The criminal defense attorneys of SLG Law often get calls from people asking us what they can and can’t do when it comes to recording people. A mother in Virginia recently found out the hard way that recording someone without their knowledge can lead to felony charges. According to the…
The Florida Time Union released a story with some eye-popping statistics relating to the use of pedestrian citations in the city’s most crime ridden areas of Jacksonville. Jacksonville criminal defense attorneys often challenge these pretextual stops, but the case law continues to generally support the use of profiling, as long…
In Florida, most DUI cases result from a police officer claiming to observe a person violate a traffic law. The police officer conducts a traffic stop, claims to observe signs of impairment from alcohol or drugs and then initiates a DUI investigation. DUI investigations normally involve various questions about where…
With some exceptions, police officers generally work for a county or city department. In Florida, we do have the Florida Highway Patrol and officers who work for multiple agencies and federal law enforcement officers, but most cases of common crime, like DUI cases, will involve a county or city police…
In Florida and other states, DNA can be a useful tool for the police and the prosecutors to use to determine who committed a crime. It is not used nearly as often as one might expect from watching TV shows, but it certainly does come in to play in some…
As many people know, the federal government classifies certain drugs according to a schedule. In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency is permitted by statute to make the rules which determine in which class a particular drug belongs. Criminal statutes and penalties are enacted based on those classifications. Schedule I…
Florida Gator head football coach recently told the media that he has received death threats following a few losses on the field. Coach Mac shrugged those threats off as part of the job, but he is probably quite concerned for the safety of his family. So what protection does Coach…
In Florida, the police can stop a driver if that officer observes the driver commit a traffic violation. This is a detention under search and seizure law, but it is justified based on the fact that the driver apparently committed a traffic violation. Many DUI cases start this way in…
In Florida, the definition of battery is very broad. Of course, if you hit a person or strike them in a violent way, that would qualify as a battery without a reasonable defense, like a valid self defense claim. But the Florida definition of battery also includes an unauthorized touching. …
In Florida, the police are generally not allowed to enter a person’s home to search or investigate a crime without permission from the homeowner or a valid search warrant. In some cases, the police cannot even go onto your property to search or investigate if the property is properly fenced…