In Florida, when a person gets arrested for DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs), he/she is taken to jail and booked into the jail. Only after the arrest and being processed into the jail is the person offered a breathalyzer test to measure a person’s blood alcohol…
In Florida, robbery is a serious felony charge. Many people misunderstand the differences among robbery, theft and burglary. A theft generally occurs when you steal something from a person outside of their presence, or not in their possession. If you leave your phone on your desk and go to the…
As many people are aware, marijuana is slowly becoming more acceptable, and legal, around the country. Ironically, and contradictorily, states that consider themselves “conservative”, as in for smaller government, seem to be the most reluctant to get the government out of people’s right to possess and use this plant. But,…
When a police officer pulls a driver over in Florida and believes that the driver is impaired from alcohol or drugs, that police officer will begin a DUI investigation. We would like to say that this is an objective evaluation of whether the driver is impaired, but most often, it…
In Florida, drug possession cases can be proven in two different ways. A person can be found guilty of a drug charge based on actual possession. Actual possession of a drug is what it sounds like. A person is holding the drugs or has them in his/her pocket or some…
In Florida, a person who is on probation for a crime does lose some of his/her constitutional rights. For instance, any other person has the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in his/her home. This means that a police officer or other agent of the state cannot…
In Florida, it is illegal for someone who has been convicted of a felony crime to own or possess a firearm. This applies to any felony conviction, so if a person who lives in Florida has a prior felony conviction from any other state, that will still prevent the person…
When a person in Florida gets arrested for a crime, the police are generally permitted to search him/her. This is considered a search incident to an arrest, and it allows the police officer to search the suspect to make sure the suspect does not possess anything that could harm the…
In Florida, the police are not generally allowed to enter a person’s residence without a valid search warrant or consent to enter and search by the owner or someone with authorization to give the consent to the police. Perhaps the strongest privacy rights and right to be free from unreasonable…
When both sides to a criminal case finish presenting evidence, questioning the other side’s witnesses and making their arguments, the jury goes into the jury room to deliberate and try to reach a verdict. They use their memories of and notes from the testimony, the law that is read to…