Medical marijuana is now legal in one form or another in twenty states and the District of Columbia. Florida, however, is not one of those states. In some of these states, medical marijuana has been legal for more than a decade. In those states, civilization has not, in fact, deteriorated…
Not long ago, Florida passed a law that required people applying for certain welfare benefits to take a drug test regardless of whether there was any evidence they used drugs. Whether this was about politics or the governor’s wife having an interest in the company that secured the lucrative contract…
After the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, the Florida Stand Your Ground law received a lot of national attention. Basically, it allows a defendant to file a motion to have the case thrown out by a judge if the facts indicate he/she had a right to use the force that was…
In Florida, bribery is a second degree felony crime. It is defined by giving or offering a public servant any unauthorized money or other benefit to get the public servant to do something, or fail to do something, within his/her official discretion as a public official. A person can be…
In most drug cases, particularly cases where the police arrest someone for manufacturing or growing marijuana, the case starts out with the police getting a tip that the suspect is growing marijuana in his home or on his property. The police conduct surveillance, check the trash, check electricity bills for…
In Florida, people have a strong constitutional protection to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures from the police. This protection is stronger or weaker depending on what is being searched. For instance, it is the strongest when it comes to one’s residence and somewhat weaker when it involves a…
In Florida, it is a felony crime for a person to have a firearm after he/she has been convicted of a felony crime. This is true even if the felony conviction occurred in another state. The term “possession” in the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon statute does…
In Florida, if the police want to come on to a person’s property to search it for drugs or other evidence of criminal activity, they normally need a valid search warrant signed by a judge. Alternatively, they can usually go up the residence, knock on the door and ask for…
The Florida forfeiture laws allow the government, in the form of police, to seize property from people in many circumstances. When the police seize property, whether it is money, a vehicle, electronics, or anything else the police would like to have, they have to file paperwork with the court to…
In Florida, there are few exceptions to the requirement that police officers must obtain a search warrant signed by a judge before they enter someone’s residence to search for evidence. One such exception is that the police can normally approach a residence, knock on the door and ask the occupant…