Most people’s exposure and understanding of DNA evidence comes from television shows, books or brief news stories. DNA evidence is not used, or even attempted to be obtained, in the overwhelming majority of cases. However, there are criminal cases where DNA evidence can be a critical element to the case.…
In its never ending effort to increase the size of government and continue the famously unsuccessful war on drugs, the Florida legislature is considering enacting a law that would make it a first degree misdemeanor to sell certain items commonly used to smoke marijuana. These would include certain pipes and…
At Lasnetski Gihon Law in Jacksonville, Florida, we handle all varieties of criminal cases in state and federal courts in Jacksonville, North Florida throughout Florida and in Georgia. Forfeiture cases are not exactly criminal cases, and they are not exactly civil cases. While the civil rules largely apply to these…
As we have discussed on here several times, the federal government finally got around to reducing (not eliminating) the huge disparity between sentences for powder cocaine crimes and crack cocaine crimes. Under the old law, which was in effect for a long time, the difference between prison sentences for crack…
We try to monitor news about the monumentally inept war on drugs, changing drug laws and general attitudes about drugs and drug crimes both in the Jacksonville, Florida area and throughout the country. From a political standpoint, if one identifies being responsible and efficient with money and limiting the size…
Laws.com, which is a national website that provides an abundance of legal information and information about lawyers across the country, recently published an article recognizing Lasnetski Gihon Law partner Harry Shorstein for his work as a criminal defense lawyer in Jacksonville and throughout Florida. The article quotes Harry Shorstein as…
Can the police detain a person just because he/she ran from the police? Of course, if the police had a legitimate basis to tell the person to stop and the person ran, then the police would have a legal basis to catch and detain the person. That would require specific…
In this day and age, cell phones can contain an abundance of evidence that could be used by the state to incriminate a defendant, including texts, emails, pictures, contacts, phone numbers, website searches and map locations. We have discussed several cases dealing with when the police can search a person’s…
A marijuana case was recently dismissed after the police illegally came onto the defendant’s property and looked into his window and saw marijuana plants. This case near Jacksonville, Florida, started the same way many drug cases do when the police come on to a suspect’s property looking for drugs they…
The search and seizure laws deal with when, and under what circumstances, police officers can search a person or his/her property for drugs or other evidence of criminal activity. A general rule is that the police officer can ask a person if he/she can conduct a search and if the…