“Open up! It’s the police!” It is the nightmare scenario. There are cops at your door. It sounds like they are going to break the door down, and they want in. What now? Breathe. Today is going to be a bad day regardless of what you do. Accept that now. Your job now is...
We see the storyline play out on television all the time: the “bad guy” tries to get the victim to “drop the charges.” It is such a pervasive storyline that it has created the myth that when someone calls the police and charges result, that person now has the ability...
Domestic violence accusations can lead to serious charges. However, domestic violence itself is a fairly broad category, and a number of criminal charges and behaviors can be considered as domestic violence, depending on the circumstances. Types of domestic violence...
Many residents of West Palm Beach are immigrants to the United States who are not citizens. If you are one of these people and you get arrested for a crime, it will be important for you to speak with an attorney about your case and your options. One reason it is so...
Americans are protected from unlawful searches by law enforcement under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. One common drug crime defense in Florida cases is that the search for drug evidence was conducted illegally. If this defense is sufficiently...
If you have been arrested on criminal charges, you may be subjected to interrogation while in police custody. However, because of Fifth Amendment protections from self-incrimination, police are required to read you your Miranda rights before beginning the...
When law enforcement is going after a suspect, aggressive arresting procedures can be terrifying. Even if the police have targeted you before, you never know when an officer will pull out a weapon or decide to tase you for not cooperating. Even after the arrest,...
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the legal landscape on cell phones by requiring law enforcement to get a warrant before searching a cell phone incident to an arrest. The Court correctly noted that cell phones are like mini-computers containing the most...
Sometimes I worry about the violence in our country, but not in the way others expect. While it can be said our violent culture is a pervasive issue for police departments, a more accurate statement would be that our violent culture is a response to the example set by...
As I watch the news and hear the stories of my clients, I am saddened by the state of our criminal justice system. As a criminal defense attorney, I often hear stories from my clients about their treatment in police custody. I hear tales about how nobody listened to...
