On August 3, 2010, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 which reduces sentences for crack-cocaine crimes. An article that appears on my website, Federal Criminal Lawyer: Frequently Asked Questions, looks at some of the details of this new law.
Before someone can be lawfully convicted of both false imprisonment and robbery, it must be proven that the movement or confinement associated with the false imprisonment was not "slight, inconsequential, and merely incidental" to the robbery. Such movement is considered slight and inconsequential when it is necessary or intertwined with the commission of the robbery.
In the case of Russell v. State of Florida, Mr. Russell was convicted of false imprisonment and robbery with a deadly weapon based on the following facts:
"On August 7, 2001, around 7:00 in the morning, a drive-through convenience store clerk was working in his store. He went outside to check on an ice machine. As he began heading back inside through the western door, he saw two men with masks running toward the eastern door. One man was holding a shovel handle and the other man was holding a machete. They were yelling at the clerk to open the safe. The clerk started to back up, but he fell. The masked men grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him inside the store to the safe. The clerk opened the safe, then the cash drawer, and the two men put the money in a brown paper bag. One of the men was later identified as Charles Russell."
Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed Russell's conviction because:
1. The clerk was not confined any longer than the time it took for the robbery to occur; and
2. His confinement was merely incidental to the underlying robbery.
When someone is charged in an alleged drug conspiracy and that person is located in an automobile that has drugs in it at the time of his arrest, it is not enough that he is merely present in the car; there must also be “circumstances evidencing a consciousness of guilt” on his part before he can be convicted of conspiracy. My website, Federal Criminal Lawyer: Frequently Asked Questions, contains an article that examines one case in which such circumstances were not present.
In order to get your criminal record sealed or expunged in Florida, there are certain legal requirements that you must meet before a judge is even allowed to consider whether he or she will grant your request to seal or expunge your record. But if you do meet those requirements, a judge still is not required to grant your request; he or she may deny your request but only if there is a good reason to do so based upon the facts of your individual case.
A new FAQ article that I posted on my website Florida Criminal Records: Frequently Asked Questions looks at a case in which the judge failed to provide such a reason.
In Florida, the crime of false imprisonment is defined as "forcibly, by threat, or secretly confining, abducting, imprisoning, or restraining another person without lawful authority and against her or his will." If the confinement is of a child who is less than 13 years old, it is against her will only if it occurs without the consent of her parent or legal guardian.
In the case of Andre v. State of Florida, Mr. Andre was convicted of aggravated false imprisonment based on the following facts:
"[O]n January 3, 2006, [Andre] and Mona Dosuede registered C.S. (the child) for elementary school. At Dosuede's request, [Andre] agreed to drive the child to school the following day. Dosuede testified that she was not the child's biological mother but that she had raised the child since she was two years old. There was no evidence presented that Dosuede had legal custody of the child.
The next day, [Andre] picked up the child to take her to school. Along the way, [Andre] covered the child with a shirt and while stopped at a red light, unbuckled her pants and touched her vagina. He then informed her that they were going to go to a motel. [Andre] pulled up to the motel around nine in the morning. The motel clerk observed [Andre] drive up and watched as the child exited the vehicle and entered the motel room while [Andre] remained outside. When the motel clerk approached [Andre] and asked what he was doing with the little girl, [Andre] informed him that he was waiting for the child's mother. Suspicious that something was wrong, the motel clerk wrote down [Andre's] license plate number. When the child came out of the room, the motel clerk approached the child and asked her if she was [Andre's] daughter. She did not respond but instead got in [Andre's] vehicle. [Andre] then left the motel and proceeded to drop the child off at her school. The motel clerk called the police, and [Andre] was subsequently arrested."
Mr. Andre appealed his conviction for aggravated false imprisonment, and Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his conviction. In doing so, the appellate court stated that although Ms. Doseude testified that she was the child's godmother and that she had helped raise the child since she was two years old, no evidence was presented at Andre's trial that Dosuede had legal custody or guardianship of the child. And without such evidence, the prosecutor failed to prove that the confinement of the child was against her will.
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