Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Criminal Charges For Leaving Children Unattended
Parenting is a struggle, especially in the summer. Not taking care of your children simply because you do not feel like it is not an option, even when the desire to go into standby mode and scroll aimlessly through your phone. The inability to afford childcare weighs heavily on the parents of many young… Read More »
Veterinary Sedatives As Drug Adulterants
When you make eye contact with your pet dog or cat, you probably wonder what he is thinking. You imagine that your pet’s thoughts are simpler than yours. Your pet does not have to stress about money and can rely on you for a steady stream of food and cuddles. Even though your pet… Read More »
Is Hearsay Evidence Admissible In Court?
We have all heard the saying that you should believe half of what you say and none of what you hear. When the prosecution presents a photograph as evidence at trial, the defense can often raise doubts about whether the image shows what the prosecution says it shows. Yes, that is clearly a picture… Read More »
Credit Card Fraud By Retail Employees
Media stereotypes about theft by employees tend to evoke images of men in suits working late hours and embezzling funds from their companies’ accounts into their own personal accounts. They can only accomplish this if they have the trust of corporate leadership, if they are alone on the tenth floor of an office building… Read More »
Southwest Florida Men Face Criminal Charges For Organizing Fraudulent Turkey Hunt
If you can tear yourself away from all the clickbait, you will find that not everyone is doom scrolling their lives away. Your own sons may be glued to their video games and their disturbing short form videos, but there are young men out there somewhere who are accompanying their fathers on hunting expeditions…. Read More »
The Tampa Bay Area Is Florida’s Best Hope For Problem-Solving Courts
If, after your arrest, you have the presence of mind to remain silent until you can meet with a criminal defense lawyer, your lawyer may tell you some things that come as a relief. For example, if you do not have any prior convictions, you might be eligible for a pretrial diversion program. In… Read More »
Kratom-Derived Drug Linked To Overdoses In Tampa
As with the word “vitamin,” it is harder than it seems to pin down a definition for the word “drug.” One person’s drug is another’s social lubricant. To the prohibitionists, alcohol was a dangerous drug, but to most ancient peoples, it was a source of nutrition and sociability. Tobacco is a drug according to… Read More »
Lake Wales Lawyer Faces Grand Theft Charges For Allegedly Embezzling Money From Client’s Trust
As much as financial planners promote them as a status symbol, trusts are a handy way of concealing shady financial dealings. When you establish a trust, the assets in the trust do not legally belong to you. Instead, they exist in a legal no man’s land; it is possible for them to disappear into… Read More »
Appealing A Criminal Sentence Based On A Change In The Law
Waiting for a sentence in a criminal case is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life, even if you pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal and almost sure that you will avoid the worst possible sentence that the court can hand down for the crime with which you were… Read More »
Man Faces Domestic Violence Charges After Injured Woman Seeks Help At Palm Beach International Airport
It makes for a dramatic story when an injured person suddenly appears, apparently the victim of an attack, and everyone else must figure out how it happened. Reconstructing events with enough certainty to convict a defendant of the attack in criminal court is not as simple as it seems, though. Case in point, earlier… Read More »