Jacksonville Criminal Lawyer Blog

Gas prices have become a central issue in Jacksonville and throughout the country as they continue to rise into the summer months with no relief in sight. Americans have established a lifestyle conducive to low gas prices, and many of us are having a difficult time making adjustments to the recent inflated gas prices. Of course, gas prices in Jacksonville and through the United States are not nearly as high as they are in many other countries, like those in Europe, but that is no consolation to people here who pay twice as much or more to fill up their gas tanks than they did a year or two ago.

Police departments, whose officers spend much of their shifts driving, are also having a difficult time working the increased fuel expenses into their budgets. One city in Northwest Georgia is dealing with their budget difficulties due to higher gas prices by adding a $12 fuel surcharge to each ticket for a moving violation, such as speeding, according to an article at www.USAToday.com. The city, Holly Springs, Georgia, is doing this to avoid raising property taxes. According to the article, the Holly Springs police chief has been getting a number of calls from police chiefs and city managers from other cities inquiring about their program. This is the kind of thing that could certainly catch on and spread to other cities.

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Posted In: Traffic Infractions

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In Jacksonville, Florida it is very common for Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) officers to increase the number of DUI arrests (aka DWI or drunk driving) around July 4th, particularly when July 4th falls on or near a weekend as it does this year. Jacksonville residents may see an increase in DUI checkpoints or roadblocks and Jacksonville police officers on the roads looking for people they suspect are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in certain areas they consider higher DUI crime areas.

Interestingly, police checkpoints for DUI stops and investigations may be more trouble than they are worth, according to an article last year on www.azstarnet.com. That article notes that in two years of DUI checkpoints in Arizona, more than 46,000 drivers were stopped, but only 1% of them were arrested for DUI and fewer than half of that 1% were convicted of DUI. The number of DUI arrests did not change whether the DUI checkpoints were in place or not.

If you have any questions about a DUI arrest in Jacksonville or the Northeast Florida area or DUI laws in general, we invite you to contact us any time.

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Posted In: DUI

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A police officer and former magistrate judge were charged with human trafficking and several other federal crimes for allegedly bringing a woman into the United States from India under false pretenses and subjecting her to a form of "modern day slavery" in Georgia, according to an article at www.ajc.com.

According to federal prosecutors, the defendants lied to the Indian victim and told her she would be employed as a nanny, but after she arrived in the United States, they refused to pay her, made her live in an unheated basement, limited her access to the outside and told her she was a criminal and threatened to have her arrested. When the victim was able to escape the house, one of the defendants reportedly contacted the Department of Homeland Security and reported that the victim may be a terrorist.

Federal human trafficking allegations are considered a top priority and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, according to representatives of the Department of Justice. Earlier this year, three defendants in New Jersey were given maximum sentences after pleading guilty to human trafficking for their role in bringing Hondurans into the United States, lodging them in cramped apartments and forcing them to work extensive hours dancing in bars for low wages that were taken away to pay for the cost of smuggling them into the country.

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Posted In: Federal Crimes

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Financial identify fraud and financial identity theft are increasingly common crimes. A person can be a victim of these financial identity crimes without knowing about it for days, weeks or months. Once a victim of these crimes, it can be very costly and time consuming to get one's credit and financial situation in the same position it was in prior to the crime.

One way to check and see if your identity or financial accounts have been stolen is to check your credit report. What many people are not aware of is that you can get a copy of your credit report for free once a year. If you want to obtain a copy of your credit report more often than that, you can for a fee. However, it is important to note that there are three companies that maintain credit information- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. If you want to have a thorough picture of your credit situation, you need to see your credit report from each of the three companies. Why? Well, if someone steals your identity and orders a new credit card with it, that credit card company may check your credit through Experian. Therefore, if you only see your credit report from Equifax, you will not be aware of the fraudulent credit card on the Experian credit report. So, the best course of action is to stagger your order for one free credit report from each company every four months. If you want to order your credit report, go to www.annualcreditreport.com.

Unfortunately, ordering your credit report and seeing an unauthorized entry on there obviously will not prevent your identity or financial information from being stolen; it will just alert you to that fact and allow you to start the process of restoring your credit. One way to try and prevent financial identity fraud or theft is to place a fraud alert on your credit file, which is free. You only need to do this with one of the three credit bureaus as they will notify the others. This will alert the credit bureaus to contact you for verification if anyone applies for credit under your name. Fraud alerts need to be renewed every 90 days.

Another way to try to avoid becoming a victim of financial identity theft or fraud is to place a freeze on your credit file. This effectively freezes your credit file so that new credit accounts cannot be opened. It also prevents some people, such as landlords ad employers, from viewing your credit report. This must be done with each of the three credit bureaus. The problem with freezing your credit file is that you may want someone to have quick access to your credit file or you may need quick access to new credit which would not be possible until you lift the freeze on your credit file. It also costs a fee (often $10) each time you freeze your credit file and lift the freeze with each credit bureau.

Financial identify theft and financial identity fraud are very common crimes that can have lasting, cumbersome and expensive effects on people. It may not be possible to completely eliminate the risk of being a victim of financial identity crimes, but there are things that can be done to reduce the risk and become aware if you are a victim. At a minimum, checking your credit report on a regular basis is a good start.

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Posted In: White Collar Crime

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A person who has been arrested for a crime in Florida and elsewhere has the right to remain silent. Most people have heard of the Miranda warnings that are read to a person pursuant to an arrest, which includes the right to remain silent. However, the right to remain silent is a right afforded by the Constitution and begins as soon as a person is arrested even if the police officer has not yet read the Miranda warnings.

Another aspect of the right to remain silent after an arrest is the fact that, in the subsequent criminal trial, the prosecutor is not allowed to make a comment to the jury about the defendant's silence after the arrest or the defendant's exercise of his/her right to remain silent for the time period before, during and after the Miranda warnings are read after the arrest. An improper comment by the prosecutor about a criminal defendant's silence after an arrest can take several forms, and most of them are improper.

For instance, consider a recent Florida criminal case where a person in an airport consented to a search of his luggage in which the police found two bricks of cocaine. The subject remained silent when he and the officer saw the cocaine in his bag and was arrested. At the trial, the defendant testified, and the criminal defense attorney argued, that the defendant did not know the drugs were in his bag. The prosecutor commented that if that was the case, the defendant should have said something about how he was surprised the cocaine was in his bag and that he did not put them there as soon as he and the police officer saw the bricks of cocaine. This was found to be an improper comment on the defendant's silence after his arrest and his conviction for drug trafficking was reversed.

Criminal prosecutors would often like to argue that if a defendant is innocent, why didn't he/she say so and come up with an explanation after an arrest. However, the Constitutional right to remain silent mandates that a person who has been arrested does not have to say anything to explain him/herself and any comment by the state regarding the exercise of that right can be grounds for the reversal of a criminal conviction.

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Posted In: Criminal Procedure

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In Duval County (Jacksonville), Florida, there are over 34,000 boats registered. As we approach the Summer months, boating becomes increasingly popular, and the Jacksonville area water ways become more crowded. As a result, boating under the influence of alcohol (BUI) arrests also increase this time of year.

In the Jacksonville, Florida area, there are law enforcement officials, such as the Florida Wildlife Commission, who patrol the water ways in Duval County, Clay County, Nassau County and all of Northeast Florida just like police officers and troopers patrol the roads. And also like police officers on the road, law enforcement officials on the water must have a valid reason to stop a boat. A boat can be stopped based upon probable cause which can arise if a boat is speeding or in violation of the various regulations that apply to boats. A boat can also be stopped for a random inspection related to fishing, equipment, registration or safety.

If an officer suspects that a boat driver is operating the boat under the influence of alcohol, the officer may request a field sobriety test. The field sobriety test is different from the one performed on a vehicle driver. Part of the test can be done on the boat on the water such as the alphabet, horizontal gaze and finger counting. However, other parts of the test should be done on land, such as standing on one leg, placing the finger on the nose and walking a straight line and turning. But there are other factors to consider in the boating context. A boater should be given a period of time after getting off of the boat to acclimate him/herself to land after spending time on the water. Also, these tests are often more difficult if the person is barefoot or in flip flops as supposed to regular, more stable shoes. At some point, in deciding whether to make an arrest for BUI or after a BUI arrest, the officer will make a note of and/or take pictures of any alcohol or alcohol containers in the boat.

Under Florida law, a person commits the crime of boating under the influence when he/she operates a vessel while his/her normal faculties are impaired or his/her blood or breath alcohol level is 0.08 or higher. Like the crime of DUI, boating under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a misdemeanor (unless upon a third conviction within ten years of the previous conviction or upon a fourth conviction) that subjects an offender to serious fines and other penalties, probation and the possibility of jail time.

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Posted In: Boating Under the Influence (BUI)

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When does speeding result in more than a traffic violation and become a criminal offense that can get you arrested and thrown in jail? It is not clear, but two Jacksonville drivers were recently arrested for allegedly driving well in excess of the speed limit, according to an article on www.Firstcoastnews.com.

In Jacksonville, Florida, there is no standard or law that tells a police officer when to issue a ticket for speeding or when to arrest someone who is speeding. That decision can be made at the discretion of the particular police officer. In this case, two Jacksonville motorcycle drivers were reportedly driving 142 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone on State Road 9A. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officer stopped them and arrested them. The police officer decided that driving at such an excessive speed went beyond the normal conduct that is typically addressed by a speeding citation and actually became reckless conduct which placed the two motorcycle drivers and others in danger of being injured in an accident.

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Posted In: Traffic Infractions

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Jevon Kearse, who was one of the best defensive players ever to play for the University of Florida, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after a traffic stop in Tennessee this past weekend, according to an article on ESPN.com. According to police, Kearse's vehicle was weaving in the road and speeding which was the basis for the traffic stop. When the officer approached Kearse, police said that his eyes were red and watery, his speech was slurred and he emitted an odor of alcohol. Kearse then performed the requested field sobriety test but refused to take the breathalyzer test. He was then arrested for DUI.

This is a fairly common DUI arrest scenario. When the police see a vehicle weaving and/or speeding in the early morning hours on the weekend, their suspicion of a DUI is raised. Red, bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol are classic signs that police look for when deciding to initiate or continue a DUI investigation. Police will then often request a field sobriety test which the driver has a right to refuse. Police will often also request the driver submit to a breath or blood alcohol test which, if refused in Florida, subjects the driver to driver's license suspension penalties, which are further detailed here on our website.

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Posted In: DUI

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After an arrest for drunk driving in Jacksonville, Florida the police officer is going to take your driver's license away. If you are otherwise authorized to drive (i.e. your license is not suspended or revoked), the police officer will give you a ticket that will serve as a temporary driver's license that lasts for 10 days. After ten days after your arrest for DUI, your temporary privilege to drive expires. However, even though your license will be suspended following the ten days after your arrest, you still can apply for a hardship license that allows you to drive in certain circumstances.

After your arrest for DUI in Jacksonville, there is also a procedure that allows you to challenge the suspension of your license with a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) officer. You must apply for a hearing within ten days of your arrest.

If that appeal of the suspension of your driver's license after the DUI is unsuccessful, that does not affect your ability to get the hardship license. The procedure for getting the hardship license is as follows. If you submitted to the breath or blood alcohol test and your blood or breath alcvohol level was 0.08 or greater, you have to wait 30 additional days after the initial 10 day temporary driving period after your arrest to petition for the hardship license. So, on the 41st day after your DUI arrest, you may have the hearing to obtain the hardship license. If you refused to submit to a blood or breath alcohol test, you have to wait 90 days after the initial 10 day temporary driving period to try to get the hardship license. So, on the 101st day after your DUI arrest, you can go to the hearing to get a hardship license.

There are two types of hardship driver's licenses. A business hardship license allows you to drive to and from work, for necessary on-the-job trips, for educational purposes, for meeical purposes and for church-related purposes. An employment hardship license allows you to drive to and from work and for necessary on-the-job trips only.

In Jacksonville, Duval County, the hearings are typically set about seven days in advance. So, around the 34th day after a DUI arrest if you bloew 0.08 or higher, or around the 94th day after an arrest if you refused to submit to a blood or breath alcohol test, call the administrative office in Duval County at (904) 777-2132 and set up the appointment for the hearing. At the hearing, you will need to show that you need a hardship driver's license for the reasons indicated above and that you will not drink and drive again. The hearing officer will also look into any criminal record you may have. It would also be a good idea to bring any proof of employment, enrollment in school and any other documentation that supports the need for a hardship license.

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Posted In: DUI

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Financial identity theft crimes are becoming more common in Florida as people resort to using less cash in favor of credit and debit cards. The following are a couple examples of increasingly common ways people are committing financial identity fraud to obtain the names and numbers on credit and debit card accounts so they can be later used without the cardholder's authorization.

One method of financial identity fraud is referred to as key logging. It can happen in two primary ways. First, a person will attach a device to a computer through the keyboard port that can document a person's key strokes when the computer is used. For instance, an offender may attach the device to a computer at a public library. When a victim uses the computer and types information on the keyboard, the offender can come back and remove the device and determine what keys the victim hit while using the computer. Alternatively, software is available that can serve the same purpose. After visiting a certain website, opening an email or getting a computer virus, a computer may acquire software that records a person's keystrokes and sends the information to another location to be accessed by an offender.

Another method used to commit financial identity fraud is called skimming. This occurs when the offender uses a device that records the information on the magnetic strip on a credit or debit card as well as the information entered on the keypad. The device can be used in places where people swipe their credit or debit cards, such as ATM machines, gas station pumps and other such terminals. It can also be done in the various situations where a person gives a waiter, retailer or other vendor a credit card to be swiped and returned to the customer.

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Posted In: Theft Crimes , White Collar Crime

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Federal criminal charges were brought against a Florida man who allegedly attempted to obtain a high paying job with forged documents and false information, according to an article at www.Reuters.com. The Florida suspect has been charged with three counts of wire fraud by federal prosecutors after allegedly sending fraudulent documents to a company performing a background check on behalf of the company to which he applied for a job. The fraudulent documents were related to an SEC investigation that the suspect claimed was no longer ongoing. According to federal prosecutors, the suspect created a fake email from the SEC indicating that he cooperated with their investigation and provided valuable information. Federal prosecutors also allege that the suspect claimed that he was the vice president of finance for a Fortune 500 company, although he had been previously fired from that job.

The federal crime of wire fraud refers to any use of interstate wire communications to commit a fraudulent scheme to obtain money or other property. The use of wires encompasses telephone, radio, television and computer networks. Without knowing more about the facts of this case, the allegations of wire fraud likely involve an attempt to obtain money via a well paying job by using email and/or the telephone to transmit fraudulent information. If he is convicted of the wire fraud counts, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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Posted In: Federal Crimes , White Collar Crime

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A law enforcement officer was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after he was found passed out in his truck which was stopped in the road, according to an article at www.News4Jax.com. The officer was given a field sobriety test which he reportedly failed, and was then arrested for DUI.

One question in the DUI context that may arise from this arrest is how a person can be arrested for drunk driving, or DUI, when he is not even driving the vehicle. In other words, does a person have to actual drive the vehicle to be arrested and ultimately convicted of a DUI defense? The answer is no. A person can commit a DUI if he/she is driving the vehicle when his/her normal faculties are impaired or with a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, or if he/she is in "actual physical control" of the vehicle. "Actual physical control" means the person has the capability to direct the vehicle even if he/she is not doing so around the time of the arrest. So, if a person is in the driver's seat of a stopped vehicle with the keys in the ignition, that person may be at risk of a DUI arrest even if the person is not driving. If the vehicle is stopped in the middle of the road and the driver is passed out, as reported in the article referenced above, the risk of a DUI arrest increases.

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Posted In: DUI

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