It’s been a year since the U.S. Supreme Court deemed Florida’s process of deciding death penalty cases unconstitutional for the second time. Florida had a long-standing practice of allowing imposition of the death penalty without the unanimous support of a jury. Before the 2016 ruling in Hurst v. Florida, courts here…
In a divided and controversial ruling, the Florida Supreme Court upheld a longstanding ban on people openly carrying firearms in public. The court disagreed with passionate arguments by supporters of the Second Amendment, instead ruling 4-2 that the state law doesn’t impede the exercise of the core right to bear…
The federal conviction of a South Florida woman for violation of 18 U.S.C. 875(c), making threatening communication, has been overturned in light of the June U.S. Supreme Court decision in Elonis v. U.S.. Essentially, what the court said in Elonis was that it is not enough in a criminal case…
In May, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling in Smallwood v. Florida in which justices held police in this state would need a warrant before searching a person’s cell phone. Now, in a new decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the same is true nationwide. Our Fort…
The Florida Supreme Court recently tossed appellate court rulings against individuals convicted of both grand theft and dealing in stolen property, finding that the lower courts erred in failing to apply a new Florida law barring conviction for both theft and stolen property when the charges relate to a single…
A U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down this month could significantly increase the rights of those accused of a crime in Fort Lauderdale and throughout the country. Our Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorneys understand the case stems from two cases – Missouri v. Frye and Lafler v. Cooper – and…