Category: Blog

Your criminal history record cannot be sealed or expunged in Florida if you were found guilty by a judge or pled guilty or nolo contendere (no contest) to certain crimes, even if adjudication was withheld and even if you were convicted of simply attempting or conspiring to commit certain crimes.  The following is a list of […]

The following story appeared April 4, 2008 in the Palm Beach County edition of Hometown News: By Michelle Gentile Staff writer JUPITER - For the first time since her son was murdered two years ago, Charla Las Casas is flying back to Jupiter. She wants to be there when attorneys start selecting the jury next […]

Why aren't all DUI investigations videotaped?  Perhaps it's because police departments across the country are afraid that such a practice might result in more jury acquittals than is presently the case. The following story, which appears in the blog of the Criminal Lawyers' Association in Harris County Texas, addresses this very issue: You might think that the […]

The Fall 2007 edition of the Florida Defender, a publication of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, contains an article entitled "False Allegations of Sexual Assault:  Why Do People Lie?"  In that article, the authors make the insightful observation that "[c]ases of self-inflicted injury are particularly insidious because, except in suicide attempts, law enforcement […]

            If you would like to get your record sealed or expunged in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Belle Glade, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Jupiter, Lake Park, Lake Worth, Lantana, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Springs, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach, or Wellington, call me, attorney Ron Chapman, […]

When the police search a car and find drugs such as marijuana or cocaine, the person located closest to the drugs is often arrested even though there were other people located in the automobile just before the car was searched.  In that situation, the person who was arrested may well have a good argument that he […]

I frequently represent people who have been charged with committing traffic crimes that involved an accident (for example, DUI manslaughter or leaving the scene of an accident).  Often, the client's auto insurance company wants to take a tape-recorded statement regarding the details of the accident while the criminal case is still pending.  Whenever this situation […]

On December 8, 2007, I posted a blog entitled "Police Interrogations Should Always Be Tape Recorded."  Around that same time, an article appeared in the "Florida Defender" (a publication of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (FACDL)) which stated that FACDL had been trying for several years to get the Florida legislature to pass a […]

Entrapment occurs when the police, or someone working for the police, cause a person to commit a crime using methods that create a substantial risk that the crime was committed by someone who was not ready to commit such a crime but for the improper methods employed by the police. In order to better understand […]

The answer is yes, the police are allowed to lie to you to get you to confess.  The law in Florida is that the use of tricks or factual misstatements by the police do not by themselves make a confession involuntary.  For instance, in one Florida Supreme Court case called Burch versus State of Florida, […]