Florida Criminal Defense Legal Questions

Someone needs to go see a private criminal defense attorney and take copies of all relevant documents with you. Anyone who is charged with any crime needs a private criminal defense attorney in my opinion. It seems to me that this is one of the hugest mistakes that I have ever heard of in over 32 years of practicing as a criminal defense lawyer. He needs a professional on his side immediately, a motion needs to be submitted to the sentencing court which clearly shows this error.... Read More

No it is not all completely unnecessary. When someone has been physically abused, battered, like this, you call the cops and they are taken away to jail. You knew this, and there is no going back on what you said without perhaps subjecting yourself to being arrested for filing a false police report. These cases are always difficult to deal with, but I have done so many that it has become a second nature to defend people charged like this. What you need to do more than anything else is make sure that he has a great attorney who loves to fight in court. There will probably be a no contact order, and that can most likely be modified to a no violent contact order. But if he does not have an attorney who likes to fight in court, his chances of being branded for the rest of his life greatly increase. Good luck, and get him an attorney like me who just loves to fight cases like this.... Read More

You made a conscious decision to have the public defender represent you. You stuck with that decision and now you are surprised by the outcome? I think it is marvelous that the pd filed a motion to suppress. Now, you have to ask only that person what the next step is, and I am simply not going to do all of the research that would be required to answer your question of when a search becomes illegal. There must be more than a few thousand cases to read on this particular subject.... Read More

The bondsman is financially responsible when a defendant fails to appear -- and will lose (have estreated) the full amount of the bond (not just the 10% that the defendant, or someone on the defendant's behalf, had to give the bondsman) in order to get the bondsman to post the bond.  (There are some exceptions to bond estreatures.)  However, the standard procedure is:  there is a signed agreement/contract between the bondsman and the defendant (or whoever contracts with the bondsman to post the bond for the defendant) that enables the bondsman to recoup the estreated bond amount from the defendant or person who arranged for the bond.  Usually the bondsman, at the time of entering into the bond agreement, will require some form of collatral in order to ensure that the defendant, or whoever contracted with the bondsman, has sufficient funds from which the bondsman can recopu any loss he suffered from a bond estreature.    ... Read More

I do not think that anything will come of this incident, as you have described it. I could be wrong, but I just do not see enough here for the establishment of much of a crime at all. It could be an attempted theft, perhaps. You will need to get a private criminal defense attorney if you are arrested, in my opinion. And if the cops try to question you about this, refuse to say anything about it. You have a right to remain silent.... Read More