Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Court Dismisses Drug Trafficking Case Because Of Lack Of Evidence
The court can declare you innocent in a criminal case if the jury acquits you. This happens when the jurors vote, and they agree that the prosecution has not proven your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; in other words, they are either sure that the criminal charges do not apply, or they are not… Read More »
Community Service As A Criminal Penalty
When you were a child, you probably sometimes saw men in orange jumpsuits picking up trash by the side of the road in the Florida heat as you drove down a decidedly pedestrian-unfriendly road, such as the Florida Turnpike. Your parents might have tried to turn it into a cautionary tale about why you… Read More »
Your Social Media Accounts Can Testify Against You
In the old days, musicians used to promote their music and their performances by taping posters to telephone poles and selling cassette tapes out of the trunks of their cars. Today, they can reach an exponentially bigger audience by posting their music on social media and updating their content with new photos frequently to… Read More »
Acting Attorney General Moves Cannabis From Schedule I To Schedule III
If your policy has been to smoke a joint every time a state or local government allows a new cannabis product for medical or recreational use or every time someone in the federal government says that it is time that federal law stopped counting cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance, you have probably… Read More »
Solicitation Of An Adult Is Worse Than The Average Misdemeanor Conviction
Most sex-related offenses require convicted defendants to register on the sex offender registry for at least a few years after they have completed their prison or probation sentences. The only sexual crimes that do not require sex offender registration are the ones that do not involve minors and do not involve physical violence. Simply… Read More »
Can Tattoos Leave Room For Reasonable Doubt?
Surveillance cameras at places of business and outside residences have been a breakthrough in forensic science. Now police and jurors can compare statements by witnesses to photographic images and video footage, instead of simply to their own mental images of what the person described by the witness looked like. The same person might look… Read More »
South Florida Man Arrested After Following Woman Home From Gym
You know you are old when you reminisce about what it was like to drive before GPS navigation became ubiquitous. If you were going to a friend’s house for the first time, your friend had to tell you the directions on the phone, and you had to write them down. If your friend possessed… Read More »
Bill Proposes To Create Intelligence Agency For Florida
Most criminal defense lawyers have memorized spiels that they recite to numerous clients each year, tailoring them to the client’s situation. They explain the difference between the civil and criminal courts and the difference between misdemeanors and felonies. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments are frequent topics of conversation. One of the most frequently… Read More »
Pre-Recorded Buy Money: A Timeless, Low-Tech Forensic Tactic
Everyone worries about money, and people disagree vehemently about the safest means of conducting transactions and keeping your money for future use. The proponents of cash concede that, if hundreds of dollars of banknotes fall out of your pocket or someone steals them from your purse, you have little hope of recovering the money,… Read More »
Legal Cognitive Dissonance Isn’t Just For Cannabis Anymore
If you fell asleep in a drug-induced haze 15 years ago and woke up today, you would be surprised at what you saw. Today, people walk into cannabis dispensaries in Florida and buy cannabis edibles with the same nonchalance with which, in an hour’s time when the munchies set in, they will walk into… Read More »