Category: Blog

The amount of jail time that a judge can sentence a person to in DUI cases depends upon such things as whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI, whether the person's blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level was 0.20 or higher when driving, or whether the person had a minor in his vehicle while […]

A new website called Florida Lawyers Blog Watch has been designed to track the latest online commentary by 36 different lawyers currently blogging in Florida. This site presents the 50 most recent blog postings by Florida attorneys. The purpose of Florida Lawyers Blog Watch is to present a stream of Florida lawyer commentary which will […]

If a police officer stops your car for, say, speeding and then smells an odor of marijuana when he walks up to your car window, Florida law states that that officer has probable cause to believe that a violation of Florida's narcotic's laws has occurred.  When that happens, the officer is legally entitled to search the entire […]

"Empathy" is defined as "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another."  When selecting a jury, it is important that a lawyer try to find empathetic jurors or jurors who will be able to stand in the client's shoes (figuratively speaking).  That is to say, it is important […]

When selecting a jury, it is very important that a lawyer learn which potential jurors have leadership responsibilities at their jobs because such jurors frequently become leaders during jury deliberations.  If those jury leaders then decide to vote against the lawyer's case and are able to persuade other jurors to vote the same way, the verdict will almost […]

Florida law states that the police may break open a door leading into a home if:  The police have a warrant. The police announce who they are and what they want. The occupant of the home refuses to let the police enter his home after the police have waited a reasonable period of time after knocking […]

The law throughout the United States is that the police may not detain an individual whom they have stopped for any longer than necessary to accomplish their reason for stopping that person in the first place.   For example, say that the police stop your car because you are driving 10 miles per hour over the posted speed […]

Since the reimposition of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 1,029 people have been executed (as of March 2007). Over one-third of those have been executed in Texas (385 as of March 8, 2007).  One has to wonder about this large number of executions in Texas in light of the fact that just […]

I am sometimes contacted by individuals who have been charged with the crime of possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana.  In Florida, that crime is a misdemeanor.   Often these individuals ask me if they can resolve their case quickly by simply going to court and pleading guilty.  I explain to them that although they may […]

When a person is charged with DUI in Florida, there are two different ways for that person's driver's license to become suspended: 1.  The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles can suspend someone's license if the person refused to submit to a lawful breath, blood, or urine test or if the person had […]