Category: Criminal Defense

In Rodriguez-Barnes v. State, 50 Fla. L. Weekly D2010 (Fla. 2d DCA 2025), the court affirmed a conviction after approving a jury instruction that told jurors mental illness or diminished capacity is not a defense to the charged crime and cannot be used to negate specific intent—absent a formally raised insanity defense. What...

How much authority do police have when your pulled over in Florida? Dan Hogan, Esq. answers some important questions while talking about a recent case in our weekly...

Seeking justice against the perpetrator of a crime is generally understood as criminal prosecution seeking incarceration.  But in the wake of a crime the victim is often left injured in a way that prosecution does not help.  Victims left with physical, emotional and financial...

  Civil forfeiture is when the government seizes property it claims is connected to illegal activity.  It developed under British maritime law, where it was easier for the Crown to seize and prosecute a vessel, rather than its owner who may be across the ocean. Thus, civil...

  Protection for the individual citizen against State Power was a core consideration of the Founding Fathers.  Many people don’t realize it, but half the amendments of the Bill of Rights focus on protections for criminal defendants—it’s like a miniature code of criminal procedure. The 5th

The two core principles of American criminal jurisprudence—proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the burden of proof belonging to the accuser—have allowed countless of the wrongly accused to prevail at trial. But pursuing a case all the way to trial can be daunting, expensive and time-consuming. How can a defendant go on...