Tampa Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer
Two veteran officers with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office were arrested on Friday in unrelated cases. Both are accused of grand theft, and one is also charged with organized fraud. All of the charges are third-degree felonies. Both officers resigned in the wake...
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to resolve a split among the federal appellate circuits about whether a defendant can be convicted of bank fraud even when he never intended to defraud a bank and no bank stood any chance of being harmed. Should any financial...
In 2009, a 17-year-old Arizona boy paid $330 for a fake ID he ordered from a seller named "Celtic" on a website called Carder.su. The site was essentially an eBay-like forum where anonymous users bought and sold illegal items.The ID was flawless, and over the next...
In the federal criminal justice system some 97 percent of all defendants plead guilty -- but are they, really? A recent study by Human Rights Watch certainly casts some doubt in federal drug cases.While many defendants undoubtedly were involved in some drug activity,...
Seven months after a state and federal law enforcement dragnet resulted in the arrests of 57 Floridians on racketeering charges, only 17 defendants remain. In March, employees of charitable gambling cafés run by Allied Veterans of the World were hauled in from...
A recent Florida case certainly wasn't the first time law enforcement agents have used social media to track criminal suspects. Over recent months, media stories have revealed that the tactic is growing common among both state and federal law enforcement agencies.Some...
In Martinez v. State, 38 Fla. L. Weekly D2250d (Fla. 1st DCA 2013), Martinez petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus contending that he received ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal of his sentence for attempted 2nd-degree murder.Martinez put forth that...
In Gonzalez v. State, 38 Fla. L. Weekly D2212a (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), Gonzalez pled guilty to cultivation of cannabis for count one and trafficking in cannabis over twenty-five pounds for count two. Gonzalez was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to sixty months in prison...
In Stracar v. State, 38 Fla. L. Weekly D2209a (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), Stracar was convicted of two counts of vehicular homicide. Stacar argued that the trial court erred in denying her motions for judgment of acquittal on the basis that the State's evidence failed to...
In Shea v. State, 38 Fla. L. Weekly D2205b (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), Shea appealed the denial of a rule 3.800(a) motion to correct an illegal sentence, The Appellate Court reversed in part.Shea was convicted as charged of 1st degree premeditated murder with a firearm for...
