Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney Blog

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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April 8, 2015

Florida Domestic Violence Allegation Proven Unfounded, Accuser Arrested

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

A Boca Raton woman was arrested on charges of domestic violence – but only after she called police alleging she had been the victim.

According to the Sun Sentinel, a 53-year-old woman called 911 following an argument with her husband. She alleged in the phone call that her husband struck her with a closed fist and threw dishes at her.

Initially, she told the dispatcher the attack occurred in the bedroom shared by the couple. But when officers arrived, her story changed to indicate the assault had taken place in the bathroom. Officers noted a smashed dish soap holder on the floor.
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April 4, 2015

Williams v. Florida – Importance of Chain of Custody

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

In criminal prosecutions in Florida, the state has to establish a “chain of custody” for certain kinds of evidence in order for it to be admitted.

Prosecutors have to show that what they are offering into evidence is exactly what they purport it to be. For example, the drugs being shown to the judge and jury are exactly the drugs that were found on the defendant, or the pieces of clothing are the exact garments that were stolen from a given store in a shoplifting case.

In order to prove that those items are one in the same, prosecutors have to show who had possession of those items at all times between the time they were seized by law enforcement until the time of trial. This is the “chain of custody.” It’s the reason why storage of evidence is often critical in criminal cases, particularly when certain exhibits may have been altered or tested. A break in the chain of custody could result in suppression of evidence, which is typically an advantage for the defense.
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March 31, 2015

Florida Supreme Court: No Life Sentences for Juveniles

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

The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled all Florida juveniles convicted of homicide and sentenced automatically to life imprisonment must now be resentenced under a new law passed last year.

The ruling addresses the issue of retroactivity for Miller v. Alabama, which was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that barred life sentences for juvenile killers.

There are approximately 250 state prisoners in Florida currently serving life sentences for homicides committed before their 18th birthday. Legislators passed a law last year to conform to the Miller decision, but it was only applicable to murders committed after July 2014. For two decades prior, state law mandated juveniles convicted of first-degree murder should receive an automatic life sentence.
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March 27, 2015

Green v. Florida – Officer Testimony in Drug Case Challenged

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

In the recent case of Green v. Florida, a man convicted of trafficking cocaine appealed on several grounds, most notably for the fact the court allowed officers to testify he was arrested in a high-crime neighborhood.

Although the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld conviction, it wrote to address this particular issue (rejecting without comment claims of entrapment and improper admission of hearsay evidence).

According to court records in the case, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms established an undercover operation an economically depressed neighborhood which authorities had designated as “high crime.” An undercover agent worked as manager of the store. The operation was reportedly established to address violent crime, with a focus on drug crimes and firearms violations. A multi-agency task force identified this neighborhood as a target for enforcement using crime mapping statistics.
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