Posted on May 08, 2018 in Criminal Defense

Only hours after the Miami Herald reported that an arrest warrant was issued for New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson after he failed to appear for a Broward County court date on May 1, ESPN reported that the arrest warrant was being set aside. Anderson's attorney told ESPN that the missed court date was the result of miscommunication and a new court date was set for July 19.

Anderson was supposed to appear for an arraignment relating to a misdemeanor reckless driving offense in January. According to ESPN, the incident initially resulted in nine charges - including two felonies - but was reduced to the misdemeanor charge of reckless driving and threatening a public servant or family member.

ESPN reported that the Broward County State Attorney's Office dropped the felony charges in April due to insufficient evidence. Anderson's attorney told ESPN that he "never received notice from any court to appear" and called it a "clerical error."

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 Posted on March 28, 2018 in Criminal Defense

Florida's so-called 10-20-Life law, established under § Florida Statute 775.087, has been in effect since 1999 and has largely accomplished its primary goal to sentence thousands of people to mandatory prison terms because of certain convictions involving firearms or other dangerous weapons. The prosecutor is the only person with the power to waive a mandatory minimum sentence, and judges are only allowed to deviate from mandatory minimum requirements when an alleged offender is a youthful offender.

One key provision of Florida Statute 775.087 that was amended, however, by Senate Bill 228 (SB 228) when Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law on February 26, 2016, related to convictions for aggravated assault involving the possession of a firearm, destructive device, semiautomatic firearm, and its high-capacity detachable box magazine, or machine gun. Whereas such convictions automatically triggered mandatory three-year prison sentences, SB 228 deleted that requirement.

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 Posted on March 28, 2018 in Criminal Defense

On February 26, 2016, Governor Rick Scott signed Senate Bill 228 (SB 228). The legislation deleted aggravated assault from the list of convictions carrying mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment if during the commission of the offense the convicted person possessed a firearm, destructive device, semiautomatic firearm, and its high-capacity detachable box magazine, or machine gun.

Criminal charges that carry mandatory minimum sentences often put both alleged offenders and judges in difficult spots. A person who is accused of a crime that involves a possible minimum sentence may be less inclined to fight the charges at trial out of fear for the possible consequences of a conviction, giving a prosecutor substantial leverage in pretrial negotiations. Similarly, judges are powerless to deviate from mandatory minimum sentences even in cases in which an alleged offender has no prior criminal record.

While the change to the state's law for aggravated assault with a firearm or other weapon offenses was certainly a welcome one, many other criminal offenses in Florida still carry very steep mandatory minimum sentences. Any person who is facing a possible mandatory minimum will want to immediately retain legal counsel for help possibly getting the criminal charges reduced or dismissed. Contact The Hoffman Firm as soon as possible.

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 Posted on January 19, 2018 in Sex Crimes

WPLG-TV reported on December 28, 2017, that a man was arrested after DNA evidence linked him to a 2010 rape in Davie. Davie Police Sergeant Mark Leone told WPLG that United States Border Patrol was notified because the alleged offender was in the country illegally.

Leone said the rape case originally went cold after saliva was collected from the woman's breast and submitted for DNA analysis, but a company was able to create a composite of the alleged offender after police recently provided the DNA evidence. The composite was used to locate the alleged offender, who consented to a collection of his DNA.

Leone told WPLG that "the test results concluded that it was a 1-in-400-billion chance" that the man arrested was not the man responsible. WPLG reported that he now faces multiple counts of sexual battery.

Fort Lauderdale Sex Crimes Defense Attorney

While the people who order or conduct forensic testing and the prosecutors who utilize it often champion the accuracy of the results, it is not unheard of for agents to exaggerate the significance of certain findings. In other cases, critical errors may lead to misleading results.

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 Posted on November 20, 2017 in DUI

The Sun-Sentinel reported on November 15 that a 48-year-old man turned himself into Broward County jail to face driving under the influence (DUI) manslaughter charges following a July 15 crash along the Davie Road Extension near North 78th Avenue. According to an arrest report, a man driving behind the alleged offender told investigators that "9 or 10" times before the crash he saw the alleged offender's GMC Sierra "drifting out of its lane and moving into oncoming traffic and that its turn signal was activated in the direction the pickup was drifting."

The Sierra struck a northbound Toyota Scion and then hit a Kia Forte, the latter collision resulting in the death of a 60-year-old grandmother. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the alleged offender fainted when being treated at the scene of the crash and again while giving consent to having his blood drawn. He is accused of having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.24, or three times the legal limit.

One week before that story was published, the Sun-Sentinel reported that a 25-year-old man was booked into the Broward County jail Tuesday in connection with the death of a 30-year-old woman and two of her children on April 24, 2016. The Sun-Sentinel reported that the alleged offender's car went out of control and overturned in a construction zone on Interstate 75 as he and the 30-year-old woman argued while he was driving.

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 Posted on October 23, 2017 in Sex Crimes

The Miami Herald reported that a North Miami man would be spending his 60th birthday in Miami-Dade's Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after being arrested on September 27. The man was being held with no bond after being charged with seven counts of sexual battery on a child between the ages of 12 and 16.

WPLG-TV reported that the arrest affidavit stated that the alleged victim told police that the man had sex with her three times, most recently at a hotel in the summer with the other two incidents occurring in the living room and guest bedroom of the man's house. Police told WPLG that the man admitted that he went to the hotel with the alleged victim but denied having sex with her.

Sexual Battery Defense Attorney in Miami, FL

Sexual battery is more commonly known as rape, and any person who is arrested or even thinks that he or she might be under investigation for any kind of sex crime should say nothing to authorities until he or she has legal counsel. Even when a person is completely innocent, misstatements can be used against alleged offenders in a subsequent prosecution.

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 Posted on September 28, 2017 in Sex Crimes

The Miami New Times reported on September 20 that a University of Miami (UM) student filed a lawsuit against the university on September 15. According to the New Times, the student alleges in her lawsuit that she was raped on August 23, 2013, at an off-campus apartment complex known informally as "Red Road" that caters to UM students.

The student claims that her assailant - who was a resident adviser (RA) at a campus dorm nearby - regularly stalked her and threatened her after the assault. The student said she first reported the assault and subsequent stalking to the RA program supervisor at her assailant's dorm, but the supervisor "ultimately did nothing and also did not provide the student with any more advice or reference her Title IX rights in any way" after saying he would speak with the alleged rapist.

The student claims she first reported the rape to then-Dean William A. "Tony" Lake on September 16, 2013, and reported the stalking to the Coral Gables Police Department later that same day. The New Times reported that Lake allegedly told the student that "the school wasn't able to enforce the no-contact order and that it was on her to steer clear of the rapist" two weeks after the university issued a no-contact order and the student's rapist began harassing her again.

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 Posted on September 28, 2017 in Criminal Defense

On September 6, the Miami New Times reported that a woman, her fiancé, and their 1-month-old son were all kicked out of their home after their roommate accused the fiancé of threatening him. According to the New Times, Broward County court records showed that the roommate filed a temporary restraining order against the fiancé and claimed in his petition that the fiancé had threatened and pushed him - allegations the couple denied.

The couple was kicked out of their home just as Hurricane Irma was preparing to make landfall. The New Times reported that the couple and their child walked and took the bus from shelter to shelter in Broward County, showing up at a homeless encampment near Stranahan Park before finding a house in Fort Lauderdale. The woman told the New Times that "they were turned away at homeless shelters, told there was no space or they were evacuating for the hurricane."

The New Times noted that it was unclear why the woman and the child were also removed from the house in Fort Lauderdale when the restraining order was against only the fiancé - especially considering Hurricane Irma. Neither the roommate nor the Broward Sheriff's Office provided comment on the story for the New Times.

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 Posted on August 25, 2017 in Civil Rights

On July 3, the Miami Herald reported that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch ruled that Florida's updated "Stand Your Ground" law was unconstitutional. The ruling was not binding, likely meaning that the appeals process would lead to the revised law being reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court.

Senate Bill 128 (SB 128), which shifted the burden of proof from the defendant to the prosecutor during the pretrial phase of Stand Your Ground cases, was one of 16 measures Governor Rick Scott signed into law on June 9. Under the new law, prosecutors must prove by "clear and convincing" evidence that an alleged offender was not acting in self-defense.

Hirsch issued his ruling in the case of a woman charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and grand theft. The Herald reported that the woman will have an immunity hearing held in the near future to prove her self-defense claim, and she would be able to appeal to the Third District Court of Appeal, and ultimately, the Florida Supreme Court is unsuccessful.

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 Posted on August 25, 2017 in Civil Rights

In Bretherick v. State, 170 So.3d 766 (Fla. 2015), the Supreme Court of Florida concluded that the Fifth District Court of Appeal correctly determined that the defendant bears the burden of proof, by a preponderance of the evidence, to demonstrate entitlement to Stand Your Ground immunity at the pretrial evidentiary hearing. The Court noted that in Dennis v. State, 51 So.3d 456 (Fla. 2010), it approved the procedure of a pretrial evidentiary hearing set forth in Peterson v. State, 983 So.2d 27 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), for evaluating a claim of immunity under the Stand Your Ground law.

Jared Bretherick was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm for his alleged conduct during an encounter with another driver on a highway in 2011, and Bretherick filed a motion to dismiss under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(b), claiming immunity from prosecution under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Bretherick sought a pretrial evidentiary hearing on his motion to dismiss, consistent with the Court's decision in Dennis, which approved the procedure of a pretrial evidentiary hearing to consider a defendant's claim of entitlement to Stand Your Ground immunity, but the trial court concluded that Bretherick did not establish entitlement to immunity by a preponderance of the evidence and denied Bretherick's motion to dismiss.

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