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A Jacksonville man was arrested this month after police say he made up a story about being held at gunpoint by a woman. Andra Griffin was arrested and charged with making a false report to law enforcement about the commission of a crime, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Griffin is charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in the county jail. Police said a man called 911 and said he was being held at gunpoint and gave the dispatcher a tag number to a vehicle, the newspaper reported. Officers ran the license number and it led them to a home on the Southside, but there was no man at the home, nor any evidence of any abduction, the newspaper reported. Police then determined the man who called 911 gave a false name and he was eventually identified as Griffin, the newspaper reported. Griffin was apparently mad at the woman and used the allegation to get back at her. Now he’s the defendant in a Jacksonville Misdemeanor Case and is the one who’s the subject of a police investigation.

By nature, Jacksonville Misdemeanor Crimes are less serious that Jacksonville Felony Crimes. Most importantly, a defendant cannot be sent to state prison on a misdemeanor and the maximum sentence is one year in the county jail. And there are many professions and employers that prohibit hiring people with felony convictions on their records but do not disqualify people with misdemeanors. But that certainly doesn’t mean the charges aren’t serious for the person facing the charges. In many Jacksonville Misdemeanor Cases involving false police reports, the defendant may be required to pay for the cost of the investigation and the time police spent working on what officers thought was a legitimate case. Prosecutors also don’t take kindly to people lying to police, so that may make it less likely for the state to offer a favorable plea deal to Griffin. These types of cases can often wind up going to trial, especially if the state is so dead-set on a sentence close to the maximum that there isn’t much difference in the punishment he could face is he lost at trial. In most cases, defendants take a plea agreement to limit their exposure to jail time. But in a Jacksonville Misdemeanor Case, with a year being the maximum anyway, the risk may not be as high.

Our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney has represented hundreds of men and women charged with misdemeanors and has taken several to trial. If you or a loved one is charged with a Jacksonville Misdemeanor Crime, our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney can explain the potential consequences and fully examine your case to help you make the best decision going forward.

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A week after a man in a wheelchair was hit by a car and killed, a man who said he was involved in the crash turned himself in to police. The accident occurred Oct. 20 and the man in the wheelchair died several days later, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Christopher Hovey is now charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Police have taken Hovey’s vehicle into evidence in this Clay County Traffic Case, the newspaper reported.

Because the charges are for leaving the scene of an accident causing death, one might assume that Hovey would have avoided a serious charge had he simply stayed on the scene and called police. The problem with that theory is the circumstances of the crash have not been made public. For example, if the driver is driving extremely recklessly – excessively speeding and running traffic lights, for example – a vehicular homicide charge is a possibility. Or, if the driver is intoxicated, there is no way for police to prove that a week after the accident. If police were to talk to the driver at the scene and detect any signs of impairment, officers could take a blood sample to determine if the driver has alcohol or drugs in his or her system. That could expose a person to Duval County DUI manslaughter charge, which also has a 15-year maximum sentence but has a minimum term of four years that the crime Hovey is charged with does not have.

On the Clay County Traffic charge that Hovey is facing, the driver has an obligation to stop once the crash occurs and remain on the scene until police arrive. Further, the driver has an obligation to render aid, including calling 911, if there is a reasonable believe that someone is injured. In this Clay County Traffic Case, it appears that Hovey simply kept driving and did not stop. Because this Clay County Traffic Case involves a wheelchair, by taking the car into evidence police are likely looking for signs of the impact of the crash on Hovey’s car. In Clay County Traffic Cases like this, something as simple as driving down the road can end up with someone facing serious felony charges. It’s not like a drug crime or theft case when someone has criminal intent. People who’ve never been in trouble before can find themselves in this same situation. Our Clay County Criminal Defense Attorney can explain how the criminal justice system works and lay out your options going forward.

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A popular Jacksonville meteorologist was arrested last weekend, charged with a DUI at Jacksonville Beach. Tim Deegan, chief meteorologist for First Coast News, was arrested Saturday evening and released from jail the following morning, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Details of the arrest were not immediately available, but this is another example of how a mistake that many people make ends up being a news story when it happens to a public figure.

Unless his blood-alcohol is more than double the legal limit of .08, Deegan is likely facing up to six months in jail, though jail time is rare when a person is charged with their first DUI. Jacksonville DUI Cases, though, are in many cases reduced to reckless driving charges or even dropped outright because there are strict procedures in DUI arrests that in some cases are not followed. For example, for an officer to pull a driver over in the first place, he or she must see a traffic violation such as speeding or the driver swerving and failing to stay in his or her lane. Once the officer comes to the driver’s window, the officer must notice signs of impairment before opening a Jacksonville DUI investigation. Signs of impairment that police often cite in Jacksonville DUI cases include the odor of alcoholic beverages, slurred speech or red or watery eyes. If the officer believes the driver may be intoxicated, the officer will ask the person to perform field sobriety exercises.

The exercises are designed to determine if a suspect is too impaired to be driving. The officer typically asks the suspect to walk in a straight line and turn around; stand on one leg; stand with his or her legs together to test balance; move their arms to touch their finger to their nose and recite the alphabet or a series of numbers in order (Rhomberg Alphabet). Each phase of the test has various indicators of impairment and, if a suspect does poorly enough overall, he or she will be arrested on a Jacksonville DUI Charge. Drivers can also choose not to take the field sobriety test, but that will also likely lead to their arrest on a Jacksonville DUI Charge. The suspect will then be driven to the police station to be booked and to take a breath test. Suspects can also decline the breath test, but refusing to take it means the person will be spending the night in jail. That night is sometimes worth it because it takes one more piece of evidence away from the state in the prosecution of the case.

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A St. Johns County sexual predator is facing two felony charges for not alerting authorities that he had moved and was living in a motel. Kirby Miller is charged with two third-degree felonies after police say he was living in a St. Johns County motel for more than a month without registering with police, according to a report on News4Jax. Miller faces up to five years in prison on each count and could go to prison for as many as 10 years in this St. Johns County Sex Crimes case.

Had Miller not been involved in a fight at the motel, he may have gone undetected even longer. Police responded to a fight where Miller was the alleged victim, the television station reported. When police ran his name through their database, they found he was a sexual predator whose last listed address was in Duval County, the television station reported. Miller’s St. Johns County Sex Crimes Case is not uncommon and typifies the cycle that is often seen in people who are convicted of sex crimes. In most cases when someone is convicted of or pleads guilty to a St. Johns County Sex Crime, the defendant is required to register as either a sexual offender or sexual predator – depending on the severity of the crime. Part of the requirement is that registered sexual offenders must notify police within 48 hours if they move. This is done so police know where sexual offenders are, and it also allows police to determine if the person is legally allowed to be there.

Sexual offenders have restrictions as to where they can live and, for example, cannot live within more than 1,000 feet of a school. It’s unclear whether or not the motel Miller was living in would have qualified, but his St. Johns County Sex Crime was not alerting authorities when he moved. Sex offenders also must check in with authorities at least every six months – more often if the crime is more severe and police will sometimes check on their own to see if people are still living where they say they are living. Sex crimes stick with a person more publicly than any other type of crime – including murder. Once a person does move and properly registers, neighbors are alerted that a sex offender has moved in and the notification includes the specific charge that qualified the person as a sex offender. Failure to closely adhere to every aspect of the sex offender registration can trigger a new third-degree felony – as it did in Miller’s St. Johns County Sex Crimes Case. Our St. Johns County Sex Crimes Attorney can advise you of all of the potential consequences in a sex crimes case – including the parameters of registration.

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A man accused of spray painting symbols of hate groups on the Clay County home where a police detective was shot and killed has been charged with a felony. Anthonio Cassanova is charged with felony criminal mischief, accused of spray painting swastikas and “RIP Ted Tilly” on the side of the home, according to a report on News4Jax. Tilly ambushed police officers during a raid and shot two detectives, killing Detective David White, before being shot and killed in the shootout.

Clay County Criminal mischief, more commonly known as vandalism, is typically a misdemeanor in Florida. But when it causes more than $1,000 in damage, the charge can be upgraded to a felony, as it was in this Clay County Felony Case. Cassanova is charged with a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. The house had been boarded up since the shootout during a police raid on the subjected meth house in February 2012, the television station reported. Volunteers have since painted over the graffiti on the house, the television station reported. Typically, a vandalism case like this would not be headline news among Jacksonville-area media. But this Clay County Felony Case is far different and the offensive nature of Cassanova’s alleged graffiti, combined with the high profile of the case could spell trouble in terms of sentencing for Cassanova.

There are already examples in connection with White’s death that foreshadow a sentence for Cassanova that is likely to be longer than average in a Clay County Felony Case. For example, people charged with dealing in stolen property for passing along the gun that was eventually used to shoot and kill White were sentenced to seven years in prison. Yes, they had criminal records that weighed in the sentencing, but stolen guns move around the state frequently and are used in plenty of crimes, but sentences of seven years aren’t the norm. Both were facing up to 15 years in prison, so they received about half of the maximum time. The state may argue in this case that Cassanova’s sentence should be even closer to the maximum. In the gun cases, yes it was certainly wrong, but the defendants did not have a way of knowing the gun they passed onto someone else was going to end up in Tilly’s hands and that he was going to use it to shoot a police officer. Whereas Cassanova is accused of using the house as a way to get across a message that many find offensive and disrespectful to the community and the detective’s family. All elements of a crime and a defendant’s criminal record, which Cassanova certainly has, are brought into consideration when it comes time to sentence a person in a Clay County Felony Case. None of those elements appear to be in Cassanova’s favor here, and many will be watching closely to see how the case plays out.

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Just weeks after being found guilty on 103 counts of gambling-related charges, Jacksonville attorney Kelly Mathis is asking the court for a new trial. The state pegged Mathis as the mastermind of a $300 million gambling operation that prosecutors say used the Allied Veterans of the World nonprofit as a front for the ring, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Mathis and his defense lawyers in this Florida Felony Crimes Case said all along that Mathis was simply providing legal advice to the group. And, before the Allied Veterans case broke and 57 people including Mathis were arrested, the internet cafes were legal in the state of Florida.

Testimony regarding the legality of the machines is at the crux of the request for a new trial. During the trial in this Felony Crimes Case, Mathis was not allowed to present evidence showing that his legal advice was correct and that local governments had voted in laws to regulate these internet operations, the newspaper reported. Because that evidence could not be presented, Mathis argues the point could not be made clearly to the jury that the internet cafes were legal at the time. Mathis’ defense team planned to call state legislators, county sheriffs and other lawmakers to testify about laws regulating or banning the machines, but was not allowed to do so, the newspaper reported. The guilty verdicts were a surprise to many observers, especially given the relative slaps on the wrist other defendants received in the case. Half of the other 57 people charged had reached a plea deal – and none of those included prison time. Even former directors of Allied Veterans and the person who made the software for the machines were given deals without prison time, though they said if called to testify against Mathis they would simply say Mathis gave the group legal advice. The state’s gambling expert was barred from testifying at trial and the judge dropped dozens of charges during the trial, so many thought the case was looking favorable for Mathis.

In any Jacksonville Felony Case, a defendant is entitled to present evidence as an alternative to the state’s case. The defendant can call witnesses and bring in testimony, just like prosecutors can. And when that defense is restricted, that’s where appellate issues can arise. People are entitled to defend themselves in a criminal trial. That’s a hallmark of our judicial system. Would that testimony about the legality of the cafes have made a difference in the minds of this group of jurors in this Jacksonville Felony Case? No one knows. But if the higher court agrees they should have been able to weigh that evidence, another group of jurors may get to hear it in a second trial.

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The Florida Supreme Court has thrown out a drug trafficking charge against a Jacksonville man, saying the way the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office tested the drugs was insufficient to prove he had as much cocaine as the state alleged. Instead of the 15-year sentence that was imposed after trial, Baron Greenwade is now looking at a maximum of five years in prison on a cocaine possession charge, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. When Greenwade was arrested in 2009, police found a bag inside his garage with nine individual plastic bags inside, the newspaper reported. Police then dumped all nine into one bag before sending the drugs off to be tested by a forensic chemist, the newspaper reported. Because the combined amount was more than 200 grams, Greenwade could then be charged with trafficking in this Jacksonville Drug Crimes Case, which opened him up to a minimum mandatory sentence of seven years in prison.

Greenwade’s Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorneys argued that the state should have sent each individual bag of cocaine to the chemist to be tested – a practice that is followed in other major Florida cities, including Miami and Tampa, the newspaper reported. The Supreme Court agreed. One main reason is that drug dealers sometimes put fake cocaine in a baggie, if they think they can get away with it, so it is possible there was less than 200 grams or actual cocaine in the larger bag police found. This Jacksonville Drug Crimes Case decision by the Supreme Court will now force Jacksonville police to individually test each baggie or container they find.

Drug charges and sentences are based on the type of drug and the amount the person is accused of having. As was proven in this Jacksonville Drug Crimes Case, a few grams either way can make an enormous difference in the amount of time a person receives. Greenwade was initially charged with a first-degree felony and is now guilty of just a third-degree felony, which has a maximum sentence of five years in prison. His maximum sentence is more than the minimum seven years he was required to serve on the trafficking charge. While Jacksonville Drug Crimes laws seem like they’d be pretty straightforward, cases like this are always changing the landscape of Jacksonville Criminal Defense Cases. Our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney stays on top of all of the latest rulings and has the latest information at her fingertips to advise you or your loved one.

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Officers from Clay County and several other agencies posed as young teens online and then arrested 16 men who chatted with them online, set up a meeting and came to a house with plans to have sex or some kind of sexual contact. The men were arrested and taken into custody when they arrived to meet the person they allegedly thought was a child in these Clay County Sex Crimes Cases, according to a report on First Coast News.

The stings are growing more common and were popularized several years ago with the To Catch a Predator series as part of Dateline NBC. Police have honed their craft in these types of stings and are careful to build up as much of a paper trail as they can to try to show clear intent among the men who end up showing up and the house and getting arrested. Most of the men have two charges in common in these Clay County Sex Crimes cases: traveling to meet a minor to conduct unlawful acts and using a two-way communication device to commit a felony. The traveling charge is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in state prison, while the use of the communication device charge is a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Some of the men may have additional charges, including drug possession if they had marijuana or any other narcotic on them when they were arrested.

The key though is the traveling to meet a minor charge, because that’s the one that would qualify a person as a sex offender. Sex crimes can stick with a person publicly more than any other criminal offense – including murder. When a person pleads guilty to or is convicted of a Clay County Sex Crimes Case, such as traveling to meet a minor, he or she will have to register as a sex offender. That means checking in with police at least every six months. It also means that whenever the person moves into a new house or apartment, neighbors are alerted with the person’s picture and the charge that made the person a sex offender. Registered sex offenders are also restricted as to where they can live, and must not be close to a school or other places children congregate. It will be interesting to see if most of the defendants agree to a plea deal or end up taking the Clay County Sex Crimes case to trial. Albeit a different judicial circuit, a similar sting last year in St. Johns County netted far different sentences for those who pleaded guilty versus those who went to trial. Our Clay County Sex Crimes attorney can thoroughly investigate the facts of the case and advise you or your loved one so you can make an informed decision going forward.

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A longtime officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was arrested this month and charged with 27 felonies after authorities say an internal investigation found he falsified time sheets. Police say Denny Hamlin, a 17-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, lied about more than $4,000 in overtime, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Hamlin resigned from his position after being confronted about the falsified documents, the newspaper reported.

The investigation in this Jacksonville Theft Case allegedly revealed that of more than 40 overtime submissions between January and June, 26 were falsified, the newspaper reported. For each of the 26, Hamlin was charged with misconduct by a public official – a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Hamlin was also charged with grand theft and the severity of the charge varies based on the amount stolen, what was taken and where it was taken from. In this Duval County Theft Case, Hamlin was arrested on a first-degree felony grand theft charge, presumably under the provision in state law claiming the money was “law enforcement property.” Normally, the amount Hamlin was accused of taking would only merit a third-degree felony. Instead, he is looking at the possibility of 30 years in prison for the first-degree felony, and 130 more if sentenced to the maximum on each of the 26 official misconduct counts. Now, it’s highly unlikely anyone would receive that amount of time for allegedly stealing about $4,000, and that is not expected in this Jacksonville Theft Case.

But this does show what could be the balance of power between police officers and prosecutors when it comes to Jacksonville Theft Cases. Police officers make the arrest and suspects are booked into jail on charges that police believe qualify. Prosecutors then examine the case and determine which charges they will file. Typically, there are a few weeks between when a person is arrested and when he or she is formally arraigned on charges – and that delay is partly to allow prosecutors to make that decision. In this Jacksonville Theft Case, Hamlin’s arraignment was set for about three weeks after his first appearance in court. This period is also a time where a Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney can begin talking with the prosecutors about the case, even starting negotiating if the client wishes, before charges are officially filed. In many Jacksonville Theft Cases, prosecutors are hesitant to drop or reduce charges once they have been filed.

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A Miami man is facing felony drug trafficking charges after police found 30 bricks of marijuana in a dog food bag during a traffic stop on the interstate. Police estimated the marijuana was worth $120,000 and arrested Roger Aguilera for trafficking in marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to sell, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Trafficking in marijuana is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. The charge also carries a minimum mandatory sentence of three years in prison. Possession with intent to sell in Florida is a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison, so obviously the trafficking charge is the one for Aguilera to be most concerned about.

The news reports do not specify exactly how much marijuana was taken, but for it to qualify as a trafficking charge in this St. Johns County Drug Crimes Case, it was a significant amount. In Florida, a person must have at least 25 pounds of marijuana for the state to charge a person with trafficking in marijuana. For other types of drugs, trafficking applies with a fraction of that amount – 28 grams for cocaine and just 14 grams for oxycodone and other prescription drugs. Aguilera was stopped in this St. Johns County Drug Crimes Case because the tinting on his windows was too dark, the newspaper reported. Once police approached the car, they said Aguilera was acting nervous and police asked to search the car, the newspaper reported. Police said Aguilar gave them permission and that’s when police saw the dog food bag and found the marijuana, the newspaper reported.

It would have been interesting to see how police would have handled the situation if Aguilar had not given permission to search the car. An officer would need probable cause and just acting suspicious is not enough. The news report does say police smelled marijuana, but that was after they started searching the car. Aguilar certainly had the right to decline to have his car searched and it is reasonable to expect that conversation will get plenty of attention in this St. Johns County Drug Crimes Case. If Aguilar did not fully understand his rights, what the officer was asking of him or that he had the right to say no, there could be grounds to try to have the traffic stop suppressed. And without the traffic stop, police do not have a St. Johns County Drug Crimes Case. That may sound ludicrous because, either way, Aguilar still had more than 25 pounds of marijuana bricks stuffed in a dog food bag. But, there are certain rules and procedures police must follow. Officers cannot go around just searching cars to search cars – especially cars they pull over just because of their window tint. Our St. Johns County Drug Crimes Attorney knows those rules and procedures inside out and can investigate all aspects of the stop to determine if there could be a reason to have the stop thrown out.

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