Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney Blog

May 14, 2015

Implied Consent Means Punishment for Refusal to Submit to Alcohol Testing

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

Florida law requires drivers arrested for a DUI to take a breath, urine or blood test if the arrest is lawful and the officer has probable cause to believe you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Defendants may be asked to take more than one test and in order to be in compliance with the law, have to agree to all of them.

Refusal to submit to these tests will result in a one-year license suspension for the first-time offense, and that refusal could be used against you in criminal court.

There is much debate about whether refusal to testing actually helps a case. First of all, the license suspension is mandatory, regardless of whether you are later convicted of a Florida DUI. Also, the state is not required to show your blood-alcohol level was 0.08 percent or higher, which the legal limit for 21-and-over drivers. The state can use other circumstantial evidence to secure a conviction, including the fact that you refused the drug or alcohol testing. They might also point to officer observations of glassy eyes, slurred speech, the smell of alcohol or behaviors behind the wheel that might indicate intoxication. It’s worth noting too that in the event of an accident, investigators can force you to undergo alcohol testing involuntarily, so long as they first obtain a warrant signed by a judge for it.
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May 10, 2015

“Revenge Porn” Soon to Become Illegal in Florida

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

A scorned paramour who posts nude images or video clips of an estranged ex-lover isn’t likely to deemed great dating material. But as of this moment, they probably won’t face criminal charges, at least in Florida.

That is almost certainly going to change very soon.

The practice, dubbed “revenge porn,” is the subject of SB 538, a measure on sexual cyber-harassment. Recently passed by the Florida Senate 38-2, the bill is on its way to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk for final approval. Most predict he will sign it.
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May 7, 2015

Fort Lauderdale Identity Theft Arrest Requires Strong Defense

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

A Fort Lauderdale man arrested for identity theft is accused of heisting the identities of others in order to open store credit cards in both Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

The investigation has been ongoing for a full year, since last April, when a Pembroke Pines man reported to police someone used his identity to open a store credit card at Nordstrom’s and charge thousands of dollars worth of merchandise to it. The alleged victim said he’d never been to the store and had never tried to open a line of credit with the firm.

Store managers told police the man opened the account with a driver’s license that contained the name, address and birth date of the victim, although the photograph was different. The store closed the account, and turned over surveillance video to officers. Using that information, police were able to spot the vehicle used by the suspect and got the license plate number.
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April 29, 2015

Coffey v. Shiomoto – Rising Alcohol Content in DUI Case

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

The case of Coffey v. Shiomoto involved a woman who was arrested for DUI, pleaded guilty to “wet reckless” (a lesser charge available in California, where this case originated) and then fought to have her administrative license suspension vacated.

Similar to what happens in Florida, a person arrested in California for drunk driving will automatically have his or her license suspended. Challenging license suspension is done through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

In this case, what she argued was the theory of rising blood alcohol as a defense. It’s based on the knowledge that there is a time lapse between when someone consumes a drink and when the alcohol from that drink becomes fully absorbed into the body. What this means is that a person may consume alcohol, get in a motor vehicle and be under the legal limit to drive. However, as time wears on, and while they continue to drive, their blood-alcohol may exceed the legal limit.
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April 28, 2015

Roop v. Florida – Homicide Conviction Affirmed, Lack of Remorse Weighed

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

Several sociologists, psychiatrists and law school professors have in recent years sought to answer the question of whether a defendant’s perceived matters in criminal cases.

For example, the “Capital Jury Project in South Carolina,” by researchers of law at Cornell University delved into the issue of remorse in capital murder cases: The role it plays and how jurors perceive a defendant as remorseful. They studied more than 150 juries in that state, and concluded a defendant’s remorse or lack thereof did matter in capital case sentencing, though not with every defendant. When crimes were perceived as especially vicious, remorse didn’t tend to matter.

More recently, there was the analysis published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, which explored the fact that defendant remorse is generally accepted as a mitigating factor in capital murder sentencing in the legal system and concluded the ways in which jurors determine whether defendants are genuinely remorseful.
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April 27, 2015

Dozens of Fort Lauderdale Criminal Cases Dropped

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

Dozens of cases linked to allegedly racist former ex-Fort Lauderdale police officers have been dropped by prosecutors, according to recent news reports.

As of this writing, 12 felonies, 19 misdemeanors and one juvenile case had been dropped, while another 20 were being analyzed. Each of these cases had one thing in common: One or more of the four officers accused of sending racist text messages and/or producing a racist homemade video were connected to the investigations.

Each of the defendants in the cases were black.
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April 23, 2015

Pulecia v. Florida – Probation Term Successfully Challenged

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

There are tens of thousands of Floridians currently under community control – also known as probation – following conviction for a crime.

The standard terms of this control usually involve some type of regular meeting with a probation officer, no contact order with the victim, potentially a restitution order, routine drug testing and orders to steer clear of law violations.

Going against any one of these conditions can result in severe penalties – up to and including reinstatement of the full sentence. This is how someone with a suspended sentence can end up serving years in prison for failing a drug test.
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April 19, 2015

Domestic Violence Results in 20-Year Sentence for Rape, Kidnapping

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

Most people view domestic violence as a kind of misdemeanor crime that can fairly easily be overcome in court, as the accusations are largely he-said-she-said.

Sometimes, this is true. And it’s also true that a lot of allegations get overblown as a result of statements made in the intensity and heat of an emotional argument. However, it’s also true that certain domestic violence cases in Florida can result in felony convictions accompanied by decades-long prison sentences.

In the recent case of a former Broward County bailiff, reports say he narrowly escaped a life sentence for a conviction on charges that he kidnapped and raped his wife on the day she asked for a divorce.
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April 15, 2015

Florida Grand Theft Charges Dropped in Plea Deal for Vanilla Ice

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

A criminal grand theft case against former rapper Vanilla Ice (AKA Robert Matthew Van Winkle) has been dropped in a plea deal recently approved by a Palm Beach County judge.

Police in Latana had arrested the former “Ice Ice Baby” rapper after it was alleged he had stolen a pool heater, furniture, bicycles and a patio set from a vacant home in the city. Van Winkle, now working in real estate and remodeling – even starring on a show about flipping houses — says the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Prior to entering the courthouse to sign the plea deal, he told reporters he had no criminal intent. Nonetheless, he signed a document admitting his guilt. In turn, prosecutors agreed to a pre-trial intervention program that requires the former rapper to complete 100 hours of community service over the next year. There are a number of other conditions as well. If he successfully completes all of these, the case goes away.
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April 13, 2015

Vehicular Homicide in Palm Beach Leads to Prison Term

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

We typically don’t think of speeding as an infraction for which one could face jail time, let alone an extended prison term – especially if the offending driver wasn’t drunk or under the influence of drugs.

And yet, that is what’s happening in a recent case in Boca Raton, in which one speeding driver, a Palm Beach State College student, was sentenced to four years in prison for his part in a multi-vehicle crash that led to the death of a 57-year-old woman. Defendant had actually faced 15 years, and if he violates his probation after release, he could be re-sentenced to that amount of time. His co-defendant, who is still awaiting trial, could also face a 15-year term.

Both men, in their early 20s, were alleged to have been excessively speeding. Authorities said the two, who didn’t know each other before that day, were racing one another on a busy road during rush hour.
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