Category: Blog

          I am sometimes asked whether the information contained in a criminal-history record that has been sealed or expunged is ever released to anyone.  An article that I wrote on my website Florida Criminal Records:  Frequently Asked Questions tries to answer this question.

           In the case of Carr v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA") does not apply to sex offenders who traveled to another state or country before that law went into effect in 2006.  An article that I posted on my […]

Last week, CBS News published the following article regarding a significant change in the law pertaining to the charge of marijuana possession in California:   "California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on [September 30, 2010] signed into law a bill that reduces the charge for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a […]

           If you were to ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ("FDLE") to do a background check on either yourself or someone else, that department would search various state and federal databases for records of such things as arrests, warrants, and domestic violence injunctions.  An article that I wrote on […]

 A recent article by Will Hanlon, a Tampa criminal attorney, discusses a change to the sentencing process in Missouri's criminal courts which could come to Florida.  This change to the factors which judges could consider during sentencing is so important for Florida taxpayers that our lawmakers should examine it.   

           The Innocence Project has identified the six most common causes of wrongful convictions.  They are:   Eyewitness misidentification Unvalidated or improper forensic science False confessions or admissions Misconduct by the police or prosecutors Informants or snitches Bad lawyering             The Innocence Project found that of the first […]

           The Innocence Project has identified the six most common causes of wrongful convictions.  They are:   Eyewitness misidentification Unvalidated or improper forensic science False confessions or admissions Misconduct by the police or prosecutors Informants or snitches Bad lawyering             The Innocence Project found that of the first […]

           In the case of Anderson v. State of Florida, a judge denied Mr. Anderson's petition to seal his criminal record because he had already received a "break" from the criminal-justice system when adjudication was withheld in his case and when he was allowed to successfully terminate his probation early.  Anderson […]

           In a case from New York called People v. LeGrand, the issue was whether the trial judge was correct in refusing to admit expert testimony regarding the reliability of eyewitness identifications.  In refusing to admit such testimony, the judge in the LeGrand case ruled the same way that most judges […]

          A privileged communication is a statement that you cannot be forced to disclose in a legal proceeding because it was made in connection with a legally-protected relationship.  Some of the privileged communications recognized by Florida law are:   Journalist's privilege; Lawyer-client privilege; Psychotherapist-patient privilege; Sexual assault counselor-victim privilege; Domestic violence advocate-victim privilege; Husband-wife privilege; […]