Category Archives: Criminal Law
Copper Theft Is A Felony In Florida
It makes sense why people would want to steal gold. If this were not the case, then screenwriters would have to come up with new movie plots, and filmmakers would have to set the climactic sequences of action films somewhere besides a bank vault, even if it meant building new film sets. Likewise, it… Read More »
Supreme Court Ruling Offers A Second Chance For Defendants Convicted Before The First Step Act
A popular setup for fish out of water stories is that the protagonist returns home after spending a long time isolated from the outside world and finds out how much everything has changed; in some such stories, the protagonist has been in prison for a decade or more. In a documentary about a man… Read More »
The Trouble With Tianeptine
You know not to mess with heroin. Ever since your grandparents were old enough to read the newspaper, people have been dying of heroin overdoses or of apparently minor ailments at the bottom of a downward spiral caused by heroin addiction; heroin is also a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning that it is always… 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 »
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 »
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 »
What Are The 3 Standard Field Sobriety Tests?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has approved the three sobriety tests discussed in this post for use in DUI arrests. Officers often administer tests, such as Romberg’s balance test (the head back, eyes closed finger-to-nose test). Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus The DUI eye test accurately determines if the subject has nystagmus. However, police officers… Read More »
How Does Probation Work In Florida?
In a nutshell, probation in Florida is supervised release. Contrary to popular myth, probation is not a “slap on the wrist.” The conditions are so restrictive that being on probation isn’t much different than serving time in jail, except the cell is bigger and unlimited visitors are allowed. Additionally, because the conditions are so… Read More »
