Jacksonville Criminal Attorney Blog

Jacksonville, Florida has ranked #71 on the list of most dangerous cities in the United States. CQ Press puts together this list by analyzing FBI statistics. They pulled statistics on each city's murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, and grand theft auto rates.

Other Florida cities made the list. They are:

Orlando - #17
Miami Gardens - #35
Miami Beach - #42
Miami - #45
St. Petersburg - #53
Pompano Beach - #63
Tallahassee - #73
Ft. Lauderdale - #77
Melbourne - 84

When you are arrested in Northeast Florida, your criminal case begins. If you enter a plea of "not guilty" or bond out of jail, you will get a future court date. When you hire a private criminal attorney in Florida, that lawyer can get you to sign a piece of paper called a "Waiver of Appearance". That will allow the lawyer to waive your appearance at pretrial conferences, which are the court dates when your case is "passed" for your criminal attorney to complete the discovery process.

You will have to be present at certain court dates, such as motion hearings, jury selection, trial, and any disposition. Many of our clients ask whether or not it makes a difference to the judge if they go to the court dates when they don't have to. Usually the judge will not even think twice about a defendant not being present in court if their appearance is waived. If we as Jacksonville criminal attorneys feel that the client should be in court, we tell them.

When you are arrested in Jacksonville and the criminal charges are ultimately dropped, is that the end of things? When our Jacksonville Criminal Law Firm is able to get our client's charges dropped, clients then ask us if it is off their record. Their record will show that they have been arrested and the charges were dismissed. If it was their first time being arrested, they can usually have their record sealed and expunged. Just because the state attorney chose not to prosecute, you cannot be "unarrested". Even if they get the arrest sealed or expunged, they will still have to report the arrest to certain agencies, such as law enforcement agencies and educational agencies.

There are many crimes related to prescription drug abuse in Florida. There is also a felony called fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance by using a forged prescription. In order for a pharmacist to dispense controlled substances, certain things must occur. they are:

1. Oral prescriptions have to be reduced to writing or electronically recorded by the pharmacist.

2. Written prescriptions have to be dated and signed by the doctor on the day issued.

3. The written prescription has to have the full name and address of the person who the drug is prescribed for, the full name and address of the doctor, the name of the drug, strength of the drug, and directions for use, the number of the prescription, and the initials of the pharmacist filling the prescription.

4. The prescription has to be kept on file with the pharmacy for 2 years.

An evidence technician was arrested in St, Johns County yesterday for grand theft and official misconduct. Officer Paul Robinson is accused of stealing the drugs he was in charge of collecting from recent arrests. Evidence technicians are supposed to take pictures, look for fingerprints, and collect evidence. After the evidence is collected, they are supposed to take it to the property room where they are held. Many of the drugs allegedly stolen by Robinson are said to be pills.

Jacksonville representative, Steve Wise, is a co-sponsor of a proposed law that would raise taxes on bongs by 25%. Their theory is that this tax will reduce the amount of people who use the device for smoking marijuana or crack. The Office of Drug Control Policy agrees with the bill. Any revenue gained from this tax supposedly will be used to pay for drug programs in Florida, but the main purpose is to try to control what items retailers can sell. Critics of the proposed law say this tax would not reduce drug use. It may be similar to smoking cigarettes. No matter how much the government raises taxes on smoking, people still smoke. And don't forget, despite all of the warnings against it from our government, smoking is still legal and the government makes a lot of money from the cigarette industry.

In Jacksonville, if you are caught with a bong with residue on it, you could be arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia. This is a first degree misdemeanor punishable for up to 1 year in jail.

Yesterday, a Jacksonville judge held bond hearings for all of her criminal cases. The jail is overcrowded and she felt this would help. Seventeen bonds were reduced in Jacksonville as a result of this day of hearings.

When you are arrested in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida, you are entitled to see a judge within 24 hours to address pretrial release. There are two reasons to set a monetary bond. To protect the community from any danger and to assure a defendant's appearance in court. If you hire a Jacksonville Bond Attorney before going to first appearance court, that Jacksonville Lawyer can argue to the court that the inmate be released on their own recognizance or get a low bond.

If you are arrested for a felony, the judge in first appearance court cannot take care of your case. That judge will set a bond and give you a felony court date. You are entitled to have a felony judge look at your bond after your initial court date. A Bond Reduction Attorney in Jacksonville can get you another hearing date in front of the presiding felony court judge.

At our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Law Firm, we get many calls about withdrawing pleas. There is a system in place for those that have a legal basis to withdraw their pleas.

When you are arrested in Jacksonville and ultimately enter a plea to a charge, the judge must go over certain things with you. You have to have a full understanding of the charges against you, the minimum and maximum possible punishments, and all the evidence against you. You have to understand that you are giving up your right to have a trial, the right to have the state prove all charges against you, the right to cross-examine and confront witness against you, the right to call your own witnesses, etc. If you were not advised of these rights, there may be a basis to withdraw your plea.

Another basis to withdraw your plea when your plea was involuntary. That means you felt forced to enter the plea. A Jacksonville Attorney can discuss your rights with you further.

Rape is defined as sexual contact without consent. Here are the statistics from the first six months of 2008 and 2009:

Reported Rapes

Jacksonville/Duval County
2008 - 133
2009 - 113

St. Augustine/St. Johns County
2008 - 11
2009 - 9

Clay County/Green Cove Springs/Orange Park
2008 - 44
2009 - 57

Nassau County/Fernandina Beach/Amelia Island
2008 - 2
2009 - 1

It is very easy to get arrested for a sex crime in Jacksonville. Unlike most other crimes, there is little evidence in sex crimes. It is often the word of one or two people, that's all. If a detective contacts you and requests that you come down to talk to him or her about possible accusations of sexual misconduct, DO NOT speak to them! Contact a Jacksonville Sex Crime Attorney as soon as possible to discuss your rights.

If you are an 18 year-old boy and have sex with someone from your high school who is under 16 years-old, you can be arrested for a sex charge in Florida. The crime is called lewd battery with consensual sexual activity with someone over 12 and under 16. This is a second degree felony punishable for up to 15 years in prison. This felony will also subject the defendant to becoming a sex offender in Florida.

In order to prove this sex crime in Jacksonville, the prosecutor has to show that the defendant has to engage in sexual activity with someone 12 years old or older but less than 16 years of age. The victim's lack of being a virgin and the victim's consent is not a defense to this sex charge. The defendant's ignorance of the victim's age is also not a defense. Even if the victim lies about their age to the defendant, the defendant still can be arrested for this sex charge in Jacksonville.

If you are arrested in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida and enter a plea to the crime, the judge can either withhold adjudication or adjudicate you guilty. If the judge withholds adjudication, you are not convicted of the crime. If the judge adjudicates you guilty, you have been convicted.

The judge can withhold adjudication more than once if the crime is a misdemeanor. The only exception is a DUI because the legislature mandates an adjudication of guilt on every DUI in Florida.

If you were arrested for a felony in Florida and it is your first, the judge can withhold adjudication. If you are arrested again and enter a plea to a felony, the judge can withhold adjudication if he or she makes certain findings in writing. Under Florida law, you cannot receive a third withhold of adjudication on a felony. A Jacksonville criminal defense lawyer could explain this further.

In a recent case in Florida, a police officer was on patrol in a "well-known and well-documented" drug area when he observed the suspect walking on the side of the road. The officer told the suspect he wanted to talk to him because he was actively chewing something in his mouth. The police asked the suspect what he was chewing, but the suspect didn't say anything. The officer then told the suspect to show him what he was chewing and the suspect opened to show an off-white rock (crack). The officer told him to spit it out and the suspect was arrested. The suspect was then convicted of tampering with evidence and resisting an officer without violence.

An appeals court looked at this case and found that the observations the officer made were the result of an illegal search. The court held that the initial encounter with the officer was consensual, meaning the suspect could have walked away without responding to the officer. When the officer told the suspect to open his mouth, the consensual encounter transformed into an investigatory stop. In order to hold a suspect against his will (where he is not free to leave), the officer must have reasonable suspicion the suspect is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a crime. In this case, all the officer saw was a guy walking late at night chewing something.

John Kerry's daughter, Alexandra, was arrested for DUI this week. When she was arrested and taken down to the police station, she blew under the limit. Even though she blew under, Alexandra had to bond out of jail.

If you have a DUI in Jacksonville and blow under .08, you are still under arrest and will probably have to bond out of jail. Many people think that if you blow under the limit you will be released. The opposite is true. If you blow under in Jacksonville, JSO will ask you to give a urine sample to check for drugs in your system. The most common drugs found in urine are marijuana, cocaine, and Xanax. Even if your urine comes out clean, you still are prosecuted for a DUI. Even if the prosecutor eventually drops your charges in Jacksonville, you will still have an arrest for DUI on your record, you still probably bonded out of jail, and still had to go to court to defend yourself.

As Jacksonville DUI Lawyers, we had a client who blew .02, which is well under the legal limit for impairment. He gave a urine sample, but the results had not come back when he came to our criminal law firm in Jacksonville. Our client could not believe that he could be arrested for DUI after having only one glass of wine. Our DUI Law Firm took the case to court and eventually got the DUI dropped. That was after our client had been arrested and bonded out of jail.

The American Medical Association has changed its policy on marijuana. The association wants the U.S. government to remove pot's classification as a dangerous drug to one with possible benefits. Right now, the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled drug, which has no medical benefit.

Thirteen states have approved the use of medical marijuana. The government has recently ordered its narcotics agents not to arrest medical pot users and sellers in these states, even though pot is still illegal on the federal level.

In Florida, you can still be arrested for possessing, selling, and trafficking in pot.

In a criminal case, the assistant state attorney has discovery obligations. Part of the obligation is to provide the Jacksonville criminal attorney with every piece of evidence in the case, especially evidence that could exculpate the defendant. That includes all paperwork, witnesses, and physical evidence.

If the assistant state attorney neglects to give over this evidence, there can be a "Brady" violation. "Brady" is the name of a case in which the Florida Supreme Court set out a test to establish whether or not to impose sanctions on the prosecution. The defendant has the burden to show that favorable evidence was willfully or inadvertently suppressed by the State Attorney and because the evidence was material, the defendant was prejudiced. The judge can then take actions such as continuing an upcoming trial or exclude the evidence all together.

If your criminal case goes to trial, the very first thing that happens is jury selection. Both the prosecutor and the criminal defense lawyer get to question prospective jurors to ultimately pick the most fair jury to hear the case. Each lawyer gets peremptory challenges, which means the lawyers can strike a certain number of jurors for any reason other than race.

There is an analysis that takes place to determine if the striking of a juror by either lawyer is race, ethnic and/or gender neutral and genuine.

1. The lawyer objecting to the other side's use of a peremptory strike has to make a timely objection, show that the prospective juror is a member of a distinct racial group, and request a reason for the strike.

2. The lawyer that attempted to strike the juror must give a race-neutral explanation.

3. If the explanation is race-neutral on its face and the judge believes the reason is not a pretext, the strike is sustained.

When you are arrested in Jacksonville, you are entitled to a bond hearing. At the hearing, the judge has to make a determination about

1. whether or not you pose a danger to the community and

2. whether you are a flight risk

The judge has to let you have a hearing where a Jacksonville Bond Attorney can present witnesses on your behalf and argument. The criminal defense lawyer will argue your ties to the community, the length of time you have resided in Jacksonville, your employment, etc. The Jacksonville lawyer may also discuss your criminal history and whether or not you have failed to appear at any past court dates. The judge must consider all of these factors as well as the amount of proof the police and state attorney has against you. After considering everything, the judge has to decide a reasonable bond.

If you are arrested for a capital offense (first degree murder) or a crime punishable by life and the prosecutor demonstrates that the proof of guilt is evident and the presumption great, the judge does not have to give you a bond.

About 40% of the arrests in Jacksonville each day are for driving on a suspended license. The prosecutor has to prove that you were driving and you knew your driver's license was suspended. To prove that you had knowledge that your license was suspended, the element of knowledge is satisfied if:

1. You have been cited for driving on a suspended license in Florida

2. You admit to knowledge of the suspension.

3. You received notice of the suspension.

There is a presumption that you received notice if the DMV shows in its records that they sent notice to the address on your license. The prosecutor does not have to show that you actually received the notice.

A then-pregnant woman who was arrested at an ER in Jacksonville can sue the police officer for an illegal arrest. Melanie Williams was arrested in 2005 for fleeing and eluding a police officer and reckless driving in Jacksonville. She was bleeding and felt as if she was going to pass out. As she was driving, police say she ran a red light. After pulling over, she told the officer she was sick and drove to the hospital. Police followed and then arrested her at the scene.

The felony charge of fleeing and eluding an officer and the misdemeanor charge of reckless driving were dropped shortly after her arrest. When you are arrested in Jacksonville, the state attorney's office makes a decision on what to do. They can file the case as charged, reduce the charges to lesser crimes, or drop the charges all together. Both the police and the state attorney's office have great power and discretion over people's liberty.

When someone has been arrested for burglary in Jacksonville or anywhere in Florida, the possible punishment depends on what was "broken into". Burglary means that you entered somewhere you did not have a right to be with the intent to commit a crime within. It can with the intent to commit ANY crime, like theft, battery, and arson. The different places you can burglarize are defined below:

Structure - a building of any kind, either temporary or permanent. It has to have a roof over it.

Dwelling - a building or conveyance, including a porch, whether temporary or permanent, which has a roof on it and is designed to have people lodge in it at night.

Conveyance - any motor vehicle, boat, railroad car, airplane.

The Duval County Jail now is now over capacity by 673 inmates. Officials point to high bonds on certain cases and less negotiated sentences with the state attorney's office.

When someone is arrested in Duval County, they are entitled to go to court within 24 hours of arrest for a judge to determine if there was probable cause for arrest and to establish a bond or release them on their own recognizance. (also called ROR) Officials point to very high bonds that are set in Jacksonville. Jacksonville has some of the highest bonds in Florida.

Officials also cite less plea negotiations taking place with the state attorney's office. The state attorney's office does not have to make offers in any criminal case, but if they did not, the system would be hopelessly overloaded.

Right now, if you are arrested for a third degree felony, you cannot enter a plea in first appearance court. (also called J-1) Officials have suggested that allowing people arrested for these felonies in Jacksonville to have the ability to enter a plea in J-1 if they wish.

An ex-assistant state attorney was arrested for domestic battery in Florida. William Price was a prosecutor for 2 years and is now a criminal defense attorney in Panama City. Police responded to a dispute and claim to have found the alleged victim cut and bleeding. Police report that Price allegedly called the alleged victim after the incident and harassed her. The domestic battery charge carries up to 1 year in jail and is a first degree misdemeanor.

It is very easy to get arrested for domestic battery in Jacksonville. If JSO responds to a domestic dispute, someone is going to jail. It usually is the man who gets arrested of if it is a man and a woman who are involved in the fight. Police will look for any physical marks on the alleged victim's body. They will also look for an "independent" witness to the touching.

In order to prove a domestic battery, the prosecutor must prove that you intentionally touched someone against their will or intentionally harmed someone.

An assistant state attorney has been arrested in Florida for DUI. This is the second time Lydia Wardell as been arrested for Driving Under the Influence within 4 years. Even though there are minimum mandatory punishments for getting a DUI within 5 years of the last DUI, she did not do the minimum 10 days in jail. Instead, Wardell was sentenced to an alcohol treatment program along with 50 hours of community service, a 5 year license suspension, and an ankle monitor. After the police pulled her over and requested that she perform field sobriety exercises, Wardell refused. She also refused to blow into the breathilizer.

Under Florida law, the 10 days in jail are mandatory for a second DUI within 5 years of the first. If you are arrested for DUI in Jacksonville, some judges let you do the 10 days on the weekends. Weekend jail in Jacksonville costs $60.00 per day. You report to the community corrections division on Saturday and Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. If you are one minute late, they will not accept you and you may have to do straight jail time. You should consult with a Jacksonville DUI Lawyer about weekend jail in Jacksonville.

If a defendant is put on probation for a sex offense in Jacksonville, in order for him or her to have contact with a minor, a risk assessment must be completed and presented to the judge. In Florida, the assessment must be prepared by a qualified practitioner and must be written. The components of it are:

1. The sex offender's legal status.

2. The offender's history of adult criminal charges with a sexual motivation.

3. The offender's criminal history without a sexual motivation.

4. The offender's juvenile charges.

5. The offender's sex offender treatment history.

6. Mental Status of offender.

7. Work, social, educational history.

8. History of drug treatment.

9. Practitioner's opinion about contact with children.

A teacher has been arrested in Nassau County for unlawful sexual activity with a 17 year-old, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and other crimes. Stephen Turner is a teacher at Fernandina Beach High School and the allegations are that he had sex with a student. Turner is currently suspended from work and has a $260,000 bond.

If you are arrested for these charges in Nassau County, Florida, the penalties are as follows:

1. Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor, second degree felony - 15 years

2. Providing Obscene Material to a Minor, third degree felony - 5 years

3. Child Abuse - third degree felony - 5 years

4. Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor - first degree misdemeanor - 1 year