Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

A fight between two Plant City men last month left one dead and the other charged with his murder.Police say Moses Wilson and James Michael Meeks, who were both residents of the same address south of Plant City, became engaged in an argument over an undetermined issue on the evening of February 24.According to authorities, the disagreement became violent when the 23-year-old Meeks brandished a pocket knife, menacing the 49-year-old Wilson with it. Police say Wilson retreated into his home, which doubled as his car-repair business, with Meeks close behind.Witnesses say Meeks proceeded to stab...

A Tampa man was arrested last week and is accused by authorities of fatally stabbing his father last month.Eighteen-year-old Ismael Abdirashid Ali was apprehended on February 26 on suspicion of killing his father ten days earlier. Police say his father, 50-year-old Abdirashid Ali, was stabbed to death at his Temple Crest apartment on February 16.Investigators are tight-lipped as to their reasoning for suspecting the younger Ali in the homicide, simply citing evidence within the apartment as tending to implicate him in his father's murder.Upon making their determination, police did not need...

Despite arguing that a popular disinfectant spray triggered the alcohol monitor and not alcohol consumption, a Tampa man is back in jail after his bond in a DUI manslaughter case was revoked.According to an attorney representing Brock Michael Troutman, he became ill with a stomach complaint, causing him to vomit. In an attempt at stopping the spread of the virus, Troutman says he applied a disinfectant spray to the bathroom where he had been ill.Several days later Pinellas County officials say they detected a reading from his alcohol monitor indicating that he had consumed alcohol at some...

Attracting the attention of Florida's finest by allegedly piloting his vehicle at night without using its headlights, the president of Hillsborough Community College's Ybor City campus is now facing drunken driving charges.Troopers say they were in the midst of a traffic stop on Interstate 4 and Mango Road when they witnessed a vehicle pass them without moving over a lane to give stopped emergency vehicles a safety margin as mandated by Florida law.Officers decided to pursue the vehicle, saying they subsequently witnessed it drive through an intersection against a red light. Effecting a stop...

Pinellas County prosecutors have opted to charge a 14-year-old boy as an adult after the passenger of the car in which he was driving after allegedly stealing it in November was killed after wrecking it.Authorities say Myles Abbott and Alijah Armstead stole a white Chevrolet Camaro in mid-November last year. Investigators say Abbott, 14, was the wheelman and Armstead, 15, was his accomplice in the caper.Per investigators, Abbott fled the scene by driving the Camaro at a high rate of speed. Their flight ended abruptly at 11th Avenue S at 40th Street in St. Petersburg, when the vehicle failed...

A Hillsborough County jury delivered a guilty verdict in the trial of a Tampa man who prosecutors allege killed another man based upon his accusations of theft.The jury wasted little time in deliberating prior to telling Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Sabella of their unanimous verdict of guilt in the murder trial of David Alexander Brunson last week. Brunson, now 20, was convicted on charges resulting from the county's allegation that he killed Eion Gustitis in September, 2015.According to prosecutors, Gustitis accused Brunson of stealing his cellphone and a quantity of cannabis in...

A Sarasota chiropractor notable for a popular referral service was arrested by Manatee County deputies last week and is facing charges of drunken driving after being observed driving his sports coupe in excess of 100 miles per hour.Dr. Gary Kompothecras was stopped in the early morning hours of February 8 as he was driving southbound on Interstate 75 at the Trooper JD Young Bridge. According to the arrest record, a Manatee County deputy observed Kompothecras driving his silver Porsche at excessive speed, which he says he subsequently measured and confirmed with a radar device.According to...

Hillsborough County authorities say video footage helped them identify a woman whom they later charged with first-degree murder in connection with a home invasion in Ruskin.Investigators say Samona Louise "Mona" Ramey of Wimauma approached the mobile home of Alexis Martinez and asked him to drive her to another location. According to the police report, Martinez exited his home and was subsequently accosted by two other men, both of whom were armed.Per the investigators, the surveillance camera tells the rest of the story - the men hustled Martinez and Juanita D. Solorzano, also within the...

A man authorities say is responsible for the shooting death of a Largo man was tracked down and arrested at his home in Orlando last week and is due to be returned to Pinellas County to face charges. Deputies of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office say Jesse Cairo Jr. of Largo and Dale Eugene Washington II of Orlando spent an evening at two adult nightclubs in Clearwater in the company of two females whose identities are not yet known. Alleging that both men were engaged in the illicit drug trade, investigators say that the group returned to Cairo's residence and eventually became embroiled...