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Criminal Law

Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog

Information about law and order in Florida for both practitioners and potential clients. Also some discussions about evidence and the death penalty.
By Ron Chapman

Post Frequency: 0.8/day

Last Entry: October 15, 2020 at 18:08:06

7 Frequently Asked Questions in Florida DUI Cases

Posted on May 16, 2008
1. What do police officers look for before stopping a driver who they think might be intoxicated?According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, some of the things that police officers should look for include: Driving more than 10 miles below the speed limit Almost striking another car on the road Weaving within one's lane of traffic Erratic braking Driving at night with headlights off 2...

Philadelphia Police Caught on Tape Beating Suspects

Posted on May 09, 2008
Just in case you thought that police beatings stopped with Rodney King, check out this videotape recording which shows numerous Philadelphia police officers pulling suspects out of a car and then repeatedly kicking and hitting them while at least one police dog stands nearby, straining at his leash.

Top 20 Death Penalty States

Posted on May 08, 2008
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Texas leads all other states in the total number of individuals that it has executed since 1976. The breakdown is as follows:1. Texas: 4052. Virginia: 983. Oklahoma: 864...

Wife Convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter After Falsely Accusing Her Husband of Murder

Posted on May 04, 2008
Unfortunately, we are often inclined to automatically believe the accusations that others make without first checking out their story. The inevitable result is that we are sometimes duped into believing false accusations. When false accusations are made in the criminal justice system, the consequences can be devastating...

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19 Types of Drug Paraphernalia in Florida

Posted on May 02, 2008
According to Florida law, the term "drug paraphernalia" includes many different types of devices that can be used to consume or to make controlled substances such as cocaine, marijuana, and hashish. This article contains a list of 19 such devices...

Hometown News: Murder trial ends in sentences for two defendants

Posted on April 29, 2008
The following story appeared April 25, 2008 in the Palm Beach County edition of Hometown News:By Michelle GentileStaff writerJUPITER — A co-defendant in the shooting trial of a 21-year-old Jupiter man arranged a plea deal with prosecutors and testified against the man who the jury considered the principal in the murder...

11 Crimes that Will Cause Your Driver's License to be Suspended in Florida

Posted on April 27, 2008
If you are convicted of certain crimes and you have a Florida driver's license, your license will be suspended by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The length of time that your license will be suspended for depends upon the crime that you're convicted of...

36 Crimes that Cannot be Sealed or Expunged in Florida

Posted on April 25, 2008
Your criminal history record cannot be sealed or expunged in Florida if you were found guilty by a judge or pled guilty or nolo contendere (no contest) to certain crimes, even if adjudication was withheld and even if you were convicted of simply attempting or conspiring to commit certain crimes...

Hometown News: Jury selection in Jupiter murder trial to start

Posted on April 09, 2008
The following story appeared April 4, 2008 in the Palm Beach County edition of Hometown News:By Michelle GentileStaff writerJUPITER - For the first time since her son was murdered two years ago, Charla Las Casas is flying back to Jupiter. She wants to be there when attorneys start selecting the jury next week for one of two trials to be held in the murder of her son...

Why Aren't All DUI Investigations Videotaped?

Posted on April 07, 2008
Why aren't all DUI investigations videotaped? Perhaps it's because police departments across the country are afraid that such a practice might result in more jury acquittals than is presently the case.The following story, which appears in the blog of the Criminal Lawyers' Association in Harris County Texas, addresses this very issue:You might think that the Houston Police Department would be eager to use video equipment to record DWI arrests...

False Accusations and Self-Inflicted Injuries

Posted on March 31, 2008
The Fall 2007 edition of the Florida Defender, a publication of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, contains an article entitled "False Allegations of Sexual Assault: Why Do People Lie?" In that article, the authors make the insightful observation that "[c]ases of self-inflicted injury are particularly insidious because, except in suicide attempts, law enforcement officers are not accustomed to the phenomenon, and tend to presume the injuries are caused by others...

Adjudicated Guilty Versus Adjudication Withheld: It's Important to Know the Difference When Trying to Seal Your Criminal Record

Posted on March 23, 2008
People frequently call my office asking whether they can get their criminal record sealed. One of the first questions I ask them is whether they have ever been adjudicated guilty of any criminal offense (as opposed to adjudication having been withheld), even for something like reckless driving or DUI...

Drugs in Automobiles: Who's Guilty?

Posted on March 19, 2008
When the police search a car and find drugs such as marijuana or cocaine, the person located closest to the drugs is often arrested even though there were other people located in the automobile just before the car was searched. In that situation, the person who was arrested may well have a good argument that he is not guilty of possessing the narcotics if the prosecutor is unable to prove that he was in "constructive possession" of the drugs...

Attorney-Client Privilege and Insurance Companies

Posted on March 14, 2008
I frequently represent people who have been charged with committing traffic crimes that involved an accident (for example, DUI manslaughter or leaving the scene of an accident). Often, the client's auto insurance company wants to take a tape-recorded statement regarding the details of the accident while the criminal case is still pending...

The Florida Legislature Rejects the Mandatory Recording of Police Interrogations

Posted on March 13, 2008
On December 8, 2007, I posted a blog entitled "Police Interrogations Should Always Be Tape Recorded." Around that same time, an article appeared in the "Florida Defender" (a publication of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (FACDL)) which stated that FACDL had been trying for several years to get the Florida legislature to pass a law requiring the mandatory recording of police interrogations...

Have You Been Entrapped?

Posted on March 07, 2008
Entrapment occurs when the police, or someone working for the police, cause a person to commit a crime using methods that create a substantial risk that the crime was committed by someone who was not ready to commit such a crime but for the improper methods employed by the police...

Are the Police Allowed to Lie to Get You to Confess?

Posted on March 04, 2008
The answer is yes, the police are allowed to lie to you to get you to confess. The law in Florida is that the use of tricks or factual misstatements by the police do not by themselves make a confession involuntary. For instance, in one Florida Supreme Court case called Burch versus State of Florida, an individual accused of murder was questioned by the police for more than five hours...

Students, Be Careful What You Take to School

Posted on February 26, 2008
For several years it has been the law in the United States that if the police illegally seize someone, then any contraband that the police find on that person--such as guns or drugs--cannot be presented at that person's trial. This is sometimes referred to as the doctrine of the "fruit of the poisonous tree...

Can a Judge Revoke Your Bond Whenever He Wants to?

Posted on February 23, 2008
Sometimes, when a client is scheduled to go to court, she will ask me if the judge is going to revoke her bond and lock her up when she arrives at court. I assure such clients that the judge will not revoke their bond and lock them up unless they have violated one of the conditions of their bond...

Being Handcuffed by the Police Doesn't Necessarily Mean You're Under Arrest

Posted on February 22, 2008
Just because the police handcuff you does not necessarily mean you're under arrest. That's what the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a case called Reynolds v. State of Florida. In Reynolds, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that it is legal for a police officer to handcuff someone if the officer reasonably believes that it is necessary to do so in order to protect the officer's safety or to prevent that person from fleeing...

DUI and Miranda Warnings

Posted on February 18, 2008
On February 10, 2008, I posted an article entitled "When Are Miranda Warnings Required?" In that article, I stated that the police are required to give a person Miranda warnings only when that person is in custody and is being interrogated by the police...

West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog

Posted on February 18, 2008
The original name of this blog was the Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog. However, this has recently been changed to its current name: the West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog. I changed the name of my blog because of my belief that this new name better reflects the nature of my practice...

West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog

Posted on February 18, 2008
The original name of this blog was the Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog. However, this has recently been changed to its current name: the West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog. I changed the name of my blog because of my belief that this new name better reflects the nature of my practice...

When Are Miranda Warnings Required?

Posted on February 10, 2008
Many people who have grown up watching TV mistakenly believe that the police must always give a person Miranda warnings as soon as they begin speaking with him. From watching television, many people know that Miranda rights include the following:1...

DUI and Work Permits

Posted on February 08, 2008
Many people who are convicted of DUI are eligible to obtain a work permit while their driver's license is still suspended. Florida statute section 322.271 authorizes two different types of work permits:1. A business-purposes-only permit "means a driving privilege that is limited to any driving necessary to maintain livelihood, including driving to and from work, necessary on-the-job driving, driving for educational purposes, and driving for church and for medical purposes...

DUI and Driver's License Suspensions

Posted on February 03, 2008
If a person is convicted of DUI in Florida, his driver's license is suspended by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. How long his license is suspended for varies depending upon such things as how many DUI convictions he has and when they occurred...

DUI and Fines

Posted on January 29, 2008
The amount of fine in a DUI case depends upon such things as whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI, whether the person's blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level was 0.20 or higher when driving, or whether the person had a minor in his vehicle while driving...

DUI and Jail

Posted on January 27, 2008
The amount of jail time that a judge can sentence a person to in DUI cases depends upon such things as whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI, whether the person's blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level was 0.20 or higher when driving, or whether the person had a minor in his vehicle while driving...

Florida Lawyers Blog Watch

Posted on January 24, 2008
A new website called Florida Lawyers Blog Watch has been designed to track the latest online commentary by 36 different lawyers currently blogging in Florida. This site presents the 50 most recent blog postings by Florida attorneys. The purpose of Florida Lawyers Blog Watch is to present a stream of Florida lawyer commentary which will be of use both to the media and to those in the legal community...

Smoking Can Be Hazardous to More Than Just Your Health

Posted on January 20, 2008
If a police officer stops your car for, say, speeding and then smells an odor of marijuana when he walks up to your car window, Florida law states that that officer has probable cause to believe that a violation of Florida's narcotic's laws has occurred...

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