Tag Archives: Port St. Lucie Criminal Defense Lawyers
Some U.S. Supreme Court Cases Worth Watching This Term
Roughly forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court routinely considered over a hundred cases a year. The Court’s calendar for 2018-19 contains fewer than half that number of cases. That caseload is fairly typical for the modern era. Furthermore, the docket lacks any groundbreaking cases. Given the Court’s mostly-conservative makeup, there would probably… Read More »
Sorting Out Florida’s Confusing Marijuana Laws
Florida’s middle-of-the-road stance regarding marijuana legalization is already somewhat bewildering, and an ongoing court fight has increased that confusion. Earlier this year, a Tallahassee judge threw out the state’s medical marijuana law. The judge claimed that the Legislature had failed to implement a 2016 amendment which significantly broadened the law. It looked like this… Read More »
Successfully Contesting The FSTs In DUI Cases
In most driving under the influence cases, the defendant provides a specimen of breath or blood for analysis. But in about 20 percent of these cases nationwide, the defendant refuses to provide such a sample. For some reason, the percentage is a little higher in Florida. That’s the main reason lawmakers recently added a… Read More »
Eighmie Law Firm, P.A. Is now listed As Top 3 Criminal Defense Lawyers By ThreeBestRated.com
Top 3 Criminal defense lawyers Port St Lucie, FL Eighmie Law Firm P.A. is now listed as one of the Top 3 Criminal defense lawyers in Port St Lucie, FL. for providing consistent high quality in the area of criminal defense law.
Some Basics About Pretrial Release In Florida
The money-based pretrial release system has undergone a lot of scrutiny lately. Over 60 percent of the jail inmates in Port St. Lucie are unsentenced and awaiting trial. In most cases, they simply lack the money necessary to make bail. To many, especially if the defendant is jailed for a nonviolent offense, that’s the… Read More »
Four Common Search Warrant Exceptions
The warrant requirement in the Fourth Amendment is one of the most cherished American civil rights. However, its prohibition only applies to unreasonable warrantless searches and seizures, as opposed to all warrantless searches and seizures. To separate reasonable searches from unreasonable ones, the Supreme Court compiled a list of recognized search warrant exceptions. Consent… Read More »
Florida Pretrial Release: A Primer
Many advocates have closely scrutinized bail and pretrial release systems in recent years. The common criticism is that the money-based bail system unfairly penalizes indigent defendants, and that in many cases, a $500 bond might as well be $500,000. Indeed, there are a number of county jails in the United States which contain more… Read More »
Challenging Chemical Test Evidence In DUI Cases
When the prosecutor relies on circumstantial evidence, like the field tests, the overall conviction rate is less than 50 percent (the rate is less than 40 percent in complete refusal cases). However, if the defendant submits to a breath or blood test, the conviction rate rises to over 80 percent (the rate is over… Read More »
LEP Woman Arrested For DUI
Florida Highway Patrol officers arrested a Port St. Lucie woman with limited English proficiency for DUI after she allegedly failed field sobriety tests and admitted to drinking. Although the woman, who was Russian, told the officer almost immediately that she spoke little English, the officer proceeded with the stop by using a translation app…. Read More »
Fighting The Evidence In A DUI Case
Like most states, Florida’s DUI law contains a per se section and an “impairment” section. Defendants are guilty as a matter of law if their BAC exceeds the legal limit, which is usually .08. If the defendants refused to provide chemical samples or they are unavailable for whatever reason, the prosecutors must establish that… Read More »
