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A local man is facing three separate criminal cases related to him allegedly exposing himself to the University of North Florida students.  According to an article on news4jax.com, the man showed his penis to two woman students on the actual campus and two women off campus.  The man is facing one count of misdemeanor stalking and four charges of exposure of sexual organs.  The stalking charge stems from allegations that after exposing himself to one of the students, he followed her in his vehicle all over town.  The woman saw the man’s car tag and it matched the suspect’s car.  This particular stalking charge is a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.  In order to prove it, the State Attorney’s Office must prove the man willfully, maliciously and repeatedly followed, harassed or cyberstalked the woman.

The other charges of exposure of sexual organs fit the same pattern, according to reports.  The man allegedly asked the women for directions or some other question while masturbating.  Police showed the women photo spreads of potential suspects and all of the women picked him out of the lineup.  The women also described the man’s car and surveillance video shows the women making contact with the same vehicle.

Exposure of sexual organs, while not a delineated Jacksonville sex charge, is still considered sexual in nature and more serious than other misdemeanors.  This Duval misdemeanor is also a first degree misdemeanor and the law makes it unlawful to expose or exhibit one’s sexual organs in public or on the private property of someone else in a vulgar or indecent manner.  The law also applies to being naked in public.

Ruben Ebron, the center of the investigation into the death of Lonzie Barton, is trying to dispose of his Baker County drug cases, but the judge will not accept the negotiated disposition.  According to a report in the Florida Times Union, Ebron entered pleas of no contest to the drug charges and one count of resisting an officer without violence.  The deal made with prosecutors was that he would serve two years in prison and that sentence would run concurrent (at the same time) as his Duval County case.  The judge in this Baker County criminal case chose not to accept the offer.  The state attorney’s office and his criminal defense lawyer must go back to the drawing board to construct a deal that will be acceptable to the judge.

In some criminal cases in Duval County, judges will reject a plea deal.  Criminal judges have discretion to accept or reject any negotiated dispositions.  When someone is arrested for a crime in Jacksonville or elsewhere in Florida, the case can resolve in a few ways.  The state attorney’s office can drop the charges outright and of course, that is the best possible outcome.  If the prosecutor elects to file formal charges, then a defendant can fight the charge and make the prosecutor prove it beyond all reasonable doubt.  This includes deposing possible witnesses in the case and may eventually lead to a trial.  Very few cases actually end up in a trial, probably around 2 %.  A criminal defendant may choose to enter a plea “to the court”.  This means you enter a plea of guilty and place yourself at the mercy of the judge.  You are entitled to a sentencing hearing where you will be given the opportunity to present mitigating witnesses on your behalf as well as speak to the court yourself.

The far majority of criminal cases end up being negotiated.  This means that the prosecutor or the defense makes an offer to the other and if accepted, a plea is entered to the court.  Some times, judges think the sentence is too light and will reject the plea outright.  Some will tell you what sentence they will take and some will just hint.  The value of hiring an experienced Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney is that they will know the ins and outs of the courthouse, the prosecutors assigned to the case and sometimes most importantly, the judge.

A Jacksonville teen was arrested on charges of making a false bomb threat that forced police and school officials to put his high school on lockdown earlier this month.  After the threat was called in, police searched the campus but did not find anything on the property, according to a report on News4Jax. Police said that a teacher told them the student confessed to her, but the student has since denied that’s what he told her, the television station reported. Police say the student has offered different stories, but both involve someone else using his cell phone to make the call, the television station reported. Still, he was arrested more than a week after the threat was called in and charged with making a hoax bomb threat. The charge is a second-degree felony with a maximum penalty of 15 years in state prison.

The charge is somewhat complicated by the fact the student is just 15 years old. In Jacksonville Juvenile Crimes Cases such as this when teenagers are arrested on felony charges, prosecutors have the authority to make the decision on whether to charge the child as a juvenile or as an adult. Prosecutors can choose to keep the case in juvenile court, or they can decide the youth should be prosecuted in adult court. In some cases, prosecutors are seen as being tougher on crime by sending juveniles to adult court. However, the juvenile court system is there for a reason – with recognition that youth can make mistakes and be seriously punished, but not have those mistakes affect the entire rest of their life.

When a child or teen pleads guilty to or is convicted of a Jacksonville Juvenile Crime, there are five different incarceration options a judge can issue to the boy or girl. They range from a modified house arrest on up to what amounts to a prison for juveniles. The misconception that if teens are tried in juvenile court they are not punished is simply not true. It’s simply a recognition that it a 15-year-old boy who makes a mistake and calls in a bomb threat to his school probably doesn’t need to be serving time in adult state prison.   Our Jacksonville Juvenile Crimes Attorney represents teens and children accused of a variety of different crimes, including felonies like this case. Our Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney will examine the facts of the case explain the ramifications so you can make the best decision going forward.

Seeing a professional athlete get pinched on a drug possession charge or a DUI is hardly headline news these days. But when a Chicago Bears wide receiver was arrested last week accused of trying to set up a weekly $700,000 purchase of marijuana and cocaine, heads turned. Especially when a report surfaced that the feds had a list of Sam Hurd’s clients that included fellow National Football League players into the “double digits,” according to a report in Sports Illustrated. Federal authorities reportedly built their case through wiretaps and conversations with confidential informants. Hurd was arrested last week after trying to buy four kilograms of cocaine from an undercover agent, the magazine reported.

Shortly after the arrest, speculation ran rampant once the alleged client list was leaked. The names are still unknown – but it is undoubtedly a list no one in the league is looking to be on.

But how much could that actually prove? Not much, if all they have is a name.