Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer

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

May 31, 2016

Miami Woman Kills Teen Burglar, Charges Mulled

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

The state attorney is considering whether to charge a Miami woman with murder after she gunned down a burglar on her property.

Florida has one of the strongest “Castle Doctrine” laws on the books, which allow homeowners to use lethal force against those who unlawfully enter their homes. The law does require that in order to threaten or use deadly force, the resident/ homeowner has to believe such force is necessary to either prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to herself or someone else or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.

In this case, the 54-year-old homeowner wasn’t at the time of the burglar’s initial entry, but rather was alerted to the break-in by a home security camera. She reportedly returned home and searched the property room-to-room, until she spotted the teen climbing out a window. She told investigators there was a confrontation and she shot him. Further, police were reportedly on their way. Continue reading

April 21, 2016

Florida Child Neglect Arrest of Allegedly Drunk Father

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

Parenting is no easy feat, as any caregiver can attest. However, anytime one assumes the responsibility of caring for a child, failure to provide certain basic services and protection can result in criminal charges – namely, child neglect.

Unlike child abuse, which involves actively inflicting physical or mental injury on a minor, child neglect in Florida involves a failure or omission to provide children with basic care, supervision and services necessary to maintain the child’s physical and mental health.

Per F.S. 827.03(e), that could mean failure to provide food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine and medical services that a child would need or that a reasonable person would consider essential for that child’s well-being. It could also mean failure to take reasonable steps to protect a child against abuse, neglect or exploitation. Continue reading

March 21, 2016

Fort Lauderdale Felony Drug Conviction Gets Doctor Probation

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

A former pain clinic doctor who worked at a facility in Fort Lauderdale was sentenced to four years of probation, following his conviction last fall on a felony drug charge.

Dr. Gerald Klein, 81, had been facing up to five years in prison for his conviction for illegally selling a prescription of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, to a patient at a clinic in West Palm Beach. That patient happened to be Alejandro Pino, who at the time was working as a chef for now-GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

It could have been much worse for the physician, who last year was staring down the possibility of a life sentence on a first-degree murder charge, following the 2009 overdose death of another patient of the so-called “pill mill” where the doctor worked. In January, twin brothers and co-clinic managers received 15 and 20 years, respectively. Continue reading

December 1, 2015

Smart v. Florida – Rape Trial Will Continue After Juror Misconduct

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

When a prospective juror in Palm Beach County stated in front of 70 others that a rape case defendant didn’t deserve a fair trail and ought to be “hung outside,” it was opined by the judge to be an attempt to get out of jury duty.

The judge said it won’t work. It’s possible the juror may face sanctions for his remarks in a courtroom this past July. The comments were made in response to a question by the judge. Still, the judge agreed to grant a defense motion to excuse all 70 prospective jurors, despite objections from prosecutors that it wasn’t necessary.

Now, the judge has ruled the case will continue with another attempt at trial. Attorneys for the defendant, 54-year-old Frederick Lincoln Smart, had argued the trial shouldn’t go forward at all because there was a deadline to hold the trial by no later than Aug. 6th. Smart filed a demand for a speedy trial, which meant there was only 50 days in which to commence the trial under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.191(b). Continue reading

November 27, 2015

Florida Hit-and-Run Captured on Electronic Devices

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

Most criminal lawyers will tell you eye witness testimony is incredibly unreliable. There are often many ways to successfully challenge eye witness accounts in court.

However, it can be much more challenging when the “witness” is a camera. In this digital age, where everyone has a smartphone, surveillance cameras are everywhere and even traffic signals come equipped with the ability to capture images, that’s becoming an increasing reality in many cases.

This was underscored recently in the case of a Sunrise hit-and-run crash last month. Continue reading