Jacksonville Criminal Lawyer Blog

Government Continues to Make Believeable Number of Drug Arrests

Published on: November 6, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Despite the inability to deter crime and continued drug abuse and the incredible cost to taxpayers with no tangible return, the government in the United States continues to make arrest after arrest for drug crimes. According to recent data released by the FBI, more than 1.5 million people were arrested on drug charges last year. Of those million plus people, about 90% of them were arrested on simple possession charges and half of them were arrested on marijuana charges. While the drug and marijuana arrest numbers were down from the prior year, it still comes to a drug arrest every 21 seconds and a marijuana arrest every 42 seconds in this country.

Drug arrests account for the biggest number of arrests in this country. The closest crime category to drug arrests is theft/larceny which had almost a third of a million fewer arrests last year. As expected, this failed drug policy costs taxpayers billions of dollar.

Trafficking in Ecstasy Case Thrown Out When Police Violate Search Warrant

Published on: November 3, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

In a recent drug case near Jacksonville, Florida, the police obtained a search warrant to search the defendant’s house for ecstasy pills (MDMA). The search warrant authorized by the judge was a knock and announce search warrant. A knock and announce search warrant is fairly self-explanatory. When the police officers approach a house, they have to knock, announce themselves as police and give the residents sufficient time to come to the door. The police cannot just show up, knock down the door and start searching.

In this case, the police officers showed up to the house late at night, knocked on the door for approximately 20 seconds and broke down the door after no one answered within 20 seconds. They searched the house and found large quantities of ecstasy pills. The defendant, who owned the house, was arrested for trafficking in ecstasy.

The criminal defense lawyer filed a motion to suppress the evidence of the ecstasy pills because the police officers violated the provisions of the the search warrant. Because this was a knock and announce search warrant, the police were required to knock and then announce their presence and wait a sufficient period of time for the people to answer the door. The court found that 20 seconds was not a sufficient period of time to wait for the occupants to answer the door for a knock and announce search warrant, especially at night when most people are sleeping. Since the police officers did not comply with the terms of the search warrant, the evidence of the ecstasy pills was thrown out, and the trafficking in ecstasy case was dismissed.

Mortgage Fraud on the Rise According to FBI

Published on: October 31, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

According to recent announcements by the FBI, mortgage fraud is at unprecedented levels. This is somewhat of a surprise as mortgage fraud seemed to peak during the housing boom when home prices were skyrocketing and every bank was giving out mortgages to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. However, according to the FBI, there were 530 people charged with federal mortgage fraud related crimes over the past year, and more than 73,000 people were victimized by mortgage fraud for a total of approximately $1 billion.

In the time period after the housing bubble, mortgage fraud is apparently taking on a different form. These days, people are defrauding homeowners by promising them that they can avoid foreclosure by paying a fee and having their mortgage transferred to a different entity. Once the fee is paid, the people committing the fraud disappear, and the homeowner is left with the same mortgage and foreclosure risk plus the loss of the fraudulent fee that was paid.

To address this problem, the FBI is issuing public service announcements to warn people of loan modification advertisements and shady offers to avoid foreclosure. Of course, along with the public service announcements, we expect that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies will continue to make a significant number of arrests for mortgage fraud since it is a highly publicized issue these days. When the government makes an effort to focus on a specific crime, particularly when there may be a fine line between legitimate business practices and criminal activity, the government may include innocent people in the wide net they cast to attack the problem.

Smell of Marijuana May Be Sufficient for Police to Search Your Car in Florida

Published on: October 28, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

A common scenario in Florida occurs when the police pull over a driver for a traffic violation and suspect the driver has drugs in his/her vehicle and finds a way to search the vehicle. For possession of marijuana or trafficking in marijuana cases, the police report often indicates that the police officer smelled marijuana in the vehicle. Is this alleged odor of marijuana sufficient for a police officer to search a person’s vehicle?

In a possession of marijuana case near Jacksonville, Florida, a police officer pulled the defendant over for running a stop sign. When he approached the defendant’s vehicle, he said he smelled an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. The police officer then told the defendant to get out of the vehicle, searched the car and found marijuana inside a closed container. The criminal defense lawyer filed a motion to suppress the evidence of the marijuana arguing that the smell of marijuana is not sufficient for a police officer to search a vehicle without a search warrant. The court disagreed and found the opposite. In Florida, if the police officer says he/she smells an odor of marijuana coming from a vehicle, he/she can search it.

The obvious problem is that the police officer can always say he/she smells marijuana coming from the vehicle and search the vehicle every time. If he/she finds marijuana, then he/she must have been right. If he/she does not find marijuana, the police can always say there must have been marijuana recently in the vehicle but removed.

DUI Roadblocks Are Legal in Florida But They Must Follow Certain Requirements

Published on: October 25, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Every now and then the police will set up DUI checkpoints or roadblocks late at night on the weekends. At these roadblocks, the police will stop a vehicle at certain specified intervals (for instance, every 5th vehicle) and check for a driver’s license, insurance and possible impairment from alcohol or drugs. These DUI checkpoints are often set up in areas where people are driving from bars or clubs. Years ago, criminal defense lawyers challenged whether these DUI roadblocks are Constitutional as they are impositions on a person’s freedom without any prior indication that the person is committing a crime or breaking a traffic law. The courts have found that DUI roadblocks are legal but only if they follow certain specific rules and minimize the restraint on a driver’s freedom. One reason for the strict rules for DUI checkpoints is to take a lot of the discretion away from the police officers. The courts want to avoid a situation where the police officers have discretion to do whatever they want at a DUI checkpoint.

In a DUI case south of Jacksonville, Florida the defendant was arrested for DUI after she was stopped at a DUI checkpoint. The criminal defense lawyer filed a motion to suppress the stop of the defendant, and the evidence of the DUI obtained after the stop, because the DUI roadblock was not conducted according to the strict requirements. Before every DUI checkpoint is set up, the police must prepare a set of written guidelines that will be followed during the DUI roadblock to make sure neutral criteria will be used for stopping the vehicles. In this case, the guidelines were submitted, but they indicated that the police were going to stop every third vehicle unless changed by the supervisor. This is not a legal DUI roadblock. The whole idea is to avoid the use of discretion by the police officers to stop whichever cars they want. If the supervisor can change the rate of stopping vehicles without giving a reason, it gives the police too much discretion. Additionally, the police did not follow the regulations because the DUI roadblock ended at a different time than previously indicated and they began stopping every vehicle after a few hours.

Because the police did not submit proper DUI checkpoint guidelines and did not even follow the ones they did submit, the DUI checkpoint was not legal and the defendant’s DUI case was thrown out.

A Person in Florida Can Be Convicted of DUI Even When Vehicle is Inoperable

Published on: October 22, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

In Florida, DUI arrests are most commonly made by police when they observe someone driving erratically or violating a traffic law, initiate a traffic stop and observe signs that the driver is impaired from alcohol or drugs. However, many DUI arrests result from situations where the police officer never sees the person driving at all. A person commits a DUI when he/she operates a motor vehicle while his/her normal faculties are impaired from alcohol or drugs. A DUI can also be committed when a person is in actual physical control of a vehicle while impaired. Actual physical control can mean many things, but it generally means that the person has the ability to operate the vehicle, even if he/she is not doing so when encountered by the police officer. A defense to being in actual, physical control of the vehicle, and the DUI charge itself, is that the vehicle was not capable of being operated. As an obvious example, if the police officer approached a person drunk in the front seat of a vehicle but the engine had been removed and was being worked on in the garage, the vehicle would not be operable and a DUI charge would not be appropriate.

Cases that are less clear involve the police coming upon a person who is having some sort of car trouble on the road. In a DUI case near Jacksonville, Florida, the police officer approached the defendant’s vehicle that was stopped on the street due to a flat tire. The officer ultimately arrested the defendant for DUI. The defendant’s criminal defense lawyer defended the case by arguing that the vehicle was inoperable due to the flat tire. The defendant lost the DUI case because he apparently admitted to the police officer that he was driving the vehicle up to the point of the flat tire and after he was drinking at the bar.

This was a situation where the defendant talked himself into a DUI conviction. Because the defendant’s statements indicated that the vehicle was operable just prior to the blown tire, the conviction for DUI was upheld.

A Person Can Be Convicted of DUI in Florida While Riding a Bicycle

Published on: October 19, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

In Florida, many people assume they are only at risk for getting a driving under the influence of alcohol charge (DUI) when they are caught driving an automobile by the police while impaired. However, there are other ways to get a DUI in Florida. One kind of DUI case that is not uncommon is when a person is just sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked car with the keys in the vehicle while impaired. There have even been DUI charges for people riding lawnmowers or bicycles.

In a recent case south of Jacksonville, Florida, the defendant was stopped by police for riding a bicycle while apparently impaired from alcohol. The police officer went through his normal DUI investigation and ultimately made the DUI arrest. Under Florida law, a person can be convicted of DUI if he/she operates a “vehicle” while impaired from alcohol or drugs. Florida law includes a bicycle within the definition of “vehicle” under the DUI laws. These cases are rare, but when someone is convicted of DUI on a bicycle, the penalties are the same as they are for automobile DUI’s. That includes a mandatory driver’s license suspension although you obviously do not need a driver’s license to operate a bicycle.

Grand Theft Charge Against Florida Contractor Thrown Out For Lack of Intent

Published on: October 16, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

Police often get reports from homeowners that they hired a contractor to do work on their homes, paid the contractor an initial fee to do the work and then the contractor quit the job without completing the work. Sometimes, the police will ignore the complaint and tell the homeowner that it is a civil matter that must be handled with a lawsuit. Other times, the police will pursue the complaint and arrest the contractor for grand theft.

These contractor disputes can be a misunderstanding as to the cost of the work and materials or some other honest mistake that has delayed or inhibited the work that was promised. In those cases, a grand theft charge is not appropriate. Other times, a contractor will take a person’s money, promise to do the work and just not do it. These cases can be the basis for a legitimate grand theft charge.

In a recent grand theft case involving a contractor near Jacksonville, Florida, the homeowner hired the contractor to replace her cabinets. They agreed on the plans, and the homeowner paid him $4,000 for the work. The contractor made promises about the work he would do and that he would get the materials and start promptly. After she paid him, the contractor was difficult to get in touch with, did not come by the house often and only worked on the project periodically. After a couple of weeks, the contractor never returned to the house to finish the work. She tried to contact him by letter and email, but he did not respond. Police looked into the contractor’s bank records which showed that he deposited the homeowner’s check and then wrote some checks for matters unrelated to the work to be done on her house.

Overpopulation of Federal Prisons Largely Due to Drug Crimes

Published on: October 13, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

As the federal deficit skyrockets on a continuing basis, one area that is not discussed very often as a contributing factor is the amount of money allocated to the Department of Justice, the building of more prisons and the overcrowding of the prisons we already have. People may assume money going towards crime and punishment is well spent, but a quick look at the spectacular failure of the ongoing war on drugs should negate any such assumption.

According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the growth in the number of federal prisoners is increasing faster than the country’s ability to house them. When one considers that it is expensive for taxpayers to pay for each federal prisoner, that growth adds up to an expensive problem. Even worse, the GAO noted that this rapid growth in federal prisoners is largely due to people being arrested, charged and sentenced for drug crimes. From 2006 to 2011, the federal prison population increased by 9.5%, which was 7% greater than the increase in prison capacity. As a result, the number of prisons that were overcrowded with federal prisoners increased from 36% to 39% during that time period. That percentage is expected to increase to 45% by 2018. Who are all of these prisoners packing the federal prisons and costing taxpayers millions of dollars? Last year, 48% of federal prisoners were drug offenders, and they were serving prison sentences that were 2.5 years longer than in the mid-1980’s on average.

The war on drugs is a colossal failure, and it is possibly the most expensive failure in the history of the country since there is no end in sight and it is only getting bigger. The war on drugs is expensive on so many levels. Overcrowded prisons is just one of them.

Department of Justice Continues to Make Medicare Fraud Cases

Published on: October 10, 2012 | by Lasnetski Gihon Law

After President Obama was elected, he promised to make Medicare fraud a priority with the Department of Justice. It has been well publicized that the government suspected there was a tremendous amount of fraud with the Medicare process. The government alleged that medical providers all over the country were committing Medicare fraud by requesting reimbursements for services and/or medical equipment that were never provided to patients or were unnecessary and by other methods. Since the Medicare Strike Force was created to address this issue, the government has charged almost 1500 people involved in Medicare fraud in an amount close to $4.8 billion, according to the government.

More recently, the government announced the arrests of 91 people in seven different cities for Medicare fraud. Like many of these large Medicare fraud cases, the people arrested included doctors, nurses, owners of medical practices and other medical personnel. In this recent case, the government alleged that approximately $430 million in Medicare reimbursements were fraudulently billed to the government.

The cost of Medicare and Medicare reform are two issues that are constantly in the news these days. When that is the case, you can expect law enforcement officials to shift their focus to crimes involving those issues. In this case, the United States government is clearly continuing to focus on situations where they believe Medicare fraud is taking place.