When a defendant in Florida pleads guilty or no contest to a crime, or goes to trial and is convicted by a jury, the next step is for the judge to sentence that defendant. Most sentences for crimes other than minor misdemeanors involve incarceration, probation or both. When a defendant…
A twenty seven year old soccer coach has been arrested for interference with the custody of a minor after leaving Jacksonville, Florida with a 17 year old girl. Mr. Rodriguez’s criminal defense lawyer will surely challenge any allegation that the girl was taken against her will or that there was…
In Florida, there are certain crimes that require a judge to sentence the defendant to sex offender therapy if the defendant is convicted of the crime, i.e. either enters a plea of guilty or no contest to the charge or is convicted of the charge at trial. Normally, these sex…
In Florida, the state must commence prosecution of a suspect within a certain period of time from the date a crime is committed or reported. That period of time is referred to as the statute of limitations. It provides that the state must prosecute a suspect within a certain period…
In Florida, it is a serious felony crime to travel either within a state or across state lines to meet a minor, or a person believed to be a minor, to engage in unlawful sexual activity. These cases are often the Craigslist cases where an undercover officer will pretend to…
It is certainly not a popular thing to say that the Florida sexual molestation crimes are too severe. However, there is a certain category of sex offender cases that result from overzealous and misguided prosecutions. Consider a situation where an eighteen year old kid, considered an adult under the law,…
In a recent case south of Jacksonville, Florida, police arrested the defendant for offering to engage in prostitution for money. In this case, an undercover police officer contacted the defendant to engage her for prostitution over the phone. They met in a hotel room where the police had set up…
In cases involving illegal sexual contact between an adult and a minor, often brought as sexual battery or lewd or lascivious molestation charges, one issue that often comes up is whether the alleged victim made prior false accusations of a sexual nature against someone else in the past. Anyone charged…
In Florida, if a person is convicted of certain sex crimes involving minors, that person is required by law to become a sex offender which means that he/she must comply with the sex offender registration requirements and other rules for the rest of his/her life. These are very burdensome and…
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…