In Florida and elsewhere, the general rule for searches and seizures is that the police cannot search a person’s property without a search warrant or specific consent from a person with the proper authority to give such consent. There are exceptions to that rule depending on the circumstances, but the…
In Florida, it is illegal for anyone to possess a “weapon” at school or a school-sponsored event without authorization. A violation of this criminal statute is a third degree felony that carries up to five years in prison. There are a variety of items that are considered “weapons” under the…
In Florida, there are a variety of criminal statutes that deal with fraudulently using a credit card or altering a credit card to use it in an unauthorized manner. When a defendant allegedly violates one of these criminal statutes, it is up to the state to make sure they charge…
In Florida, the state has a certain period of time from the date a crime has occurred to prosecute the defendant. Like other states, Florida has statutes of limitation which set out a number of years within which the state must prosecute a person for committing certain crimes. The period…
Some people in Florida believe they are only at risk of a DUI arrest if they are caught driving on the public roads by a police officer while impaired from alcohol or drugs. That is not true. A person does not even need to be driving to be arrested and…
Police officers like marijuana arrests because they are easy- they don’t require much work, they don’t require much thought, and they don’t require much, if any, investigation. This is one of many reasons why dealing with the war on drugs that primarily serves to waste money and increase the size…
In Florida, we have a law commonly known as the accident report privilege. In all crashes that involve an injury or significant property damage, the police officer responding to the crash must prepare a crash report that documents information about the crash and the people involved. When a person is…
The Constitution provides that no person can be compelled to make any incriminating statements against him/herself. This means that when the police believe a person was involved in a crime and want to ask him/her questions about it, that person has a right to refuse to talk to the police. …
In Florida, a person enjoys special protection from illegal searches and seizures in his/her home or other residence. At a minimum, this means that police officers and other agents of the state cannot just come into a person’s residence looking for evidence of criminal activity without a search warrant or…
In Florida, a theft is a felony offense, known as grand theft, if the value of the property stolen was $300 or more. If the value of the property is significantly higher, the offense can be a second degree felony or a first degree felony depending on the circumstances. If…