In Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S. Ct. 2160 (2016) the United States Supreme Court ruled that warrants were necessary to extract blood from a motorist involved in DUI crash cases where someone was injured. Although some exceptions exist, this changed the way police obtained blood to determine alcohol content. However, more recently, Florida’s [...]
Much has been said lately about the "stand your ground" law. There are some misconceptions that the public has concerning its applicability. Some people believe that the law allows a person to use deadly force in any situation where they are not the aggressor. If they are the victim of a simple battery, they believe that [...]
Recently, the United States Supreme Court in Carpenter v. United States (June 28, 2018) ruled that law enforcement must apply for a warrant to obtain the cell tower records of a citizen to establish what the court termed "a virtual timeline and map of a person’s whereabouts — information that is detailed, encyclopedic, and effortlessly compiled". The opinion extends the [...]
The United States Supreme Court handed down an opinion that changed the law on whether a citizen or the court can involve itself in the deliberations of a jury (See: Pina-Rodriguez v. Colorado, 580 U.S. ___ (2016)). In the past, all matters that inhere in the verdict could not be looked into. In other words, [...]
Proposition 96 also called "Marcy's Law" is a proposed Constitutional Amendment to Florida's Constitution that would add significant rights to victims of crimes. On its face, it is well intended, however there are unintended negative consequences that the drafters did not anticipate. For example, anyone who thinks that some people don't "game" the system are [...]
Florida law allows the office of the state attorney to issue subpoenas for investigative purposes pursuant to Florida Statute chapter 27. When such a subpoena is issued, it commands the presence of the individual involved. Because there may be Fifth Amendment issues (self-incrimination) Florida Statute 914.04 holds that the individual subpoenaed to give testimony is [...]
The question as to whether or not police officers, employing deadly force while conducting an arrest were limited to the force permitted by statute in making arrests was recently taken up in an appellate decision out of Florida’s fourth District Court of Appeal. In State v. Peraza, 226 So. 3d 937 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017) [...]
A general rule has been broken by the U.S. Supreme court this past term. It ruled that when clear evidence emerges after a jury verdict that there was racial bias during deliberations, the trial judge must make an exception to the usual rule protecting the secrecy of deliberations in order to determine whether the defendant [...]
The Florida Supreme Court has recently come down with two cases which deal with due process when the state destroys evidence. The first is Patterson v. State found at 199 So. 3d 253 (Fla. 2016). That case involved the arson of a vehicle. The state's expert conducted a forensic analysis of the truck and before [...]
Recently, an appellate court in Florida has ruled that if law enforcement obtains a search warrant to be able to look into someone's cell phone for data, a judge may lawfully require the owner of that cell phone to provide his pass code in order to permit access by law enforcement to conduct its search. If [...]
