by

A woman initially charged with second-degree murder for stabbing a homeless man to death in St. Johns County has reached a deal to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Brenda Muniz pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the 2012 death, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Aggravated manslaughter is still a serious felony, but the plea deal that Muniz agreed to has a sentencing range of between nine years and 30 years in prison for this St. Johns County Manslaughter Case, the newspaper reported. Second-degree murder had a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison so, essentially, the plea deal opens up to the possibility for a sentence in the range of nine to 20 years in prison that would not have been on the table had she pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of a St. Johns County Murder Charge.

Both Muniz and the victim were homeless and the stabbing occurred at a homeless camp behind a shopping center where people often congregated, drank and slept, the newspaper reported. Muniz and the victim apparently got into an argument, which escalated to the point where Muniz stabbed and killed the man, whom police said was her boyfriend, the newspaper reported. Muniz’ plea agreement touches on two important issues in St. Johns County Felony Cases. First, she pleaded no contest, instead of pleading guilty to the charges. Functionally, the two are the same. The difference is, Muniz is not admitting guilt, but is essentially saying it is in her best interest to stop fighting the charges and take a deal, rather than push the case to trial and risk even more time in prison. That often is a plea that is insisted upon by the defendant in a St. Johns County Manslaughter Case. But it can backfire when it comes to sentencing. In many St. Johns County Criminal Defense Cases, the judge wants the defendant to show remorse, admit his or her mistake and take ownership of it. When that doesn’t happen, as in the case of a no contest plea, a judge may be less inclined to give the defendant a more lenient sentence.

The other interesting element is that the two sides at least agreed to a sentencing range to present to the judge in this St. Johns County Manslaughter case. That range does not bind the judge in any legal way, but in most instances the judge will honor a range that prosecutors and the St. Johns County Criminal Defense Attorneys agree on. The range is the case is 21 years, so it’s likely the judge will find plenty of latitude in the range to deliver what he or she decides is an appropriate sentence in this St. Johns County Manslaughter Case.

Continue Reading

by

A Nassau County man now faces up to 90 years in prison after being convicted of six counts of vehicular homicide this month. Prosecutors said Pedro Ocasio-Alcazar was driving recklessly when he sideswiped a car, starting a reaction that led to the death of six people in 2010, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Vehicular homicide is a second-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Because he was convicted of all six counts, Ocasio-Alcazar, 42, faces up to 90 years in prison when he is sentenced next month.

Ocasio-Alcazar was accused of speeding and driving recklessly on a rural Callahan highway when he sideswiped a car with six people inside, the newspaper reported. The car slid into the median, was hit by a truck and flipped, the newspaper reported. Even though Ocasio-Alcazar’s vehicle wasn’t the one that hit and eventually killed the driver and five passengers, police and prosecutors deemed he was at fault and charged him with six counts of vehicular homicide. In Nassau County Traffic Cases, vehicular homicide can be charge when a death is “caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another,” according to Florida statutes. That’s the key issue in this Nassau County Traffic Case, whether Ocasio-Alcazar was driving recklessly or dangerously enough that he should have known his actions were likely to kill someone. Ocasio-Alcazar disagreed vehemently, taking the stand and saying he wasn’t the one who caused the deaths and demanding an apology from the state for even charging him.

Vehicular homicide is a difficult charge for both the state and a Nassau County Criminal Defense Attorney. One on hand, proving the degree of recklessness is difficult, especially because everyone understands that Ocasio-Alcazar did not set out to kill anyone, let alone six people. But from a Nassau County Criminal Defense perspective, it’s natural for a jury to want to hold a person accountable when six family members are killed. It likely did not help that Ocasio-Alcazar had a history of traffic tickets and license suspensions, which likely swayed the jury in the direction that he should have known better. Drivers in these cases are typically not hardened criminals who have been through the system before, and are generally facing a lengthy prison sentence for the first time in their lives. Our Nassau County Traffic Attorney defends all types of traffic offenses, from moving violations on up to vehicular homicide.

Continue Reading

by

Rather than face a trial and the possibility of the death penalty, a Jacksonville woman pleaded guilty this month to killing her ex-boyfriend last year. Arianne Myles was accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend outside a Jacksonville post office, shortly after learning the man was engaged to another woman, the newspaper reported. Myles was charged with first-degree murder, which is only punishable by life in prison or the death penalty. Prosecutors were pursuing the death penalty against Myles, and the key element of this plea deal is that it takes the death penalty off the table. By pleading guilty to second-degree murder, the maximum penalty is life in prison. The death penalty can only be applied in first-degree murder cases.

And while it may appear to be a small victory for Myles, this is just another example of the state using the death penalty as a bargaining chip in a Jacksonville Murder Case. The inclination locally has been to charge first-degree murder, seek the death penalty and negotiate from there. It’s all part of the process, and the practice of starting a negotiation with one charge and bargaining it down to a reduced charge is not uncommon for many Jacksonville Felony Cases, even Jacksonville Misdemeanor Cases. But the death penalty is reserved for the most heinous of heinous crimes, and literally threatening someone with their life seems to be the new tactic in Jacksonville Murder Cases.

Myles was driving down a Jacksonville road when she saw her ex-boyfriend’s car in a post office parking lot, according to a report on News4Jax. She is accused of turning the car around, pulling into the parking lot, getting a gun from her glove compartment and killing him, the television station reported. The premeditation needed for first-degree murder does not need to be days or weeks of plotting, but could be met just in the time that Myles turned around and decided to go and shoot the victim. But would that have qualified this Jacksonville Murder Case as a death penalty case? At the end of the day, we won’t know. Myles is scheduled to be sentenced next month in this Jacksonville Murder Case. The maximum penalty is life in prison, but the plea agreement does leave it open that she could receive a sentence that would allow Myles, 23, to be released at some point. A very small percentage of Jacksonville Criminal Defense Cases end up in trial, so a key is often being able to negotiate the best possible outcome for the you or your loved one. Our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney will thoroughly investigate the case so you can determine whether it makes sense to try to negotiate or to take the case to trial.

Continue Reading

by

The man accused of shooting and killing a Jacksonville teen during an argument about loud music has settled civil lawsuits with the victim’s family and the families of other teens in the car at the time of the shooting. Michael Dunn has settled lawsuits with the parents of Jordan Davis and two other teens in the car when Davis was killed in November 2012, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Davis and the others had their music turned up at a Gate gas station when Dunn and the teens got into an argument, the newspaper reported. Dunn shot into the vehicle several times, killing Davis, the newspaper reported. Dunn has said all along that one of the teens pointed a gun out of the car, but police have said there were no weapons found.

Among the claims of Davis’ parents was that Dunn contributed to their pain and suffering by suggesting that Davis was violent, the newspaper reported. The monetary terms of the settlement were not made public. It is rare that civil suits would be resolved before the criminal trial. Typically, these cases play out after the criminal trial – partially because a criminal conviction can be used to bolster the civil case. But, in this Jacksonville Murder Case, the chronology is less important. First of all, the civil settlement CANNOT be used in Dunn’s criminal trial in his Jacksonville Murder Case. One thing it could do, since the case has been covered extensively by local, state and even national media, is confuse potential jurors about Dunn’s guilt, but that could be sorted out in jury selection. Another reason the timing doesn’t matter is that Dunn has never denied shooting into the car, has never denied that he was the one that killed Davis.

The criminal issue in this Jacksonville Murder Case is whether or not Dunn acted in self-defense, and that will be the crux of the criminal trial scheduled to begin Feb. 3. The issue will be whether jurors believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Dunn fired into the car on his own and was not defending himself from the shotgun he said he saw out the window of the vehicle. While there is always hesitation to admit any wrongdoing in advance of a criminal trial, there could be a variety of reasons to wrap up the civil case early. Dunn’s finances have been contested from the start of the case – his criminal defense attorney has asked the judge repeatedly to order the state to cover investigative costs – so that could be a factor. Another could be to get the dispute with Davis’ family cleared up so they are more likely to be on board with a plea agreement for Dunn if there is one in the works. Regardless of the reason, the criminal trial is sure to get plenty of media coverage in this Jacksonville Murder Case. And while readers and viewers will know the civil cases have been settled, jurors will not. And that’s what really matters in this Jacksonville Murder Case.

Continue Reading

by

Florida legislators are considering adding even more to the long list of punishments for someone deemed a sexual predator, now proposing to make it a crime for someone to let a known sexual predator use his or her vehicle. The proposed law would also make the state-mandated curfew for sexual predators from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The curfew is now 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., so this would add four more hours and make it a full 12 hours a day sexual predators would be confined to their homes, the newspaper reported. Adjustments could be made for individual people based on work hours but the 12-hour curfew would be the baseline, the newspaper reported.

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there are significant differences in Jacksonville Sex Crimes Cases between a sexual offender and a sexual predator. The difference lies in the severity of the crime and the defendant’s sexual criminal history. For example, any violent crimes involving a child would classify a person as a sexual predator. As would two convictions of second-degree Jacksonville Sex Crimes in a 10-year period. Crimes such as lewd and lascivious contact with a child between the ages of 12 and 18 would qualify, so two convictions or pleas in a decade could allow the court to deem someone a sexual predator. Sexual predators in Jacksonville have much stricter guidelines than sexual offenders. All have to register and report to police periodically, though the time intervals are much shorter for predators than offenders. There are also more restrictions on where predators can live, in terms of distance from schools, playgrounds and other areas where children congregate. Especially in Jacksonville Sex Crimes Cases, legislators tend to take every element of a horrific crime and then try to make it illegal.

The new restriction on loaning a vehicle comes from the Jacksonville Sex Crimes Case where Donald Smith borrowed his mother’s vehicle and is now jailed, accused of abducting an 8-year-old girl from a Jacksonville Wal-Mart and then raping and killing her. The state senator from Jacksonville who proposed the law referenced Smith by name in the newspaper report. The new law would make it a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in the county jail, to loan a vehicle to someone you know is a sex predator – even though Smith was a sexual offender and hadn’t been classified as a sexual predator. If the predator were to commit a sex crime while using the vehicle, the owner could lose his or her driver’s license for one year. There’s no crime, even a murder conviction that follows a person more than a Jacksonville Sex Crime. And there’s also none that elicits less sympathy from the general public, so it’s highly likely that any proposal that ratchets up the punishment for those who pleads guilty to or are convicted of a Jacksonville Sex Crimes will receive overwhelming support from the legislature.

Continue Reading

by

A woman on a suspended prison sentence for DUI causing a death is now back in prison after she allegedly left a trail of her partying on Facebook and the victim’s son called the cops. Alicia Marie Carmack was initially sentenced to 25 years in a Mississippi state prison in 2009, though the judge suspended 15 years of it and she was eventually released after just four years because of good behavior, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. As part of the condition of her release, Carmack was forbidden from leaving Gulfport, Miss., without permission, and was also barred from drinking alcohol or even being in bars, the newspaper reported.

But the victim’s son spent a little time on Carmack’s Facebook page and found photos of her drinking in bars and on a trip out of state, the newspaper reported. Once authorities were alerted, Carmack was sent back to prison and will be there at least another six months, the newspaper reported. Carmack hit a stopped car from behind, triggering a four-car crash that killed James Harris, a Jacksonville retiree driving to Louisiana to visit his daughter, the newspaper reported. Laws vary from state to state, and may be different from Mississippi to Florida, but one thing holds true across state lines: Judges do not take kindly to people who violate their probation, especially if they feel they gave the defendant a break and the benefit of the doubt in the first place. Carmack has yet to be resentenced in the case, but will be in coming months – and could be in prison another five years.

It is not uncommon to have a long list of conditions when a defendant is put on probation, especially in a Jacksonville DUI Case where the defendant may not have a criminal record, but the judge may feel the person has a drinking problem. In this case, Carmack was not allowed to drink. Could she have been busted without the use of Facebook? Perhaps. But she made it much easier to be caught by posting photos for anyone to see on the popular social networking site. Probation is serious business and it takes a significant amount of discipline and staying out of trouble to avoid a violation. It’s a prime reason why some defendants even choose a longer time in prison that doesn’t come with probation afterward, because they feel they’ll end up back in prison on a violation. Our Jacksonville DUI Attorney can thoroughly investigate your case and, should you choose not to go to trial, help negotiate a sentence that you or your loved one can adhere to and more often than not avoid returning to jail or prison.

Continue Reading

by

A Jacksonville woman was ticketed for careless driving after driving into a police cruiser on Christmas Eve. The police officer had just passed through a green light when the driver drove her minivan into the officer’s driver’s side door, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The officer was hospitalized with neck and shoulder pain, though the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, according to the newspaper report.

The driver was given a ticket for careless driving in this Jacksonville Traffic Case, the newspaper reported. Traffic violations can be expensive, in both the sort and long term, and punishment is broken down in two ways: fines and points. While the fines have an immediate financial impact, the points can end up being more critical. First, the points from a Jacksonville Traffic Case are reported to your insurance company, which may allow the company to charge you more for insurance. Secondly, the points add up and can result in your license being suspended. For example:

 12 points in one year leads to a 30-day license suspension  18 points in 18 months equals a three-month suspension  24 points in a three-year period will result in losing your license for a full year

Continue Reading

by

More than 60 Jacksonville police officers were called to quell a massive fight and melee on Christmas night and a handful of teens and young adults are now facing Duval County criminal charges. So far, five people have been arrested on Jacksonville Misdemeanors Crimes charges – all for fighting, resisting arrest or some combination of the two, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The incident started when a group of teens and young adults rushed a police officer to try to force their way into the movie theater and the officer used pepper spray to fight them off, the newspaper reported. The group ran and the officer called for backup, but by the time help arrived there was a mass of people in the parking lot and 50 or so people involved in separate fights, the newspaper reported.

All five of the people, including two juveniles, arrested for Jacksonville Misdemeanor Crimes were arrested at the scene that evening, according to the newspaper report. In each of the arrests, the suspect did not comply with police orders to leave and in some cases police said the defendant pulled away or even took a fighting stance with the officer and had to be restrained by police, the newspaper reported. Shortly after the incident, there had been no word of arrests for the people who rushed the theater and triggered the whole incident. Some have questioned why those people and others fighting in the parking lot, especially when there is cell phone video of the incidents, have not been charged. But proving charges beyond a reasonable doubt with video alone is difficult. There were similar issues over a Memorial Day brawl at Jacksonville Beach, an investigation that was suspended twice because witnesses would not cooperate and identify people in the video. That could be the same issue here in these Jacksonville Misdemeanor Cases.

Jacksonville Misdemeanors Cases involving resisting an officer without violence can be tricky, especially in the context of a near-riot where more than 60 officers were called in. You do have the right to walk away from police if they stop you walking down the street or walking away from an incident like this, but pulling away and talking back to police in an incident of this magnitude is very likely to get someone arrested. Police are frantically trying to clear the scene and, if they have to put someone in the back of a patrol car who’s making their job more difficult, they will. Resisting without violence can also be a tough Jacksonville Misdemeanor Case because it is simply the word of the officer against the word of the defendant and most people on a jury often tend to go with the officer – especially in a situation such as this one. Our Jacksonville Misdemeanor Crimes Attorney can thoroughly investigate your case and, in many cases, help negotiate an agreement that will help you or your loved one into a pretrial diversion program and potentially have the adjudication withheld, as some of the defendants have already agreed to in this case.

Continue Reading

by

A Gainesville man who shot into a car killing the driver and missing a young child was sentenced to eight years in prison. Brad Lippincott pleaded guilty to manslaughter and discharging a firearm from a vehicle, according to a report by News4Jax. Manslaughter is a first degree felony with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and shooting a firearm from a vehicle is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, the state dropped a charge of shooting or throwing deadly missiles, another second-degree felony, so Lippincott had been looking at a total of up to 60 years in prison on the Jacksonville Gun Crimes charges. Lippincott and another man got into an argument during a traffic incident and Lippincott fired seven times into the car that a 33-year-old man was driving with his 8-year-old daughter in the car, the television station reported. Lippincott’s criminal defense attorney had argued he was in fear for his life and shot in self-defense, but police said the victim was driving away when Lippincott fired, the television station reported.

Jacksonville Gun Crimes have serious implications, and this Jacksonville Road Rage Case shows how quickly things can escalate and how lives can change in an instant. Lippincott, 31, did not have a criminal record before this incident, but could have been looking at spending the rest of his of his life in prison. The sentence seems to indicate that both parties were involved in the escalation of the fight, though there is no indication that the victim fired a weapon in this Jacksonville Gun Crimes case. Had prosecutors chosen to do so, they could have even filed a minimum mandatory sentence under Florida’s 10-20-Life law that could have exposed Lippincott to life in prison because he used a firearm and shot another person. But, if the state charged it that way, the case would have likely gone to trial because if a defendant is looking at a life sentence for even entering a plea, he or she is usually far more likely to go to trial because there’s nothing to lose. Most Jacksonville Guns Crimes cases do carry minimum mandatory sentences and, more often than not, prosecutors are reluctant to waive them. This Jacksonville Guns Crimes Case is more the exception than the rule, but our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney examines every case individually and will thoroughly investigate the charge against you or your loved one to help you decide what to do going forward.

If you or a loved one needs a criminal defense attorney in Jacksonville or the surrounding area, call The Mussallem Law Firm at (904) 365-5200 for a FREE CONSULTATION. Our Jacksonville Gun Crimes Attorney, Victoria “Tori” Mussallem, is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

by

Six months after a fatal wreck on Jacksonville’s Westside, the at-fault driver was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide. Tamara Miller was arrested this month after police said she was weaving in and out of traffic, driving more than 30 mph over the speed limit and ran a red light leading to the fatal crash, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Miller is charged with vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in state prison.

Witness told police they saw Miller veer into a turn lane to go around stopped traffic and then go through a red light and slam into the victim’s car about 8:30 a.m. on a June morning, the newspaper reported. It is not uncommon for vehicular homicide investigations to take this long in Jacksonville Traffic Cases such as this one. Vehicular homicide can be difficult for the state to prove and is not simply the default charge in a traffic accident that results in a death. For someone to be convicted of vehicular homicide in a Jacksonville Traffic Case, a death must be “caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another,” according to Florida Statutes.

Police told the newspaper that part of the reason for the delay in charges was the wait for investigators to be able to determine the speed at which Miller was driving at the time of the crash. That can be determined by the impact of the crash and other factors, but calculations and other testing is needed so the results are not immediately available. The investigation found Miller was traveling 76 mph on a road with a 45 mph speed limit, which will likely be a key for the state in this Jacksonville Traffic Case. Delays in charges are also common while the state waits for results of toxicology tests that would determine if the driver had any drugs or alcohol in his or her system. In this Jacksonville Traffic Case, police said there was alcohol in Miller’s system, but not enough to render her legally impaired. While that detail is something police might want to release to the media, it is something a Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney would likely seek to have excluded from a trial, arguing that the amount of alcohol is less that legal limits and it not relevant in this Jacksonville Driving Case.

Continue Reading
Contact Information
5801 Philips Hwy, #A
Jacksonville, FL 32216
Phone: (904) 365-5200
Fax: (904) 365-5201

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2024, The Mussallem Law Firm, P.A.
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design