy Patterson who realizes that he has unknowingly revealed his identifying information to a scam artist, played by Melissa McCarthy. Throughout most of the movie, McCarthy’s character convinces almost everyone she meets that she is the real Sandy Patterson. In real life, most… Read More »
What Is Sexual Cyber Harassment?
If you want the Internet to barf out large volumes of shareable content in a short span of time and people to share said content frantically with the members of their families who are most averse to clickbait, just put the prefix “sex” or “cyber” in front of a common word. Cyberbullying? Yikes! Sexting? … Read More »
Driving An Oldsmobile In The 80s Is Not A Crime
In the summer of 1988, Anissia Johnson and Vincent Wright were robbed at gunpoint by two men. After the robbery, the robbers got into an Oldsmobile that quickly sped away. The driver of the Oldsmobile never got out of the car, and the victims did not see him from up close. Several weeks later,… Read More »
Making Threats Is Extortion, Except When It’s Your Job
In certain professions, it is your job to lie. You would not make it very far as a hairstylist, politician, call girl, or professional gambler if your words and your facial expressions always revealed the truth. Of course, the First Amendment right to freedom of speech protects your right to say things that you… Read More »
Depositions In Florida Criminal Cases
A trial is only the final step in a criminal case, and most cases resolve before the case gets to trial, either because the state decides to drop the charges or because the defendant decides to accept a plea deal. Before the trial is an information-finding process called discovery. The prosecution and defense must… Read More »
Florida Wiretapping Laws
“This call may be recorded for quality or training purposes.” When you hear these words, you dread what comes next, namely a customer service representative giving you the runaround, so that, if you lose your temper, the call center can play the recording of the call for new employees in training to show them… Read More »
How The Sixth Amendment Protects Defendants In Criminal Cases
If you have had any interactions with the criminal justice system, you are probably painfully aware of the ways in which it does not live up to its ideals of justice. A conviction for a nonviolent crime and a sentence that does not involve prison time can still be a lifelong financial burden. Many… Read More »
