Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

Voluntary manslaughter is a serious crime in Florida. If you are charged under Florida’s voluntary manslaughter statute, a good defense is critical to increase your chances of a shorter sentence or of an acquittal. What follows is a discussion of several common defenses to voluntary manslaughter in Florida. Accident One defense to voluntary manslaughter is to assert that the defendant’s actions were not in fact voluntary, and that the killing in question was an accident. An element of voluntary manslaughter is that the act that led to the killing of another was done on purpose. Although the...

Frequently the crimes of assault and battery in Florida are discussed together like salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, Batman and Robin, et cetera. However, assault and battery are two separate crimes each with multiple levels of severity and different penalties for defendants who find themselves convicted of them. Here’s what you need to know about the various differences between assault and battery in Florida. Basics Florida law defines “assault” as the threat of harm that leads to fear of imminent harm in another. The defendant need not make actual physical contact with the victim....

It is of the greatest importance to a defendant who has been charged with a crime in Florida which defense strategy his legal counsel chooses when defending him. A good attorney will likely lay out a different story for the court than that put forward by the prosecution. In addition, the defense strategy may change depending upon the answers given by the defendant during the course of the investigation and the trial. Although your attorney cannot guarantee any particular outcome as all cases are different, having a quality defense against your criminal charges in Florida greatly increases...

  Last week we talked about several common defenses in Florida to criminal charges. This week we’ll cover a few more common defenses that center on the procedure used by prosecutors and law enforcement when collecting evidence and conducting a trial. Speedy Trial The United States’ Constitution guarantees everyone charged with a crime the right to a speedy trial. So too does Florida’s Constitution. What that means in a procedural sense is that a person accused of a crime must be tried within 90 days of their arrest for a misdemeanor and 175 days after being arrested for a felony....

Legal defenses come in several different flavors in Florida. A good attorney will be able to craft a proper defense to a charge after considering the laws involved and the facts at hand. The following article will delve into several common defenses to crimes in the state of Florida. Basics Every criminal charge in Florida requires the state to prove two things: that a crime was in fact committed, and the person on trial is the one who committed that crime. As a result, defenses to crimes generally fall into two broad categories: Lack of evidence, and justification. If the defense attorney is...