Articles Posted in Attorney Richard Ansara

Florida law enforcement and prosecutors are extremely tough on individuals whose alleged criminal activities are believed to have been committed in connection with gang activity.

F.S. 874.04 is the statute that governs gang-related offenses and enhanced penalties. A gang enhancement essentially boosts whatever the level of the underlying crime to the next degree of seriousness. So for example, a second-degree misdemeanor would be increased to a first-degree misdemeanor. That could mean an extra six months in jail. A third-degree felony, which would normally be punishable by a maximum five-year prison sentenced, is increased to a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in state prison.

In order to be considered a gang-related offense, there must be a finder of fact that defendant committed the alleged offense for the purpose of promoting, furthering or benefiting the interests of a criminal gang. In order for an enhancement to apply, prosecutors have to show beyond a reasonable doubt the activity was gang-related.
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A scorned paramour who posts nude images or video clips of an estranged ex-lover isn’t likely to deemed great dating material. But as of this moment, they probably won’t face criminal charges, at least in Florida.

That is almost certainly going to change very soon.

The practice, dubbed “revenge porn,” is the subject of SB 538, a measure on sexual cyber-harassment. Recently passed by the Florida Senate 38-2, the bill is on its way to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk for final approval. Most predict he will sign it.
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Dozens of cases linked to allegedly racist former ex-Fort Lauderdale police officers have been dropped by prosecutors, according to recent news reports.

As of this writing, 12 felonies, 19 misdemeanors and one juvenile case had been dropped, while another 20 were being analyzed. Each of these cases had one thing in common: One or more of the four officers accused of sending racist text messages and/or producing a racist homemade video were connected to the investigations.

Each of the defendants in the cases were black.
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There are tens of thousands of Floridians currently under community control – also known as probation – following conviction for a crime.

The standard terms of this control usually involve some type of regular meeting with a probation officer, no contact order with the victim, potentially a restitution order, routine drug testing and orders to steer clear of law violations.

Going against any one of these conditions can result in severe penalties – up to and including reinstatement of the full sentence. This is how someone with a suspended sentence can end up serving years in prison for failing a drug test.
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The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled all Florida juveniles convicted of homicide and sentenced automatically to life imprisonment must now be resentenced under a new law passed last year.

The ruling addresses the issue of retroactivity for Miller v. Alabama, which was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that barred life sentences for juvenile killers.

There are approximately 250 state prisoners in Florida currently serving life sentences for homicides committed before their 18th birthday. Legislators passed a law last year to conform to the Miller decision, but it was only applicable to murders committed after July 2014. For two decades prior, state law mandated juveniles convicted of first-degree murder should receive an automatic life sentence.
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There is a popular, viral meme that states something to the effect: “A good friend will bail you out of jail. A best friend will be sitting next to you in the cell.”

It’s intended to elicit a chuckle, but the reality is, helping a friend or family member commit a crime – or covering for him after – is no laughing matter. Particularly in cases of felonies, those who assist in committing crimes or covering for someone, can face serious penalties.

A recent example of this was seen in the federal case of U.S. v. Marion, where a defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact. He reportedly helped his cousin hide from a shooting and carjacking spree that left one man dead and several other people traumatized.
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Tis the season for giving – and also for taking. Theft in its various forms inevitably spikes during the holidays, when more opportunities present themselves.

From retail theft to package theft to identify theft – there is always more of it in December and January. Law enforcement agencies have responded to this by initiating special operations to target such offenders, particularly those involved in organized retail crime.

For example, “Operation Holiday Steals” was a three-day sting involving partnerships with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, local police, U.S. Homeland Security, the U.S. Secret Service and some two dozen large-scale retailers, including Target, Walgreens, Macy’s and Sports Authority. The stores sent their best loss prevention administrators to work with law enforcement in order to identify and arrest some of the area’s top retail crime offenders. Several banks and financial firms helped with detection of stolen credit cards and credit card fraud.
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The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that real-time cellular phone site data is protected under Fourth Amendment privacy provisions. That means if officers don’t have a warrant to track your cell phone signal in real time, they can’t legally do it.

This clarifies privacy protections that were previously in question, and narrows the scope of law enforcement authority, which has continuously pressed for broader discretion in tapping into the wealth of data available from cell phone communications.

The decision reached in Tracey v. State, started with the drug-related arrest of a man, partially on the basis of information obtained from real cell-site location data pinged from his phone to local cell phone towers.
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Defendants can face theft and dealing in stolen property charges in connection with the same incident. However, Florida Statute 812.025 only allow defendants to be convicted of one of those two charges, when the alleged offenses are committed in connection with a single scheme or course of conduct.

However, appellate courts have continued to grapple with this issue, despite the Florida Supreme Court’s resolution in August last year with rulings in Williams v. State, Blackmon v. State and new proposed jury instructions in these cases.

In Williams, a defendant was charged with both theft and dealing in stolen property, and defense counsel requested special instructions indicating to the jury he could not be convicted of both. The court denied the request, the jury convicted on both counts, and the court subsequently dismissed one of the charges. A similar scenario arose in Blackmon. The Florida Supreme Court ruled the lower courts erred in failing to give a special jury instruction. The court further issued a standard special instruction in these cases, asking jurors to determine whether defendant is “more of a common thief or more of a trafficker,” based on defendant’s intent and use of the property after it was stolen.
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A defendant convicted of multiple drug charges in Fort Lauderdale has had that conviction reversed, and the case remanded for retrial, on the grounds that prejudicial evidence was admitted into in error. Further, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal found the trial court erred in a number of rulings that were unfairly harmful to the defendant prior to his conviction.

Fort Lauderdale drug defense lawyers recognize that in the course of an arrest, evidence may be uncovered that police deem relevant at the time, but for purposes of trial are found to be more prejudicial than probative. This kind of evidence must be omitted from the record, so as to not unfairly prejudice the defendant.

One of the most common examples has to do with gun-related evidence. Jurors can make a host of assumptions based on evidence of a gun found on the defendant, but those assumptions could be unfair if the gun wasn’t an element of the crime accused.
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