In Florida, many drug cases start out as routine traffic stops. A police officer stops a driver for violating some traffic law, suspects that the driver has drugs in the vehicle and then ultimately searches the occupants and/or the vehicle, either after walking a drug dog around the vehicle or…
As tax season approaches at the beginning of each year, we normally see quite a few tax return fraud cases, both in the news and as new criminal defense cases in the Jacksonville, Florida area. Most of these cases involve someone obtaining social security numbers and other identification information for…
As criminal defense lawyers in the Jacksonville, Florida area, we have taken on several new cases involving arrests for synthetic marijuana. These cases typically involve undercover police officers going into convenience stores and similar businesses that sell items they consider synthetic marijuana. The undercover officers will have a conversation with…
In Wisconsin, there is a pending marijuana case that started when the police received a tip that the defendant was growing marijuana plants on his property. The local police solicited the assistance of the DEA who went on the property without consent and without a search warrant and installed video…
One of the worst ideas in all of criminal law is the mandatory minimum prison sentence for a particular crime. In criminal law, you have the prosecutor who reviews the case and represents the state. His/her job is to prosecute people who are guilty of crimes, present the case on…
In a recent trafficking in Hydrocodone case near Jacksonville, Florida, the police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home and found a pill bottle with pain pills beside his bed. The pill bottle indicated they were prescribed to the defendant’s mother who was not present at the time. They…
In Florida, robbery is a serious felony offense that occurs when a person takes the property of another by the use of force, the threat of force, violence or putting the victim in fear of violence. Robbery is a second degree felony in Florida if no firearm or other weapon…
In just about all DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) cases in Florida, the police officer is going to request that the driver submit to field sobriety exercises. These are very difficult coordination and balancing tests that are often given to the suspect in parking lots or on the…
In Florida, the a defendant may use the defense of duress, or coercion, to just about any crime except homicide. As a result, a defendant cannot argue to a jury that someone forced him/her to kill another person, but it can be used in most other situations, where it applies.…
Every now and then we hear of cases where the state obtains good evidence against a defendant because the defendant made statements that he/she thought were private but could be overheard by the police. The more obvious examples are the calls made by jail inmates to friends and relatives outside…