Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog

This blawg covers information about law and order in Florida for both practitioners and potential clients. Also some discussions about evidence and the death penalty.

Author: Ron Chapman is a solo practitioner in West Palm Beach, Fla. He also helps maintain Florida Lawyers Blog Watch.

Blawg Related Categories: Criminal Justice • Death Penalty • Sentencing/Post Conviction • Trials & Litigation • Evidence • Solo / Small Firm • Legal Information • Private Defense

Recent Posts from Palm Beach Criminal Defense Blog

False Accusations of Domestic Violence
Do current immigration laws in the United States encourage one spouse to falsely accuse the other spouse of domestic violence? This became an important question in a recent case of mine in which my client,…
Florida's New DNA Law: Is It Constitutional?
Earlier this month, Florida's governor, Charlie Crist, signed Senate Bill 2276 which permits the police to take a DNA sample from anyone who is merely arrested for a felony offense. In an article…
Rush Limbaugh's Pretrial Intervention Agreement
In 2006, political commentator Rush Limbaugh was charged with committing the crime of Withholding Information from a Practitioner. On May 1, 2006, Limbaugh entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the Office of the…
What Happens When a Judge Sets a Bond that is the Equivalent of No Bond?
It is an all-too-frequent occurrence in Florida's criminal courts that a judge will set a bond in a given case, yet the accused individual continues to remain in jail because he cannot afford to pay…
When is it Illegal to Search a Student?
In the case of New Jersey v. T.L.O., the United States Supreme Court stated that "[u]nder ordinary circumstances, a search of a student by a school or other school official [is permitted] when there…
When Does Police Trickery Cross the Line?
On March 4, 2008, I wrote an article on this blog entitled "Are the Police Allowed to Lie to Get You to Confess?" I answered that question by saying, "[Y]es, the police are allowed…
When is a Police Roadblock Illegal?
You have probably seen police roadblocks when you were out driving your car, and you may have even been stopped at one, but did you know that before the police are allowed to actually set…
What is an Administrative Expunction?
Sometimes a person will be arrested, yet the case never actually goes to court either because the police do not file the case with the State Attorney’s Office or because the State Attorney’s Office…
How the FBI Misidentified a Suspected Terrorist Using Fingerprint Evidence
In May 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer, as a material witness in an investigation of terrorist attacks on commuter trains in Madrid, Spain. The FBI Laboratory maintained that…
Prosecutors Fight Access to DNA Tests for Convicts
The following article appeared in the New York Times earlier this week: In an age of advanced forensic science, the first step toward ending Kenneth Reed’s prolonged series of legal appeals should be…