Recent Updates
April 28, 2010
State Must Prove Defendant's Knowledge of Driver's License Suspension
April 13, 2010
Sentencing Commission Votes to Eliminate Recent Criminal History Points
October 15, 2009
Consent to search inside of vehicle does not extend to locked containers
October 14, 2009
Making phone calls to get drugs for personal use not a felony
October 07, 2009
Duval County schools agree to reduce number of students getting arrested
Criminal
Consent to search inside of vehicle does not extend to locked containers
October 15, 2009
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
October 14, 2009
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
October 07, 2009
The Florida Times Union reported today that Duval County School officials have agreed to stop arresting all students who commit crimes, particularly petty crimes on school campus. The zero tolerance policy of crime on school campuses is being curtailed to include serious crimes and threats of violence.
The full article can be read here. If you know of a juvenile who has been arrested and needs a Florida juvenile defense attorney, contact our office at 904-731-3800.
High standard needed to get Orchestrator enhancement
October 07, 2009
The 11th circuit, which is among the more conservative courts in the US struck down a four level enhancement for a defendant where the government produced no evidence of that a defendant was the orchestrator of drug smuggling operation other than statements made in a PreSentence Report. In the case of Martinez v. U.S. the court held that "[w]hile a person who orchestrates a transaction may also be one who authorizes and supervises the transaction, the orchestrator just as easily could be a subordinate charged with dealing with the relatively minor details of completing that transaction."
The client Martinez' counsel did an excellent job of making written objections to the PSR and followed up with them at the sentencing hearing. In essence, this case is one of the government relying too heavily on the PSR and not proving its case at a sentencing hearing. When that occurs, defense attorneys need to be prepared to pounch. Our Jacksonville Florida criminal defense attorneys ensure that the government at every turn is held to its standard of proof.
Light Most Favorable to the State is not the Law
October 01, 2009
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.
