Jacksonville Criminal Lawyer Blog

A woman who was demanding a conjugal visit with an inmate in the Flagler County, Florida jail was arrested for DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) according to an article on News4Jax.com. The article indicated that the woman drove up to the Flagler County jail twice demanding a visit and the police officers detected that she was drunk. Police ultimately found her sitting in her car and arrested her. A breathalyzer test revealed that her blood alcohol level was 0.256, which is more than three times the limit of 0.08.

For the few people who do not know, they have police and/or sheriff officers at the jail. It is not a good place to show up drunk demanding visits with inmates. This story falls into the category of stories about people who are trying to get arrested.

DUI cases made by police officers often have holes allowing for various defenses that criminal defense lawyers can exploit when defending DUI clients. However, there are certain things DUI defendants can do to impair their defenses. This is a unique and extreme example but generally, if the police have stopped you and are investigating you for a possible DUI, the best thing to do is to stay calm, be polite and ask for your criminal defense lawyer without providing any information about where you have been, what you have been doing and your current state of mind.

A man was caught trying to leave a Target store with stolen merchandise in Flagler County, Florida and ended up being charged with at least one very serious felony crime, according to an article on News4Jax.com. The article indicates that a police officer was called to the store to investigate an alleged shoplifter. When the alleged shoplifter exited the store with merchandise and saw the Flagler County police officer and Target loss prevention officer outside of the store, he ran to a car that was waiting for him. At this point, he was only facing a charge of petit theft, a fairly minor misdemeanor, if the property was valued at less than $300, or grand theft, a third degree felony, if the property was worth between $300 and $20,000. Grand theft at that level is a third degree felony, but one of the less serious felony crimes.

However, this case and the ultimate charges became much more serious when the suspect allegedly slammed the car door on the police officer and broke his arm. At that point, the case went from a fairly minor theft case to a theft and aggravated battery against a law enforcement officer case. In Florida, aggravated battery against a law enforcement officer is a first degree felony which carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison. Therefore, if the suspect had just removed the merchandise from the store without paying and the goods were worth $300 or more, he was looking at a maximum sentence of five years but realistically either probation or a short term of imprisonment. However, by slamming the door on the police officer and breaking his arm, he is now likely looking at a much more significant prison sentence if proven guilty.

The police in Columbia County, Florida (about an hour west of Jacksonville, FL) executed a search warrant and allegedly found two of the residents flushing bags of crack cocaine down the toilet, according to an article on News4Jax.com. The article indicated that the two Columbia County suspects flushed more than 80 grams of crack cocaine down the toilet, but the police were able to retrieve it from the septic pipe. Eighty grams of crack cocaine is well over the amount needed for a trafficking in cocaine charge.

As criminal defense lawyers handling cases, including many drug cases, throughout Northeast Florida, we have seen similar cases where people are accused of trying to destroy, or otherwise get rid of, drugs when police come to a residence or hotel room. Many times, when the police search a home, hotel room or other location that is often occupied by multiple people, the police will find drugs somewhere on the premises, but it will not be clear who actually owned or possessed the drugs. The police will often arrest everyone at the premises, or the people closest to the drugs. However, these are often weak constructive possession of drugs cases. If the police and the State cannot prove who actually knew about and had some control over those drugs, the drug charges will not stick.

However, in cases where the police come in and they actually observe a person trying to dispose of the drugs, that is no longer a constructive possession case. If the police can prove that a person actually possessed the drugs and knew what he/she had was illegal drugs, that is an actual possession of drugs case that is often stronger than the constructive possession of drugs cases. If the police come in a home with a search warrant and see someone flushing a large quantity of crack cocaine down the toilet, that is obviously a stronger case than the one where drugs are located somewhere on the premises but not immediately near any particular person.

There have been more arrests and criminal charges for child pornography in the Jacksonville area recently, as noted by an article on News4Jax.com. Child pornography, whether a person receives it, creates it, distributes it or just views it on a computer at home, is a very serious crime that carries very stiff penalties. And there have been an increase in child pornography related arrests throughout Florida by both federal, state and local law enforcement officials.

As the article suggests, there are several reasons why we have seen more arrests for child pornography. First, state, local and federal law enforcement officials are initiating more investigations into the crime. Some crimes do not resonate with the public as much as others. For instance, not everyone can get behind spending a lot of money and resources to fight drug crimes. However, the public will always support officials who make child pornography a priority. Additionally, the technology is better today than it was in the past. This works both ways. People have more access to child pornography with computers and the internet. However, law enforcement officials have better technology to track and catch people who are viewing and sharing illegal pictures and videos.

Regardless of the reasons for the increase, when the police, FBI or other law enforcement agency make an arrest for child pornography, it is practically certain that the case will be treated very seriously by the prosecutors.

A Jacksonville, Florida man was arrested for bank fraud, according to an article on News4Jax.com. The article indicates that the suspect was getting assistance from bank employees who provided the suspect with ATM and PIN information. The suspect then allegedly would deposit fraudulent checks through the bank ATM's and withdraw the cash before the bank realized the checks were not valid. Jacksonville police estimated that the suspect took more than $300,000 in the scheme.

We have seen several of these kinds of fraud cases along with similar cases involving fraudulent checks and ATM cards. While these types of schemes do exist, they are not always easy to prove. People on juries expect that ATM machines have surveillance cameras and checks have fingerprints. They expect to see concrete proof of who was involved. However, those important elements of proof are often missing from these investigations. Each case needs to be analyzed to see exactly what can be proven. It is one thing to prove that the bank suffered a loss but quite another to prove exactly how it happened and who was responsible. The money and customer information that are involved in these cases often pass through several hands. It is up to the police and the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt which of those people are responsible for the crime.

As criminal defense lawyers in Jacksonville, Florida, we handle a lot of drug cases from smaller possession of marijuana cases to more serious trafficking in marijuana, crack cocaine, pills and methamphetamine cases. One question that arises fairly often is: What is the difference between possession of illegal drugs and trafficking in illegal drugs?

Most people think of a major drug dealer moving large quantities of drugs when they think of drug traffickers. However, that is not necessarily the case, particularly when dealing with possession of illegal pills such as Lortab, Percocet, Vicodin, Oxycodone and Oxycontin, among others, without a prescription. It only takes a few pills to meet the requirements for a trafficking in pills charge. For other drugs like crack cocaine, powder cocaine or methamphetamine, there is a bigger difference between drug trafficking and possession. It takes 28 or more grams of cocaine to be charged with trafficking in cocaine and 14 or more grams of methamphetamine to meet the requirements for trafficking in methamphetamine. However, while those amounts are clearly more than short term personal use amounts, when you see them, they still are not the huge quantities of drugs some might expect for a trafficking charge.

With respect to trafficking in marijuana, it takes 25 pounds of marijuana to be charged with trafficking. So for marijuana at least, there is a pretty clear difference between simple possession and trafficking.

For pills, however, the difference is the most minute. It only takes a few pills to be charged with the serious charge of trafficking in pills and face the potential of significant prison time. This is scary because a lot of people may have old pills laying around or may have borrowed some for a particular injury or condition and may unwittingly have a trafficking amount of pills in their home.

In terms of what a person needs to do with the drugs to be charged with trafficking, there is no difference between possession and trafficking. All that is required to be charged with trafficking in illegal drugs is to have the drugs in one's possession. It is the amount, or weight, of the drugs which makes up the key differences depending on the particular drug.

A Jacksonville man still in the hospital was arrested for DUI manslaughter and other charges after being involved in an accident that caused the death of a St. Johns County deputy. According to reports following the crash, the suspect was driving the wrong way on State Road 9A in Jacksonville and had been drinking prior to the crash. The reports indicate that the suspect submitted to a breathalyzer test that showed his blood alcohol level to be almost twice the legal limit of 0.08.

As most people know, if a person drives while under the influence of alcohol to the extent that his normal faculties (i.e. vision, judgment, coordination, balance, speech, etc) are impaired, he/she can be charged with DUI, which is a misdemeanor crime. Although a first or second DUI will always be a misdemeanor, that crime has reached the point where the penalties can be quite severe including jail, probation, community service, a large fine and a suspended license.

However, the charge of DUI can also be a felony charge in some situations and result in much more serious penalties such as significant prison time. If a person gets a third or fourth DUI, the State may have the option of charging the defendant with a third degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. However, the State in the Jacksonville, Florida area typically will still charge those cases as misdemeanors.

However, if a person is alleged to be intoxicated and involved in an accident that causes serious injury or death to another, that person will almost certainly be charged with a felony- either DUI with serious bodily injury or DUI manslaughter. These are very serious cases for which the State often recommends significant jail or prison time.

A Jacksonville Beach, Florida man was recently indicted on three counts of possessing child pornography, one count of transporting child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography in federal court, according to an article on Firstcoastnews.com. The charges together carry a maximum potential sentence of 100 years in federal prison.

Law enforcement authorities on the state and federal levels are focusing more and more on child pornography cases. As most people should know, it is a federal crime and a state crime to possess child pornography pictures and videos, create them, share them, distribute them or receive them. Viewing child pornography on one's computer and then deleting the file is illegal. Law enforcement officials have effective computer tracking technology which can tell them which computers may contain child pornography files. As this technology gets better and more people use the internet (which gives people better access and opportunity to view child pornography pictures and videos), state and federal law enforcement will make more and more arrests. And when these arrests are made and child pornography charges are brought, the potential penalties are very serious.

We have written many times on this criminal law blog about drug cases that were dismissed because they were weak constructive possession cases. In other words, drugs were found near (or sometimes not even near) multiple people, and the police tried to pin the drugs on one or more of those people without being able to prove that any of them had knowledge and actual control over the illegal drugs. However, sometimes, the police and the state can prove a drug case against a person based on constructive possession of illegal drugs.

When the police and the state rely on constructive possession in Florida, that is not always an automatic dismissal of the drug charges. Many of the constructive possession of drug cases are weak, however some of them have some merit to them. We recently read about a case that took place just south of Jacksonville, Florida in Daytona Beach where a person was convicted of possession of crack cocaine on a constructive possession theory.

In this case, two people were in a car that was stopped by police. The driver was arrested for driving with a suspended license, and the car was searched. The police found a bag of crack cocaine on the floorboard on the passenger side of the vehicle where the defendant had been sitting. He was charged with and convicted of possession of cocaine.

Normally, just being close to the illegal drugs is not enough for the officer to arrest a person nor for a conviction on drug charges. However, in this case, the judge determined that the drugs were located right where the defendant was sitting and within arm's reach of the defendant only. The defendant would still have arguments that he did not know the drugs were there, someone else placed them there previously or the other occupant of the vehicle threw the drugs down there when he saw the officer. There are always defenses in a constructive possession of drugs case. However, there are also times when a judge or a jury decides there is sufficient evidence to go forward on a drug case even when possession of the drugs is just constructive.