Every now and then, as criminal defense lawyers in Jacksonville, Florida, we get possession of drug or drug trafficking cases that involve someone sending a package containing drugs through the mail. Sometimes, the package of illegal drugs is actually addressed to a specific person. Other times, the drug package is…
In Florida, the police are limited in what and when they can search items that belong to you. Obvious examples include your house, your vehicle and your person. The police are not permitted to search any of those things unless they have a search warrant, they have consent from someone…
It does not happen often, and I have only seen one case of a Jacksonville criminal defense lawyer being held in contempt, but a judge does have a right to hold a lawyer in contempt and send him/her to jail for a period of time for certain conduct in Florida.…
In Florida, a defendant charged with a crime of violence may be allowed to use the law commonly referred to as the Stand Your Ground Law to avoid prosecution for an alleged crime. The immunity aspect of this law is critical as it works differently than a normal defense. Essentially,…
In a word, no. The University of Michigan conducts an annual survey regarding drug use among teenagers. The special interests against marijuana legalization, i.e. pharmaceutical companies that want people using their processed drugs rather than the naturally growing marijuana plant, along with the politicians to whom those special interests pay…
In Florida, an owner of property has strong constitutional privacy rights in his/her property. This means that, with few exceptions, the police cannot enter to search that property with consent from the homeowner or a valid search warrant. If the police knock on a property owner’s door and request to…
There is a search and seizure rule in Florida that many people are not aware of that can be quite onerous, depending on how it is applied. It is called the inevitable discovery rule. To understand the rule, it is important to first understand your rights. The Constitution guarantees a…
In Florida, vehicular homicide is a very serious felony offense that normally results in a prison sentence if the state can prove its case. Most of these cases deal with someone who is driving while impaired from alcohol and/or drugs and causes a traffic crash that results in the death…
In Florida, there are fairly strict rules that address when police can search your residence, your vehicle, yourself and your belongings. Essentially, if you have a reasonable expectation that the thing to be searched is private, then the police are limited in when and how they can search it. Certainly,…
In a criminal case in Florida, if the state has a full, valid confession of a crime from a suspect, can they use that alone to convict the person of the crime? No. The state must have evidence independent of a confession to prove the crime occurred before it can…