Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney Blog

July 16, 2016

NYT: A $2 Roadside Drug Test is Sending Innocent People to Jail

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

It is common in traffic stops where officers suspect the presence of drugs to search the driver and request a search of the vehicle. If an officer finds a substance he or she suspects to be an illicit drug, they rely on a roadside drug test to make the call. The results of these $2 kits, which have largely remained the same in design and process since they were first released in 1973, can mean the difference between a person being released at the scene or being arrested on felony charges.

In a troubling expose on these kits, The New York Times delved into the accuracy of these kits and what they have meant to the lives of many of the 1.2 million people who are arrested annually in the U.S. on illegal drug possession charges. While those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty, these cheap testing kits are often a key deciding factor in how public defenders fight these cases and how prosecutors pursue them.

One analysis of the accuracy of the kits was conducted by the laboratory system operated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). What they discovered was that more than 20 percent of the evidence police listed as “methamphetamine” in fact was NOT methamphetamine. In fact, half of the false positives weren’t even drugs at all. A tracking by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office revealed 15 false methamphetamine positives just in the first seven months of 2014. Further, in combing through department records, officers had been given ambiguous instructions on how to conduct the tests and some misunderstood which colors indicated a positive and which indicated a negative. Continue reading

July 13, 2016

Liquid Anti-Crime Tool Draws Mixed Reviews From South Florida Police

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

It’s touted as a smart way to identify alleged thieves, drive down property crimes and return stolen possessions. It’s a spray called SmartWater CSI, and it’s a liquid that glows under ultraviolet light. The liquid is intended for spray on property or intruders, and it leaves a residue that is detectable on people for several weeks and on property for years.

Since more than two dozen law enforcement agencies in South Florida signed up to use the liquid, 11 say property crimes have taken a nosedive. However, it’s only resulted in half a dozen arrests and in no case has stolen property been recovered and returned to its owner. In fact, a number of law enforcement agencies say it doesn’t seem as if the product actually works.

As criminal defense lawyers, we would have a number of questions as to how a certain piece of property could be traced back to that particular owner or how spray identified on a certain individual could be traced back to the crime scene. Continue reading

July 10, 2016

Broward Robbery Arrest Made After Suspect Fingerprints Identified

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

A 27-year-old Broward County woman is accused of two robberies at two separate banks – one at a SunTrust Bank in Fort Lauderdale and another at a Space Coast Credit Union in Miramar weeks earlier.

Federal authorities with the FBI intervened and linked the two crimes with fingerprints, making an arrest just hours after the alleged second robbery. Investigators say the suspect, Ashley Cambridge, heisted a total of $4,220 collectively in both incidents. In both cases, she reportedly handed tellers a note that began with the phrase, “Don’t try anything stupid.”

After matching the fingerprints, authorities with the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force initiated an arrest against her at her apartment in Hollywood, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Cambridge, a mother of two small children, reportedly confessed her involvement in both robberies to authorities. She even went so far as to sign two photographs of the crime scene, circling the alleged robber in both pictures and writing the word, “Me.” She told investigators some of the money had been spent on her family and rent. Continue reading

July 6, 2016

U.S. Supreme Court: DUI Warrantless Breath Tests OK, Blood Tests Not

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down an important Fourth Amendment decision recently in the case of Birchfield v. North Dakota, which dealt with warrantless breathalyzer tests and blood tests, ultimately invalidating implied consent laws that pertain to warrantless blood draws.

Essentially, the court decided that while the government cannot require a person to submit to a blood draw without first obtaining a warrant, the government can require a person arrested for drunken driving to submit to a warrantless breath test.

The case was the result of consolidated appeals from three separate drunk driving arrests in which the defendants were prosecuted – or threatened with prosecution – for refusing to take a blood or breath test. Continue reading

July 2, 2016

Utah v. Strieff – U.S. Supreme Court Expands Lawless Searches

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

In a contentious 5-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court in Utah v. Strieff ruled in favor of a cop who seized drugs after an unlawful stop. It was only after that stop the officer learned the defendant had an outstanding traffic warrant. After making an arrest, the officer searched defendant and found drugs and paraphernalia. Plaintiff argued this evidence should be suppressed under the exclusionary rule.

However, the majority ruled that although the initial stop was not lawful, which would normally mean any evidence obtained thereafter could not be used against defendant, the court instead chose to apply the attenuation doctrine. This doctrine states that even though the way the evidence was obtained was illegal, such evidence can still be admissible if the connection between the evidence and the illegal method is sufficiently thin or attenuated. The court held that the officer made a good-faith mistake when stopping the defendant, who was leaving a suspected drug house. This was not, the court decided, part of some systematic recurrence of police misconduct and nor would the decision result in the proliferation of dragnet searches for those with outstanding arrest warrants.

Dissenting Justice Sonya Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, had strong words of rebuke for the majority on this issue, saying unlawful police stops, “Corrode all our civil liberties and threaten our lives.” Continue reading

June 29, 2016

Florida DUI Arrest 17 Years After Man Fled Before Sentencing

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

Had Robert Cesaire served his prison time per the terms of his plea bargain, he would have been released seven years ago. He’d pleaded guilty in Broward Circuit Court to DUI manslaughter in exchange for a 10-year sentence of a possible 17 years, after which time he was to be deported to Haiti.

But authorities say he fled to Haiti just days before his sentencing in 1999. That was 17 years ago. Now, authorities say he’s been arrested at the Miami International Airport earlier this month. Officials could not say where he was flying from at the time he was arrested, but he is now being held at the Broward Main Jail without bond.

Prosecutors say now that he is in custody, a new sentencing hearing date will be set, at which time they will request the maximum 17-year penalty, given the fact that he fled. Continue reading

June 27, 2016

Broward Sheriff Sergeant Arrested on Child Porn Charges

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

Often when a law enforcement officer is working long hours, it’s a sign of diligence. However, for the colleagues of Broward County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Kreg Costa, suspicions were heightened because the road duty supervisor was staying in his office during and after his shift with the lights off and uniform and gun belt removed. Staffers who witnessed his behavior called it “bizarre.”

Detectives with the agency’s public corruption unit launched an investigation that included asking for computer use reports from the sergeant’s work laptop from January to March. That’s when they found images of hardcore pornography, bondage and incest-related sites. Further he was reportedly engaging in sexually explicit messages with a 16-year-old girl on both video chats and Twitter. Costa allegedly instructed the California teen to record herself engaged in sexual activity.

Costa was arrested when he arrived at work for a scheduled training. He has been suspended without pay and faces a total of 29 serious criminal charges, including soliciting a child for unlawful sexual conduct using a computer, use of a child in sexual performance, possession of child pornography and lewd lascivious battery. Continue reading

June 23, 2016

Florida Rape Charges Against Probation Officer Dropped

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

There was little doubt that the probation officer had sex with his charge. The video evidence provided by the alleged victim was pretty straightforward proof of that.

But was it rape?

Zachary Thomas Bailey, 52, was arrested on two counts of sexual battery by coercion back in March 2015. But this month, just days before he was slated to go on trial for rape, prosecutors dropped the charges.

The cell phone video was provided to police in Coral Springs when she accused Bailey of rape. But when prosecutors watched the video, it revealed the unclothed woman directing Bailey on how to sexually favor her. State prosecutors announced in court they would not be pursuing the charges, and although they did not specify the reasoning, a memo from the state attorney’s office indicated the video evidence contradicted the rape claim made by the accuser. On top of that, prosecutors noted in the memo that the accuser’s extensive criminal history and potential immigration issues may have made it very tough to garner a conviction. Specifically, they serve to substantiate the defense theory that plaintiff had an ulterior motive in falsely accusing Bailey. Continue reading

June 18, 2016

Goodman v. FDLE – 4th DCA Unswayed by Defense BAC Argument

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling of an administrative law judge in the case of John Goodman, the polo magnate convicted of DUI manslaughter in the death of 23-year-old Scott Patrick Wilson in 2010.

Goodman was originally convicted in 2012 and again at retrial in 2014. On appeal, Goodman’s defense attorney argued that the blood-alcohol test taken after the accident should not have been used against him. An administrative law judge thought otherwise, and the 4th DCA affirmed in Goodman v. Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The crux of the argument centered on the viability of Florida’s alcohol blood testing methods. But the justices plainly stated that, “Any attempt by the FDLE to regulate for every possible contingency that may arise in the collection or testing processes would swiftly devolve into a hopeless endeavor and serve only to expand the department’s regulations to epic lengths.” Continue reading

June 15, 2016

Finders Keepers? Man Takes $30K Ring Left on Bathroom Floor, Arrested for Theft

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

Finders keepers, losers weepers. That’s how the saying goes, anyway. Unfortunately for a man in Palm Beach County, the Florida criminal justice system doesn’t quite work that way.

According to The Sun Sentinel, a woman shopping at Neiman Marcus in Palm Beach stepped into a unisex bathroom when duty called. As she washed her hands, she slipped off a $30,000 diamond ring and placed it on the counter. And then, the Vero Beach made a colossal mistake: She forgot it.

She walked out of the bathroom and soon therefore, police reported, Joseph Tursi walked in. The 58-year-old New York native reportedly pocketed the ring and made no attempt to turn it into store personnel. The 31-year-old alleged victim reportedly didn’t realize her error until she got into her car about 10 minutes later. She put her hands on the steering wheel and then started to panic. She went back to the bathroom to search for the 3-carat diamond ring, but it was nowhere to be seen. Continue reading