08.30.2010
Law enforcement officers often believe that they have the authority to frisk or pat down just about every civilian they encounter. As the Fourth District Court of Appeals recently reminded the St. Lucie County’s Sheriff’s Department, they don’t. Many people often simply just assume that when an officer ...
08.13.2010
Double Jeopardy: no one can be prosecuted for the same crime twice. The Fourth District Court of Appeals recently vacated two convictions for the same act. In the case of Hanfield v. State, Case No. 4D08-4072 (Decided July 28, 2010), the Defendant threatened a motorist with a gun and took his car keys. ...
08.02.2010
The Second District Court of Appeals recently distinguished a legal principle that has been used to support police power for decades. According to the United States Supreme Court, a person does not have a right to privacy in objects they abandon. However, law enforcement has often claimed abandonment ...
07.16.2010
Is a person surrounded by police officers asking him questions free to leave? What if they take his identification? What if they approached him by blocking him in with a patrol car and shining a light in his face? What if they asked to search him? The courts have long struggled with the application ...
07.12.2010
When deciding whether or not self defense is a viable defense to murder, the Fourth District Court of Appeals recently held that testimony about the dangerous nature of a particular neighborhood is not relevant to a person’s state of mind at the time of the crime. In other words, a defendant cannot ...
