Category Archives: Criminal Defense
They Say I Failed the DUI Field Sobriety Tests. Am I Automatically Guilty?
Absolutely not. At best, FSTs are only circumstantial evidence of intoxication. And, circumstantial evidence is subject to interpretation, which is why police officers always say the defendant “failed” the tests. But jurors often interpret the results differently, and their opinion is the only one that counts. Finally, not all field sobriety tests are created… Read More »
TRUMP THROWS PARDON PARTY FOR WHITE COLLAR DEFENDANTS
U.S. President Donald Chump came under water-gun fire on Tuesday for commuting the sentence of Rod Blagojevich, the ex-Illinois governor convicted of trying to peddle Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat. Eye brows were further raised when several other high-profile white collar defendants received their golden Willy Wonka tickets too. Senator Susan Collins of… Read More »
Jail Release Options in Violent Crime Prosecutions
One of the shortest and most important Constitutional criminal rights provisions is the Eighth Amendment. This section forbids cruel and unusual punishment, a controversial provision which may include capital punishment. More importantly for purposes of this blog, the Eighth Amendment also guarantees reasonable bail in criminal cases. “Reasonable” is a rather subjective term. That’s… Read More »
SECOND U.S. CITY DECRIMINALIZES MUSHROOMS AND OTHER NATURAL PSYCHOACTIVES
In a stunning move Oakland, California became the second U.S. city to decriminalize psychoactive mushrooms after a plethora of speakers advocated that psychedelics helped them overcome depression, drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. The significant beneficial medical effects of the mysterious compounds in mushrooms and other entheogenic plants are no surprise to members of… Read More »
Five Types of Fraud in Florida
In the Sunshine State, “fraud” is essentially theft by deception as opposed to theft by taking property. Some fraudsters use simple deception in face-to-face transactions. Others pretend to be other people or pretend to have things, such as collateral, that they do not have. Fraud is a growing online crime as well. Significantly, fraud… Read More »
Three New Supreme Court Cases That May Affect Florida Criminal Appeals
Criminal appeals are not easy to win. Even if there was a clear error before, during, or after the trial, it may not be enough to overturn the conviction. Both U.S. and federal law are quite clear that defendants are entitled to fair trials, but not perfect trials. That being said, the United States… Read More »
NOTORIOUS R.B.G & U.S. SUPREME COURT UPHOLD PROHIBITION ON EXCESSIVE FINES BY GOVERNMENT
The Supreme Court unanimously held on Wednesday that the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, in addition to the federal government. This is big news for State and Federal forfeiture claims. The opinion was written and delivered from the bench by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her first opinion… Read More »
Four Possible Grounds For Criminal Appeals In Tampa
Criminal jury trial outcomes are impossible to predict with any certainty. Anyone who makes such a prognostication is probably either over-promising an outcome or inexperienced in trial work. Completely unpredictable circumstances, like a single holdout juror, can completely change the outcome. Not all these unexpected circumstances are grounds for a criminal appeal. In fact,… Read More »
GOLF DIGEST INVESTIGATION SETS MAN FREE AFTER 27 YEARS IN PRISON
Recently, a New York post-conviction case made international headlines and offered a fascinating story of man wrongfully imprisoned for a crime another man committed. The guilty man had already confessed to the crime years earlier. The New York man now set free was using his artistic talent drawing golf courses while incarcerated when good… Read More »
FLORIDA CRIMINAL APPELLATE LAW AND PROCEDURE 101: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER A CRIMINAL CONVICTION?
If you must file an appeal from a State or Federal criminal conviction you are unquestionably undergoing a difficult time in your life. Criminal appeals are an arena not for the faint of heart. Florida criminal appellate attorney Nicholas G. Matassini is board certified in criminal trial law and has been successfully handling State… Read More »
FACEBOOK & TWITTER MUST TURN OVER POSTS TO MURDER SUSPECT
The power of the subpoena is mighty and dates back to ancient Roman law. Its subsequent use and specific procedures were developed extensively throughout several hundred years of English common law. As expected both Federal and State courts throughout the United States have specific laws and procedures regarding the use of a subpoena. Both… Read More »
WIRETAP IN TAMPA BAY RICO DRUG TRAFFICKING PROSECUTION THROWN OUT, SIGNIFICANT APPELLATE VICTORY
Narcotics detectives from the Tampa Police Department had long cultivated a clandestine wiretap operation on several individuals suspected of drug trafficking and being members of a large scale RICO conspiracy in the Tampa Bay area. Nicholas G. Matassini has been litigating the case, both in the trial court and the court of appeals, for… Read More »
DRIVING A RENTAL CAR, CAN THE COPS SEARCH IT?
* The case: Terrence Byrd pled guilty to charges of possessing heroin with intent to distribute and possessing body armor as a prohibited person. Byrd was arrested after police officers found heroin and body armor in the trunk of a rental car Byrd was driving. The arresting officer had pulled Byrd over for a… Read More »
Some Expungement/Sealing Basics In Florida
Criminal convictions make life difficult in Tampa. Most jurisdictions allow employers to consider criminal records as early as the initial screening interview. Furthermore, criminal convictions often make it difficult or impossible to find a place to live. Relief is available for many of these individuals, especially if the criminal conviction was a one-time mistake…. Read More »
STAND YOUR GROUND CLAIMS BACK IN LEGAL SPOTLIGHT
The Florida Third District Court of Appeals recently upheld the constitutionality of a controversial change to the state’s “stand your ground” self-defense law, but also might have set the stage for a debate at the Florida Supreme Court about how the change should apply in some cases. Stand your ground issues and claims of… Read More »
Four Major Search Warrant Exceptions
One of the most important protections in the Constitution is the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable police searches and seizures. Back in colonial days, the British sometimes used “writs of assistance,” or blank search warrants, to break into people’s houses and search for contraband even though they had no evidence of wrongdoing. Today, searches… Read More »
“SERIAL” PODCAST MURDER SUSPECT, ADNAN SYED, GRANTED NEW TRIAL
Murder cases can be among the most difficult kind of criminal prosecutions to litigate. The charges can’t be more serious and the penalties, if convicted as charged, always involve life in prison — and in some circumstances, a death sentence. Memories fade and potential alibi witnesses get lost over the passage of time. A… Read More »
What You Need To Know About Drugged Driving In Florida
Alcohol-based DUI arrests usually get most of the attention in Tampa and elsewhere. Yet according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, drugged driving is a bigger problem than drink driving. That group claims that, in 2015, 43 percent of deceased motorists had drugs in their system, as compared with 37 percent who had alcohol… Read More »
FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN MOVES TO DISMISS INDICTMENT
The indictment that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort faces on charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent is fatally flawed because of defects in the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Manafort’s attorneys argued in a new court filing Wednesday night. In a motion seeking dismissal of all… Read More »
DYING DECLARATION FROM WOMEN BRUTALLY STABBED LEADS TO ARRESTS
When the four delivery workers found the woman in the middle of the road, she was covered in so much blood that they couldn’t tell the color of her hair. Whoever had done this to her, authorities said later, had stabbed the 19-year-old repeatedly, then thrown her out of a car near a remote,… Read More »
