Arnold & New

Consent to search inside of vehicle does not extend to locked containers

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:54:44 -0700

The Fourth District Court of Appeals in J.J.V. v. State ruled that a search of a locked center counsel of a vehicle was unreasonable when the driver had only given the officer permission to search the inside of the vehicle. The court relied on a test put forth in the Florida Supreme Court case State v. Wells, 539 So. 2d 464, where the court stated that a person has two distinct interests that must be protected:

Making phone calls to get drugs for personal use not a felony

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:30:49 -0700

The Supreme Court held in Abuelhawa v. United States that making phone calls in order to obtain drugs for personal use was not a felony under 21 U.S.C. § 843(b). This section of the United States Code makes it a felony to facilitate the commission of a drug felony, which in this case would have been the sale of the drugs to the defendant. However, the Supreme Court rejected this idea stating that stating that Congress intentionally made different levels of punishment for buying and selling drugs. Therefore, it would be adsurb to make every purchase in essence a sale because it is axiomatic that a seller must have a buyer. If Congress wanted to make the punishments equal, they could have done so. To read this in the manner the government proposed would be to eliminate the prosecution of purchases and treat all parties to a transaction as a seller.

Duval County schools agree to reduce number of students getting arrested

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 07:11:12 -0700

High standard needed to get Orchestrator enhancement

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 06:39:27 -0700

Light Most Favorable to the State is not the Law

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 14:09:52 -0700

The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a conviction of a defendant charged with Lewd and Lascivious behavior because the trial judge applied law that was clearly not correct. The appellate court was abnormally critical of the trial judge who allowed in damaging and likely irrelevant prior bad acts of the defendant under only a "light most favorable to the State" standard.