The Fourth Amendment and the Florida constitution provide that people have a right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures conducted by the state. There are thousands of court cases that interpret what exactly this means in the context of the different police encounters. As a general rule, the…
Most people have heard of the “black box” or “event data recorder” after airplane crashes. It is a device that records information about the plane that helps investigators determine how and why a crash occurred. What many people may not know is that cars often have black box recorders as…
In Florida and elsewhere, when a suspect is arrested, he/she has a constitutional right to remain silent and consult a lawyer before making any statements or making any important decisions about the case. In fact, for just about every defendant in a criminal case, this is exactly what a suspect…
Whether through books or TV shows or movies, most people in Florida have heard the Miranda warnings and understand that the police are supposed to read them to a suspect after he/she has been arrested. It is important that the police inform people of their constitutional rights upon their arrest. …
In Florida, most DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs) cases are the result of a police officer claiming to observe a suspect violating some traffic law while driving, after which the officer conducts a traffic stop and DUI investigation. Other times, which occur in the Jacksonville, Florida…
After a person is convicted of a crime in Florida, whether as a result of a guilty or no contest plea or a jury trial, it is up to the judge to determine the defendant’s sentence. Of course, if the criminal defense lawyer and the prosecutor work out a deal…
In Florida, when a police officer stops a driver and suspects that he/she is driving while impaired from alcohol or drugs, that police officer will go through the normal DUI investigation. That typically includes various questions about what the driver has been doing, where he/she has been and how much…
As readers of this blog know, we have written extensively on issues relating to marijuana and the legalization of marijuana. It is a particularly relevant topic these days as more states legalize marijuana either recreationally, or as Florida did in the 2016 election, for medicinal purposes. It is our belief…
When most people think of the crime of burglary, they think it involves someone breaking into a home or other building and stealing something that is inside. In fact, in Florida the crime of burglary is much broader than that. First, it can involve just about any building, including vacant…
In alleged DUI cases that involve serious accidents, the police are often not able to perform their usual DUI investigations which include field sobriety tests and a breathalyzer test, if the suspect consents to them. If the suspect is in no condition to perform those tests due to injuries from…