June 28, 2018
Stand Your Ground is changing and has recently been the subject of great debate because the Florida Legislature and the Florida Courts are battling it out. How Is Stand Your Ground Proven? As a basic procedural principal, in a criminal trial, the State of Florida (the prosecution) must prove every element of the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Prior to the recent changes, if a defendant raised the affirmative defense of self-defense by standing his ground (he or she claims to have had no alternative but to use deadly force to defend him or herself), the defendant had to […]
February 3, 2018
The idea that you can only be arrested for DUI (Driving Under the Influence) while operating a motor vehicle is a common fallacy that has garnered widespread discussion. This notion was recently highlighted when police in Lakeland, Florida arrested a woman for riding her horse down a busy highway while intoxicated. Polk County police charged the 53-year-old woman with drunk driving, even though she was on a horse, not driving a car. Multiple drivers called into the police station to report the woman after close-calls were made by cars swerving around her horse. Upon arriving at the scene, officers had […]
January 24, 2018
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Florida State University quarterback Deondre Francois was recently investigated for a domestic violence incident. The report states that he was accused of committing domestic violence, specifically, battery on a pregnant woman. As with a large number of similar cases, there were conflicting reports and accounts of the incident and no charges have been filed. Under Florida Statute 741.28 domestic violence includes battery and agrevated battery of one family or household member by another family or household member. Family or household members include husbands or wives, ex-wives and ex-husbands, people related by blood or marriage, people living together as a […]
July 6, 2017
Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images On Wednesday, Rob Kardashian posted some sexually explicit photographs of his ex, Blac Chyna, on Instagram. These actions could carry steep consequences for him. This type of conduct, where an individual deliberately distributes sexually explicit material of an ex or spouse without that person’s consent, is commonly referred to as “Revenge Porn.” Many people are wondering if Kardashian could now be facing criminal charges for distributing these illicit images to his massive audience of over 8.9 million Instagram followers. In the state of California, Revenge Porn is considered a criminal act, a misdemeanor punishable by up to […]
June 20, 2017
Florida Governor Rick Scott just signed a bill on Friday that will allow individuals with sealed records to have their mugshot removed from websites without having to pay a fee. The bill takes effect on July 1, 2018. As a criminal defense attorney, I believe the legislature made the right decision by enacting this law. In fact, the legislature also allowed for a $1,000 per day penalty (that goes to the general revenue fund) for those websites who don’t comply with the new law. The process to have your mugshot removed from one these websites that typically charges a fee […]
June 16, 2017
On a recent trip to Denver, I stood in a long line waiting to get through security. I saw person after person put their carry-on through the x-ray machine and then walk through the full body scanner. What came to mind is the fact that the state Colorado had recently legalized recreational marijuana, yet no person that I saw was stopped for bringing marijuana through security. This made me think either people aren’t doing it, TSA doesn’t catch it or TSA doesn’t care. This was just my observation, so that’s when I began to do a little research on the topic. […]
May 23, 2017
Stealthing is loosely defined as the act of a man taking off the condom during sexual intercourse without the knowledge of the partner. Stealthing is a phenomenon that has recently hit the news cycle because of a study that looked its prevalence in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. An Appeals Court in Switzerland found it not be rape but defilement. And Law makers in Wisconsin and California proposed legislation to make it a crime. But is it currently a crime in Florida? “Stealthing” As A Form Of Rape Rape is essentially the crime of sexual battery and defined as the penetration […]
May 7, 2017
What is Carfentanil? The newest drug on the street is Carfentanil. Carfentanil is an Opiod that is intended for use on Elephants. It is 10,000 times more potent than Morphine and 100 times more potent than Fentanyl. Carfentanil is so deadly that first responders are having to take precautions in responding to overdoses to prevent them from inhaling it. Last week the Florida Legislature passed a bill that made Drug Trafficking in Fentanyl illegal. In that bill they included Carfentanil. Carfentanil is a derivative of Fentanyl. While Carfentanil is supposed to be difficult to obtain, it is currently coming in predominantly from China. Considerations […]