West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog : Ronald Chapman: West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer | Florida Criminal Attorney: DUI, Assault & Battery, Felonies | Criminal Law Firm

The amount of fine in a DUI case depends upon such things as whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI, whether the person's blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level was 0.20 or higher when driving, or whether the person had a minor in his vehicle while driving. Florida statute section 316.193 lists the possible fines for DUI. Some of those fines include:

• For a first DUI conviction, the minimum fine is $250.00, and the maximum fine is $500.00.  However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the minimum fine becomes $500.00, and the maximum fine becomes $1,000.00.
  
  
• For a second DUI conviction, the minimum fine is $500.00, and the maximum fine is $1,000.00.  However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the minimum fine becomes $1,000.00, and the maximum fine becomes $2,000.00.
  
  
  
• For a third DUI conviction, the maximum fine is $5,000.00 if the third conviction is within 10 years of a prior DUI conviction.  If the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the minimum fine is $2,000.00.
  
  
  
• For a third DUI conviction that is not within 10 years of a prior DUI conviction, the minimum fine is $1,000.00, and the maximum fine is $2,500.00.  If the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the minimum fine is $2,000.00.

• For 4 or more DUI convictions, the minimum fine  is $1,000.00.  However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the minimum fine is $2,000.00.

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The amount of jail time that a judge can sentence a person to in DUI cases depends upon such things as whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI, whether the person's blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level was 0.20 or higher when driving, or whether the person had a minor in his vehicle while driving.  Florida statute section 316.193 lists the possible jail penalties for DUI.  Some of those penalties include:

• For a first DUI conviction, the maximum jail sentence is 6 months.  However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the maximum sentence is 9 months jail.

• For a second DUI conviction, the maximum jail sentence is 9 months. However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the maximum sentence is 12 months jail.  Also, if the second conviction occurs within 5 years of a prior DUI conviction, there is a mandatory penalty of at least 10 days in jail, and at least 48 hours of that jail sentence must be served consecutively.

• For a third DUI conviction, the maximum prison sentence is 5 years if the third conviction is within 10 years of a prior DUI conviction.  There is also a mandatory penalty of at least 30 days in jail, and at least 48 hours of that jail sentence must be served consecutively.  However, if the third DUI conviction occurs more than 10 years after a prior DUI conviction, the maximum penalty is 12 months in jail.

• For 4 or more DUI convictions, the maximum penalty is 5 years in prison.

Judges may, if they choose, require persons convicted of DUI to serve all or any portion of imprisonment in a residential alcoholism treatment program or in a residential drug abuse treatment program, and any time spent in such programs must be credited toward the total amount of imprisonment that is imposed.

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A new website called Florida Lawyers Blog Watch has been designed to track the latest online commentary by 36 different lawyers currently blogging in Florida.  This site presents the 50 most recent blog postings by Florida attorneys.  The purpose of Florida Lawyers Blog Watch is to present a stream of Florida lawyer commentary which will be of use both to the media and to those in the legal community.

The website's creators were Steve Matthews and myself.  Steve, who blogs with his company's Law Firm Web Strategy blog and also at the Vancouver Law Librarian Blog, was central to the site's concept and development.  My job was to help create the initial list of blogging lawyers.

Florida is one of the most active regions in the United States for lawyer blogging.  As new attorney blogs become increasingly available, Steve and I hope to add those blogs to Florida Lawyers Blog Watch.  We welcome contact from those Florida lawyers who are currently blogging and who I missed inadvertently, and we of course encourage new blogging lawyers to contact us regarding the addition of their websites.

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If a police officer stops your car for, say, speeding and then smells an odor of marijuana when he walks up to your car window, Florida law states that that officer has probable cause to believe that a violation of Florida's narcotic's laws has occurred.  When that happens, the officer is legally entitled to search the entire car including the truck and everyone inside the car.

Within the last year or two, I have read many police reports in which arresting officers have relied upon the alleged smell of marijuana in order to search vehicles and its passengers.  In fact, it seems that officers are relying upon this reason much more than they have in years past.  Is that because more people are smoking marijuana in their cars than used to be the case, or is it because officers know that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to prove that they did not, in fact, smell marijuana when they say they did?

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"Empathy" is defined as "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another." 

When selecting a jury, it is important that a lawyer try to find empathetic jurors or jurors who will be able to stand in the client's shoes (figuratively speaking).  That is to say, it is important that a lawyer try to find those jurors who will be able to identify with the plight of the attorney's client rather than harshly judge an individual for whom they have no understanding. 

As famed trial lawyer Gerry Spence has said, those who are eager to pass judgment on others often have a disposition more akin to that of the executioner.

When selecting a jury, trial lawyer and jury consultant Anne Reed looks for a potential juror's willingness to punish.  Writes Ms. Reed:

• Recent trauma, especially one creating resentment: a recent death, recent divorce or separation, workplace trauma;
  
• Low sense of control;
  
• Sense that the world been unjust to them: perhaps underemployment, either actual or perceived, or a sense that they did everything right and still lost out;
  
• Sense that injustice can and should be set right: some religious traditions, a social conservative or social liberal, strong self-image as a problem-fixer;
  
• Strong belief in authoritative rules: rigid, dogmatic, unempathetic, intolerant of rulebreakers;
  
• Plain old anger. Sometimes it's easy to pick up unexpressed anger if you're watching for it.

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When selecting a jury, it is very important that a lawyer learn which potential jurors have leadership responsibilities at their jobs because such jurors frequently become leaders during jury deliberations.  If those jury leaders then decide to vote against the lawyer's case and are able to persuade other jurors to vote the same way, the verdict will almost inevitably go against the lawyer.

In her book entitled "Reading People," jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius echoes this sentiment when she writes that "when we select jurors, one of the most important questions we ask is whether they are supervisors at work and, if so, how many people report to them.  People who spend much of their time in a position of control and responsibility over others typically take those workplace attitudes home.  Not surprisingly, they also often become the foreperson of the jury."

Trial lawyer and jury consultant Anne Reed states that one of the things she looks for when evaluating potential jurors is leadership.  Writes attorney Reed:

Leadership.  Will this juror lead others, or follow them?  Look for:

• Relevant knowledge.  Anyone experienced or knowledgeable in relevant subjects will be looked to by other jurors as an expert, whether or not he or she is otherwise a natural leader.
• Employment and experience.  Lawyers, others involved in the legal system, and teachers will almost inevitably be strong leaders.
• Age, sex, social class, education, and personality.  Here, demographics do have meaning, at least to me.  Over and over in mock trials, middle-aged male business managers tend to be jury leaders, while young blue-collar women and elderly women tend to be very quiet, and everyone else falls on the continuum between.  Ask questions to seek out leadership roles at work and in personal activities.

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Florida law states that the police may break open a door leading into a home if:

1.  The police have a warrant.
2. The police announce who they are and what they want.
3. The occupant of the home refuses to let the police enter his home after the police have waited a reasonable period of time after knocking and announcing their purpose.

There has been a great deal of litigation regarding precisely how long the police must wait after knocking and before breaking down a door to a home.

However, there are 4 exceptions to the rule that the police must wait a reasonable period of time after knocking and before breaking down someone's door.  Those exceptions are:

1. Those inside the home already know that the police are outside, and they know what the police want; or
2. The police reasonably believe that those inside the home are in danger of being physically harmed; or
3. The danger to the police would increase if the police simply waited outside the door; or
4. Those inside the home might try to escape or destroy evidence.

 As you can see, the law regarding when the police may forcibly enter your home is quite complex.  Should the police ever forcibly enter your home, it would be wise to consult with a criminal attorney in order to get his or her opinion regarding the legality of the officers' actions.

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The law throughout the United States is that the police may not detain an individual whom they have stopped for any longer than necessary to accomplish their reason for stopping that person in the first place.

For example, say that the police stop your car because you are driving 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.  While the police have a right to stop your car and issue you a citation for speeding, they do not ordinarily have the right to keep you by the side of the road for any longer than it takes to write the citation.

What happens all too often, however, is that the police do keep individuals by the side of the road for longer than it takes to issue a citation based on a mere hunch that the driver may have contraband such as drugs or guns hidden in her car.  When that happens, the police will sometimes radio in to their headquarters and ask that a dog that has been trained to detect drugs be sent to their location in order to see whether the dog alerts to any drugs in or around the vehicle.  If the dog does alert to drugs which are eventually located by the police, the driver of the car will almost always be arrested and taken to jail.

Because the driver was detained for longer than it should have taken to simply issue a citation for speeding, that driver's lawyer would be well advised to consider filing a motion to suppress the evidence that was discovered by the police as a result of this arguably illegal search and seizure.

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Since the reimposition of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 1,029 people have been executed (as of March 2007). Over one-third of those have been executed in Texas (385 as of March 8, 2007). 

One has to wonder about this large number of executions in Texas in light of the fact that just one county in that entire state--Dallas County--has freed 15 wrongfully-convicted individuals since 2001 as a result of DNA testing.  (30 wrongfully-convicted people have been released statewide since 2001 due to DNA testing.)  In fact, just yesterday, a man who was convicted of rape in Dallas County 26 years ago was released from prison because of DNA testing. 

If you would like to read more about this case in particular and DNA testing in Texas in general, you can do so by reading a story that appeared yesterday in the Associated Press.

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I am sometimes contacted by individuals who have been charged with the crime of possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana.  In Florida, that crime is a misdemeanor.   Often these individuals ask me if they can resolve their case quickly by simply going to court and pleading guilty.  I explain to them that although they may do that, it is probably not a good idea since their driver's license will be suspended by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for 2 years if they are convicted of that particular offense.

If the case cannot be won at trial or at the pretrial stage (by, for example, filing a motion to suppress evidence), then it is essential that a person facing such a charge not be convicted.  Instead, his or her lawyer should try to get the prosecutor or judge to withhold adjudication or else try to get his client accepted into a pretrial diversion program so that the charge will eventually be dropped by the prosecutor's office.

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When a person is charged with DUI in Florida, there are two different ways for that person's driver's license to become suspended:

1.  The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles can suspend someone's license if the person refused to submit to a lawful breath, blood, or urine test or if the person had an unlawful blood-alcohol or breath-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher; and

2.  A criminal court must suspend a person's driver's license for a period of time if that person is convicted of DUI.

How long the suspension lasts is determined by such factors as:

a.  Whether or not the person has ever previously refuse d to submit to a lawful breath, blood, or urine test; and

b.  Whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI.

Because an individual's driver's license can be suspended under several different scenarios, it is essential that a person facing the suspension of her license consult with an experienced DUI attorney and that she do so as quickly as possible since there are various deadlines that she must comply with if she wishes to challenge the suspension of her license.

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I often receive telephone calls from people asking if I can help them get their criminal record expunged.  I ask them if they are eligible to have their criminal record expunged or merely sealed.  The response is usually silence since most people do not realize that there is a distinction in Florida law between getting one's criminal record expunged versus getting it sealed.  If a criminal record is expunged, then it must be physically destroyed pursuant to Florida statute section 943.0585(4).  However, if a criminal record is merely sealed, then it is not physically destroyed but its contents are still confidential under most circumstances.  See Florida statute section 943.059(4).  Once a criminal record has been sealed for at least 10 years, it may then be possible to have it expunged.  See Florida statute section 943.0585(2)(h). 

Florida criminal lawyer Ronald Chapman has helped many people get their criminal records sealed or expunged. You can read more about Mr. Chapman’s experience as a Florida criminal attorney as well as review news articles about some of his cases. Some of the types of cases and issues that Mr. Chapman has handled include:


• Death Penalty Cases
• Assault and Battery Cases
• DUI Cases
• Drug Cases
• Sex Crimes Cases
• Sealing & Expunging Criminal Records
• Bond|Bail
• Mistaken Identification and Wrongful Conviction
• Police Interrogations
• Sentencing

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Is Lethal Injection Unconstitutional?  The United States Supreme Court is set to decide this very important question.  The following article discusses the death penalty case that the High Court will rule upon in deciding whether lethal injection passes constitutional muster:

Public Defender Builds Injection Case

Published: 1/1/08, 12:45 PM EDT

By BRETT BARROUQUERE

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - One of the biggest capital punishment cases to come before the U.S. Supreme Court in a generation was put together largely by a young, fresh-out-of-law-school member of Kentucky's overworked and underpaid corps of public defenders.

David Barron, 29, filed an appeal on behalf of two Kentucky death row inmates, arguing that the three-drug cocktail used in lethal injections across the country can cause excruciating pain, and thus amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

After three years of long hours on Barron's part, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case on Jan. 7.

"I can't believe I've got a case before the Supreme Court and I'm not even 30 years old," Barron said.

This is the first time in more than a century that the high court will address the legality of a method of execution. Thirty-six states use lethal injection, and executions across the U.S. have come to a halt in the meantime.

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