If you are ever pulled over because a law enforcement officer suspects that you have been driving drunk, he or she may ask you to submit to a breathalyzer test. This test will determine the blood alcohol content (BAC) in your body. Some individuals do not wish to submit to these tests because they know that they are intoxicated....
Continue ReadingNot all drinks are created equal. It used to be that adults could make educated decisions about their levels of intoxication by understanding that 12 ounces of beer is equal in terms of alcoholic strength to five ounces of wine or a fairly standard 1.5 ounce shot of hard alcohol. However, this rule of thumb is no longer terribly...
Continue ReadingI vividly remember sitting in Professor Fletcher Baldwin’s Criminal Procedure at the University of Florida and learning about the warrant requirements of the Fourth Amendment. I seem to recall that without a warrant searches are presumed to be invalid. The issuance of a search warrant requires probable cause which must be demonstrated to a neutral magistrate. I bring this...
Continue ReadingAccording to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics the United States prison population is over two million people. That is almost equivalent to the next two highest prison populations in the world COMBINED. I know that as a country we always want to beat China (#2) and Russia (#3) but this is just absurd. Is our population more deviant...
Continue ReadingThe high-profile national advocacy organization Campaign for Youth Justice has singled out Florida’s criminal justice system as choosing to adjudicate more cases involving teen defendants in adult criminal courts than any other state’s justice system. It has deemed Florida’s aggressive approach to be a “clear outlier” among states who charge youths as adults for a variety ofjuvenile offenses. Florida...
Continue ReadingI was recently informed that Orange County is starting a Veteran’s Court and that Judge Brewer will oversee these cases. I want to thank Judge Brewer for taking on this challenge and look forward to working with him to help Veteran’s in our community. The Veteran’s Court is a diversion program that was established to help veterans who find...
Continue ReadingLaw enforcement sex crimes units just announced 25 arrests for traveling to meet a minor in the Tampa area. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) combined forces with the Department of Homeland security, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. FDLE is reporting that the majority of those accused have...
Continue ReadingOn July 30, 2013, a dividing U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that authorities do not need a warrant to obtain records detailing a cellphone location. The Court conducted a full evaluation of the Fourth Amendment rights in these circumstances. The authorities will have to obtain a court order as opposed to a warrant; a court...
Continue ReadingIt appears that Florida is the Kardashians of the Unites States. We just cannot be a boring low profile state who goes about its business and doesn’t make headlines. Why can’t we be more like Montana? When was the last time something crazy happened there? If a few months go by without us causing some sort of uproar, I’d...
Continue ReadingDrug charges can result in very serious consequences for individuals in Florida. Drug convictions can mean serving time in prison as well as living with the stigma of having a drug conviction on your criminal record for the rest of your life. A recent drug case in Florida is an example of the serious consequences individuals can face if...
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