Category Archives: Criminal

How Soon Should A Criminal Trial Begin?
Time flies when you’re having fun, but it inches along at a snail’s pace when you are sitting in a jail cell. While serving a prison sentence is such an unpleasant experience that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that you have the right to have a professional attorney help you avoid it even… Read More »

Is It A Crime To Make A Secret Recording Of A Phone Conversation?
People who have grown up in the Internet Age are used to the fact that, whenever they go out in public, someone might be recording with a cell phone camera. For all you know, you might be an extra in someone’s homemade film if you happened to walk by within the camera’s view while… Read More »

Your Rights Under The Sixth Amendment
Every provocateur, if challenged, will invoke the First Amendment, and you can find bumper stickers alluding to the Second Amendment on cars on almost every road and in almost every parking lot in Florida, but then there are the Constitutional amendments that people usually do not think about unless they are facing criminal charges. … Read More »

Representing Yourself In Criminal Court Is A Terrible Idea
Like any true Floridian worthy of the name, you do not trust the government. Why, then, would you place the fate of your criminal case in the hands of a public defender assigned to your case by the court, one whose meager salary is paid by taxpayers? Isn’t a court battle between two public… Read More »

Do Teens Accused Of Violent Crimes Always Get Charged As Adults?
Getting arrested as a teenager and going to juvenile court is plenty scary. For one thing, if you decide to fight your case, then the decision as to whether you get adjudicated delinquent rests entirely with the judge. There are no jury trials in juvenile court. While juvenile defendants have the right to hire… Read More »

Will The District Attorney Decline To Prosecute Your Case?
In some cases, an arrest at a traffic stop changes your life forever. You could be detained until your plea hearing, unable to produce the thousands of dollars in bail money that the state is requesting in exchange for your freedom. Then you plead guilty, because it means that you will spend only a… Read More »

Florida Courts Can Suspend Your Driver’s License At The Drop Of A Hat
The weather and scenery in Florida are so beautiful that few things can spoil your good mood. Trying to get through a day in Florida without your car is a major annoyance, though. Think about the last time you had to go without a car for a few days, either because it was in… Read More »

Man Charged With Making Written Threats After Harassing University Employees By Email
If the worst part of your workday is email, you have a pretty cushy job. Being a university faculty member is one of the most fun jobs imaginable; if you doubt this, think of how many of your professors continued teaching beyond their 70th birthdays even though you know they can afford to retire… Read More »

Criminal Defense Lawyers Care More About Your Case Than You Realize
Members of many professions can cite a least favorite comment that they hear too often during cocktail party small talk. Doctors don’t like being asked to look at a stranger’s possibly worrisome rash or mole in the middle of a cocktail party. Translators and foreign language teachers are tired of hearing, “I can barely… Read More »

Can You Get Your Criminal Charges Dropped?
What is better than getting acquitted at trial? Getting the prosecution to drop the charges against you before your case even gets to trial is even better. When the state drops your charges, it means that they are already sure that you are innocent, or at least sure that there is reasonable doubt about… Read More »