In Florida, the a defendant may use the defense of duress, or coercion, to just about any crime except homicide. As a result, a defendant cannot argue to a jury that someone forced him/her to kill another person, but it can be used in most other situations, where it applies.…
Every now and then we hear of cases where the state obtains good evidence against a defendant because the defendant made statements that he/she thought were private but could be overheard by the police. The more obvious examples are the calls made by jail inmates to friends and relatives outside…
At trials in criminal cases, the state will attempt to use whatever evidence it can to show that the defendant is guilty of the crime(s) with which he/she is charged. What such evidence consists of depends on the nature of the case. For example, in a recent case near Jacksonville,…
In criminal cases in Florida, hearsay evidence is defined as evidence of an out of court statement offered in court to establish the truth of what was stated. The general rule is that such hearsay evidence is not admissible in court. However, there are many exceptions to this general rule,…
When criminal defense attorneys handle bond hearings, they may not call witnesses on their own, and the state may not call witnesses for the criminal defense lawyer to cross-examine. At bond hearings, the issue to be decided is the bond amount the defendant needs to post in order to be…
In Florida, communications between a lawyer and his/her client are general privileged. This means that neither the state, the judge, the jury, the other party nor anyone else has a right to discover what has been said or otherwise communicated between a client and his/her attorney. This is obviously crucial…
In Florida, a police officer may have a recording device in his/her vehicle. This obviously becomes important if the defendant makes statements after an arrest while sitting in the police car, whether to the officer, to another person detained in the vehicle or in any other context. Can the state…
In criminal cases, the state may try and speak with the defendant’s spouse to obtain critical evidence against the defendant. However, in Florida there is a spousal privilege which limits the state’s ability to obtain testimony from one spouse against another spouse who is charged with a crime. However, this…
Most people are familiar with the word hearsay as they have heard the term on TV shows and other places. The evidentiary rules regarding hearsay are often misunderstood, not just by the general public, but also by lawyers. Basically, hearsay is a statement by a person not in court that…
In Florida, in a lewd or lascivious molestation or battery case, or a sexual battery case, the credibility of the victim’s testimony is often the most critical factor in the case. In many of these cases, the victims are children who may be less predictable in the things they say…