In this drug case near Jacksonville, Florida, the defendant was arrested for sale of marijuana in 2007. However, the state did not file the marijuana charges until 2010. The criminal defense lawyer for the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the charges claiming that the three year delay was a…
Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook have had major impacts in criminal cases. People will post messages on their Facebook pages, or post messages to another’s Facebook page, that they would not want coming out in a criminal trial. However, if the message is relevant to an issue and…
The government has been using people’s cell phones to track their current locations, and past locations, for some time without a search warrant. When a person has a cell phone, it sends a ping to the nearest cell phone tower. Cell phones with GPS devices, which include most of them…
As criminal defense lawyers in the Jacksonville, Florida area, it is not uncommon for us to see cases that were initiated by police after a traffic stop because the vehicle’s windows were too darkly tinted. The police can stop a driver based on a reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation…
It is safe to say that most people in this country own a cell phone and use it to communicate in a variety of ways. There is a growing trend for people to cancel their landline phone numbers at home and rely exclusively on their cell phones. What people may…
In Florida, it is illegal for a person to record another person’s oral communications (whether on the phone or in person) without consent of all the parties to the conversation or a court order. If the police or any other person secretly records an incriminating statement of a defendant without…
In Florida, a defendant’s statement or confession is not admissible at a trial until the state sufficiently proves what is referred to as corpus delicti. Corpus delicti refers to the legal elements that are necessary to prove that a crime occurred. The state must first prove these legal elements with…
In theft cases and other cases where the defendant caused an economic loss to the victim, the judge will often put the defendant on probation and order him/her to pay restitution over time. Restitution is the money the defendant must pay back to the victim for the loss caused by…
In Florida, police officers are supposed to make arrests only within their own jurisdiction. For instance, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer is not permitted to make an arrest for a crime that takes place in Clay County or St. Augustine, Florida. However, there is an exception to the rule in…
As criminal defense lawyers in the Jacksonville and North Florida area, two of the most common crimes we see are possession of illegal drugs and delivery of illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. Hundreds of people in the Jacksonville and North Florida areas are put in jail…