Jacksonville Criminal Attorney Blog

The Forbess Law Firm is a Jacksonville Criminal Defense Law Firm and we represent people charged with all kinds of crimes, even juveniles. Juvenile criminal cases in Jacksonville are handled by circuit court judges and juvenile law is slightly different than adult criminal law.

Our Jacksonville law firm has represented children charged with sex crimes. There is a such thing as a "juvenile sex offender". A juvenile sex offender is:

1. a juvenile who has been found by the court to have committed a sex crime

2. a juvenile found to have committed a felony involving juvenile sex abuse. Juvenile sex abuse is defined as any sexual behavior that occurs without consent or as a result of coercion.

When a child is adjudicated a juvenile sex offender, the court has to make a determination about where he or she should be placed. The juvenile judge can order the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice to conduct or arrange for an examination to determine whether the juvenile sex offender is amenable to treatment. The report has to include:

1. The child's account of the incident where the sexual behavior took place.

2. The child's crime history.

3. An assessment of sexually deviant behaviors of the child.

4. An assessment of the child's family, social, educational, and employment situation.

If your child is arrested for a sex crime in Jacksonville, contact a Jacksonville Juvenile Attorney immediately to discuss your child's rights.

Living in Jacksonville, we all know police officers use force. Sometimes, it is deadly. Law enforcement officers do not have to retreat or stop their efforts when they are making a lawful arrest of someone. Under Florida law, the police officer can use ANY force:

1. Which he or she reasonably believes to be necessary to defend himself or herself or someone else from harm while making the lawful arrest or

2. When necessarily committed in capturing escaped felons or

3. When necessarily committed in arresting fleeing felons. In this case, the officer is justified in using DEADLY force if he or she gives a warning and REASONABLY believes the fleeing felon poses a threat of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or others or the officer REASONABLY believes the fleeing felon has committed a crime that involves hurting others seriously.

A JSO officer was arrested on December 17th for felony criminal mischief in Jacksonville, Florida. Megan Ray has been charged with a third degree felony, punishable for up to 5 years in prison. Police say she was observed walking over to the victim's car (the victim is the current wife of Ray's ex-husband) and looking inside. She allegedly then forcibly pulled on the front and rear driver's side door handles in an attempt to open them. Once she realized the doors were locked, Ray allegedly tried to puncture the front passenger's side tire many times and tried to remove the Fraternal Order of Police emblem from the victim's license plate. Apparently, this was recorded on video. Six days later, the victim reported that her left rear tire on the driver's side was flattened at a sub-station. A silver Nissan was observed by an officer leaving the scene and the driver had long blonde hair. The officer thought it was Megan Ray. When Ray was arrested, she had her right hand bandaged. She allegedly admitted to flattening the victim's tires and cutting her hand in the process.

The crime of Criminal Mischief can be either a misdemeanor or felony in Jacksonville. A person commits criminal mischief is he or she willfully and maliciously injures or damages by any means the property belonging to another. If the damage is $200.00 or less, it is a second degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail. If the damage is more than $200.00 but less than $1000.00, it is considered a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. If the damage is $1000.00 or more, it is considered a third degree felony.

In Ray's case, the prosecution will have to prove that the damaged tires are worth at least $1000.00 in order to justify filing the third degree felony in Jacksonville.

Because our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Law Firm practices 100% criminal law, our criminal attorneys get asked many questions. One of the most common questions we are asked concerns pleas in criminal cases.

A "plea" is an accused person's formal response of "not guilty", "guilty", or "no contest" to a criminal charge.

A "Not Guilty" plea is telling the court that you are going to fight the criminal charge. This plea denies that the defendant committed the crime and will force the prosecutor to prove the charge beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.

A "No Contest" plea is also referred to as a "nolo contendere" plea. This is Latin for "I do not wish to contend". You are not admitting guilt with this plea, but this plea functions the same as a "Guilty" plea.

A "Guilty" plea is admitting responsibility for the crime.

Once you enter a plea of no contest or a plea of guilty, you will be sentenced for the crime. This may be a negotiated sentence between you, your criminal lawyer, and the prosecutor or a plea straight up to the judge. When you enter a "straight up" plea, your sentence will be determined by a judge. You are entitled to present all of the good things about you, including having witnesses testify on your behalf, having the judge read letters written for you, and having the judge listen to anything you want to say. You should discuss any possible pleas with your criminal attorney in Jacksonville.

When you are arrested for a drug-related crime in Jacksonville, you may be eligible for drug court. The Duval County Adult Drug Court Program is a diversion program designed to eliminate drug dependency. If you are able to get admitted into the program, after you successfully complete it, the prosecutor's office will drop all of the criminal charges against you.

Drug Court is a 12 month program broken up in 4 phases.

Phase I is intensive day/night treatment which means three hours a day, three days per week for six weeks. You will also have to appear in drug court once a week.

Phase II is moderately intensive day/night treatment which means you must attend three hours a day for two days for six weeks. You must also go to drug court as instructed.

Phase III requires outpatient group counseling which includes three hours a week for sixteen weeks. You must also appear in drug court as instructed.

Phase IV is aftercare which requires your attendance one day a week for one hour until you graduate.

The cost of the program is at least $10.00 per week. In addition to the phases above, you must attend at least three Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings a week throughout the program. Random drug testing is also a requirement.

Getting into Drug Court is a privilege and is not automatic. If you have been arrested for a drug offense in Jacksonville, Clay County, or Nassau County, contact a Jacksonville Drug Lawyer about the possibility of you being placed in Drug Court.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol are out in force over the holidays. Even though there are less officers on the street because they are on vacation, the police that are working focus their efforts on monitoring traffic.

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday, the Florida Highway Patrol handed out 12,000 traffic tickets, about 5,000 of which were for exceeding the speed limit. About 1,400 were cited for not wearing a seat belt.

As far as DUI's in Florida over Thanksgiving, FHP made around 120 DUI arrests. In general, Troopers are usually more accustomed to issuing traffic tickets and writing accident reports than conducting DUI investigations. DUI reports are supposed to be very specific about the facts surrounding the arrest. The reports should include:

Information about why the car was pulled over

Observations of the officer upon making contact with the subject. (such as the conditions of the eyes, any odor of alcohol, speech, walking and standing pattern)

Details on Field Sobriety Exercises

Details about Breath Test

If you are arrested for DUI, it is important to consult with an experienced DUI Attorney in Jacksonville before you enter a plea to any crime.

As a Jacksonville Pill Crime Law Firm, we have represented many people in Duval County, Clay County, and Nassau County who have been arrested for drug crimes in Jacksonville. A drug crime that is becoming more and more common is possession pills without a prescription. The most common pills people possess without a prescription are Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, and Xanax. The formal name for this crime is possession of a controlled substance and it is a third degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Many people think that if they are given the pills by a friend, as opposed to buying the pills on the street, that makes the possession legal. It does not.

To prove the crime of possession of a controlled substance, the state would have to prove the defendant possessed the pills without a prescription, the substance was in fact a controlled substance, and the defendant had knowledge of the presence of the pills.

A police officer arrested for DUI south of Jacksonville, in Cocoa Beach, has resulted in some of his criminal cases being dropped. James Wheeler was pulled over for driving on the wrong side of the road and for hitting a garbage can. Once he was detained by police, they allege he had slurred speech and glassy eyes. These are not the details that are the most problematic.

Wheeler had the controlled substance, oxycodone, in his blood and there were many pills in his car that he did not have a prescription for. Criminal Defense Attorneys for people Wheeler arrested began to look into this further and argued that Wheeler may have stolen evidence from drug arrests he made in his capacity as a law enforcement officer. The state attorney's office dropped at least two drug cases already.