Tag Archives: Broward

Happy 2013, South Florida!

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Since it’s the holiday season, news in the criminal appeals arena has been a little slow, but I thought I’d pass along a few items.

First, John Goodman’s appeal is proceeding along, with the State of Florida filing its Answer Brief on December 26, 2012.  Although the Answer Brief is not available electronically, you can read a summary of the State’s arguments in the Palm Beach Post by clicking here.  The 4th DCA docket for the case, 4D12-1930, can be viewed by clicking here.  Although Goodman’s attorneys have requested oral argument, the Court has not yet ruled on the request.  From my experience, the 4th DCA does not often grant requests for oral argument.  However, perhaps the high-profile nature of the case might influence the Court to grant the request.

Next, Broward County is considering changing its name to Lauderdale County.   According to the Sun Sentinel, the goal of the change would be to promote tourism.  Would a name change really make that much of a difference?

Finally, the bad news.  Wyatt Cenac is leaving the Daily Show with Jon Stewart!  To view some of the top Wyatt  Cenac moments, click here, here, and here.

Happy 2013, South Florida!

Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Challenges To S.B. 1960 Moving Ahead, and Brief Filed in Ulloa v. CMI, Inc., No. SC11-2291

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South Florida’s criminal defense and criminal appeals lawyers who take court-appointed criminal cases and appeals may be interested to know that the case filed by Brent DelGaizo to challenge the constitutionality of S.B. 1960 is moving forward.  On August 7, 2012, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, located in West Palm Beach, issued an order directing the Chief Judge for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Broward County) to respond to Del Gaizo’s arguments raised in his petition for writ of certiorari.  The response is due August 27, 2012.  To see the docket for DelGaizo v. Chief Judge, Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, case number 4D12-2548, click here.  If the link malfunctions, just go to the 4th DCA’s search page, and enter the case number, 4D12-2548.

The Miami Chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (FACDL-Miami) has likewise filed a challenge to S.B. 1960 in Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, located in Miami.  Amazingly, an organization of Florida prosecutors has even recently voted in favor of filing an amicus brief in support of FACDL-Miami’s petition to the Third DCA.  This is great news, and only serves to reinforce that the challenges to S.B. 1960 are about more than just money.

I’ll be sure to keep you posted.  To read my previous posts on S.B. 1960, click here, here and here.

Meanwhile, in Ulloa v. CMI, Inc., No. SC11-2291, Ulloa filed his jurisdictional brief today.  To read the brief, click here.  To read my previous post on this case, click here.  Since the case is relatively new, a decision should not be expected for some time.

United States Supreme Court Affirms Removal of Asian Husband and Wife, Lawful Permanent Residents Since 1984, After They Are Convicted of Filing False Tax Returns: Kawashima v. Holder, No. 10-577

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Now that the Mardi Gras season is over, the federal criminal defense and immigration defense lawyers in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami Dade county may want to take a few moments moment to read a newly issued opinion from the United States Supreme Court: Kawashima v. Holder, No. 10-577.  On February 21, 2012, the Court affirmed the deportation and removal of Akio and Fusako Kawashima, natives and citizens of Japan who were lawful permanent residents of the United States since June 21, 1984.  According to the opinion, in 1997, Mr. Kawashima pleaded guilty to one count of willfully making and subscribing a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1), and Mrs. Kawashima pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2).  After  framing the issue as “whether aliens who commit certain federal tax crimes are subject to deportation as aliens who have been convicted of an aggravated felony,” the Court held that “violations of 26 U. S. C. §§ 7206(1) and (2) are crimes ‘involv[ing] fraud or deceit’ under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(M)(i) and are therefore aggravated felonies as that term is defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U. S. C. § 1101 et seq., when the loss to the Government exceeds $10,000.”

Justice Thomas delivered the majority opinion of the Court, and was joined by the other conservative members of the Court, Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Alito, and Sotomayor.  Although the majority opinion is a rather short 11 pages, be warned: the writing is a dry, statutory construction discussion of several  tax and immigration sections, including 26 U.S.C. §§ 7206(1), (2), and 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(43)(M)(i) and 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

As with most Supreme Court opinions, the dissenting opinion is once again the most interesting part to read.  While Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan also undertake a statutory-construction discussion, the critical tone in which the dissenters point out the flaws of the majority opinion cannot be mistaken.  Ordinarily, I would summarize the points in the dissenting opinion for you, but in this case, Justice Ginsburg’s writing is so persuasive, that I think that you really should take a few moments and read it for yourself.

On a side note, I am interested to see how much media attention, if any, the Kawashima opinion will receive.  Immigration is always a hot-button issue in American politics, but I suspect that this case will attract little, if any attention.   After all, it’s a boring tax and immigration case, right?  If any of you are basketball fans out there, you probably know of some of the racial comments that have been made about the New York Knicks’ Jeremy Lin.  And if you read the article that I read on CNN this morning, you might also know that for some reason, racism against Asians appears to be more socially acceptable than racism against other minority groups.  Saturday Night Live addressed that topic nicely, as you’ll see if you read the article yourself.  I suspect that in light of today’s culture, nobody will care much at all about the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima are going to be deported because they are Asian.  I hope that’s not the case.  I hope that people instead think about what really happened here: Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima, lawful permanent residents of the U.S. since 1984, made the unfortunate choice of filing false tax returns.  And now they are being deported?

Broward Medical Examiner Reportedly Mishandled Thousands of Oxycodone and Hydrocodone Pills

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If you are a criminal defense attorney handling drug cases out of Broward County, this report from the Sun Sentinel may be of interest to you.  The Broward Inspector General issued a report detailing employee misconduct and gross mismanagement by the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office in connection with the handling and disposal of several thousand pills, including oxycodone and hydrocodone.  ME Legal Investigator Supervisor Linda Krivjanik (who was already investigated by BSO and fired) and former Chief Medical Examiner Joshua Perper were both named in the report.  Apparently, the lax attitude at the ME’s office was so rampant that even its own employees called the manner in which drugs were stored a “free for all.”  The ME’s office is now trying to determine the whereabouts of at least 3,600 pills, including over 2,100 oxycodone and over 150 hydrocodone.

Congratulations to Raag Singhal on his Appointment to the Circuit Court Bench of Broward County

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When I learned that Raag Singhal was appointed to the Broward Circuit Court bench last month, I thought to myself, “now that’s going to be one great judge.”  I remember having some cases with Raag when I was a prosecutor in Broward County, and I have to say that he was always a pleasure to deal with.  He was everything prosecutors want an opposing criminal defense lawyer to be: professional, courteous, reasonable, thoughtful, and just an all-around great guy.  I have no doubt that Judge Singhal will display all those attributes as he presides over the many cases that will be assigned to him.  Congratulations, Judge Singhal!

For those of you who are interested, Judge Singhal’s investiture will be held at 1:15 pm on January 20, 2012, in the Jury Assembly Room of the Broward County Courthouse.  A link to the Broward County Barrister, which contains the announcement for Judge Singhal’s investiture on page 31, can be found here.

Broward Man Wins Stand Your Ground Decision

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Heads up, South Florida criminal defense attorneys: the Sun Sentinel reports that a Broward man, Nour Badi Jarkas, has beat first degree murder charges after relying on Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.  According to the report, Jarkas went to trial on the charge of murder after he shot and killed the boyfriend of his estranged wife, John Concannon.  At the trial, Jarkas testified that he was invited to his wife’s home in Plantation, Florida, and that she left the residence when Concannon  arrived.  Jarkas also testified that he shot Concannon after Concannon taunted and grabbed Jarkas, and threatened to kill him.  The jury found Jarkas not guilty of armed kidnapping and aggravated assault with a firearm, but could not reach a unanimous verdict on the murder count.  In support of her ruling, Judge Holmes cited the testimony of the medical examiner and Jarkas.  Although Jarkas remains in custody at the Broward County Jail, awaiting a hearing on Thursday, December 15, 2011, his lawyer hopes to secure his release before such time.

The Sun Sentinel’s report also states that another Broward man relying on the Stand Your Ground law, Patrick Wonder, is facing manslaughter charges in the death of a federal agent following a road rage incident in 2008.  In an Order issued May 26, 2011, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Wonder was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the Stand Your Ground defense.  Wonder’s Stand Your Ground motion is reportedly set for January, 2012.  For more on the Patrick Wonder case, click here and here.

For some of my previous posts on Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, click here, here, and here.

Teen Charged for Fixing his Bike?!

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This has got to be one of the dumbest criminal cases I have ever heard of.  The Palm Beach Post reports that a kid in the Florida panhandle needed to fix his bike, but he had no tools.  So, he thought he’d go to his local Sears store to use some tools there.  A clerk saw him, told him to leave, but the kid was so desperate to fix his bike, he returned a bit later to finish the repairs.  Can you believe the store clerk called the cops and the kid got charged with theft, trespassing, and resisting an officer without violence?  Ok, I agree with the store that the kid shouldn’t have been using the Sears tools department for his personal garage, but does that mean he deserved to be charged with 3 crimes?  This case is as bad as the cases I saw in Broward where the homeless people were actually arrested and brought to jail for being in possession of a stolen milk crate.  (I am not kidding, folks).   All I can say is that things must be really slow in the Florida panhandle!  Let’s hope a criminal defense attorney up there can step in and get those charges dismissed ASAP.

Court Rules that Contracts for Two Stars of Police Women of Broward County Must be Dislcosed to Criminal Defense Attorney

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In a post dated August 29, 2011, I discussed how a Broward criminal defense attorney has been trying to get access to the contracts of 2 stars of the reality t.v. show called Police Women of Broward County.  Well, according to an article in the Sun Sentinel, the Court ruled that the defense attorney should be given copies of the contracts as part of his preparation of the defense of the case.  However, the Court also ruled that at least part of the information contained in the contracts constitutes trade secrets.  Even though the criminal defense attorneys won this round, the Court gave Discovery Communications, owner of the TLC network, 30 days to appeal.  Stay tuned!

I Just Got Arrested for DUI! Should I Plea it Out or Take it to Trial?

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While I was a prosecutor in Broward County, Florida, I  tried misdemeanor DUI cases for 1.5 years.  In my opinion, many of the top DUI defense attorneys are in Broward, and since there are a lot of DUI arrests there, the trial schedule is crazy.  I was in trial at least once a week, and oftentimes back-to-back.  I probably tried about 65 or 70 DUI cases in that 1.5 years.  The purpose of my post today is to pass along some important insider information that seasoned DUI defense attorneys may know, but others may not.  Some things to consider when deciding to plea out your DUI or take it to trial include:

1.)  In which county were you arrested?  Typically, the more north the county, the more conservative the Judges and juries.  That means that people in counties north of Palm Beach may be more likely to be found guilty by a jury than people who are in Miami Dade or Broward.  Also, people in counties north of Palm Beach may receive stiffer sentences than people in Miami Dade or Broward.  This is so because Judges and juries north of Palm Beach may  be less tolerant of even minor crimes than people in Miami Dade or Broward.

2.)  Who arrested you?  Some officers are highly trained for DUI cases.  They often make good witnesses because they are knowledgeable and can explain in specific details why they thought you should have been arrested for DUI.  If you have been arrested by one of these specially trained officers, it might be smart to take a plea.  But, if the officer who arrested you is not specially trained, you might want to take it to trial.  Some officers who don’t arrest for DUI very often have a hard time explaining to the jury exactly why they thought you should have been arrested, and that can make a jury feel uncomfortable.  It’s one thing to get arrested, but it’s another thing to actually convict someone, especially where the evidence is not so clear.

3.)  Was your arrest recorded on video?  Some (not all) officers who are assigned to DUI cases have video cameras mounted on the dashboard.  As soon as they think they need to investigate a possible DUI, they turn on the camera.  That means they may have recorded your driving pattern and all of the time you spent at the side of the road when you got pulled over.  If your video is “good” (meaning that there is no damaging information there, or very little), then you may want to take your case to trial.  If the jury doesn’t think you look drunk, you may not get convicted.

4.)  Did you take a breath test, urine test, or blood test?  Most DUI’s involve breath tests.  If yours did, and you blew very near the .08 limit, you may want to take your case to trial.  Juries may tend to sympathize with someone who was only a “little” over the limit.  Also, if you had a blood test or urine test, and your test results came back positive only for alcohol and no other drugs, then the jury might sympathize with you (especially if your level was near the .08 limit).  However, blood or urine test results which come back positive for other drugs may make the jury feel less sympathetic toward you.

5.)  Did your arrest involve alcohol, drugs, or prescription medication?  Juries can be very sympathetic to people who drank “just a little” over the limit, or who took prescription medication, or who smoked a little marijuana.  Juries tend to be less sympathetic to people who take harder drugs, like cocaine.

6.)  Did you perform roadside exercises?  If you did, and you did really well, a jury may have a hard time convicting you.  If you have a video showing how terrible you were, you might want to plea your case out.

7.)  Did you refuse to take a breath test and perform roadside exercises?  If you refused, and you did so politely, the jury might have a hard time convicting you.  But if you were nasty to the officer, and the officer was being polite, the jury might think that you were an angry drunk.

8.) How sympathetic is your case?  Lots of factors come to play when deciding how sympathetic your case can be.  Were you arrested after drinking at a bar all night?  Or were you arrested after taking prescription medication?  Are you an older person or younger person?  Were you nice to the police officer?  Was the officer a jerk?  The most important thing to remember for DUI cases is that juries have a hard time convicting someone they identify with.  Almost everyone, at one time or another, has gotten behind the wheel after drinking too much.  Most people don’t get caught.  When the people who were lucky enough not to get arrested get picked for jury service, they may remember their luck, and pass some on to you.