Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog

Our West Palm Beach traffic ticket criminal defense attorneys were disappointed to read that the Legislature is considering making a statewide red light camera law. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported April 26 that the proposed bill would override ordinances already in use in various Florida municipalities, including Pembroke Pines, Hallandale and West Palm Beach. People caught on camera running a red would face a fine of $158, with about half going to the county where the violation took place and half going to the state. The driver would not get any license points, and the matter would be treated as a traffic infraction rather than a crime. The House voted on the proposal Friday and the Senate was expected to take up a similar bill on the day of the article.

The sponsors of the bill say it will save lives by reducing the number of people who run red lights. In fact, it’s named for Mark Wandall, who was killed at the age of 30 in 2003 when another driver ran a red light at 50 mph. However, opponents say the bill, and all red light camera laws, is intended primarily to generate more money for the state and municipalities. They point to projections saying the cameras would generate $39.3 million in their first year, then bring in $160.5 million -- more than three times as much -- by 2013-2014. Each ticket would generate $75 for local governments and $70 for the state, as well as smaller donations to other state funds. If a local government contracts with DHSMV to run the cameras, it would get $45 and the state would get $100. If the bill passes, municipalities with their own red-light cameras would have until July 2011 to meet its standards.

As Fort Lauderdale traffic offense criminal defense lawyers, we’re afraid we agree that the red-light cameras are more about making money than public safety. In fact, traffic safety researchers have conducted studies concluding exactly that. A 2008 report from the University of South Florida College of Public Health found that red light cameras actually increase accidents because motorists stop suddenly when the light changes, triggering a rear-end crash. The researchers said the auto insurance industry backs the cameras because they increase insurance premiums and thus the insurers’ profits. Another report, by the U.S. House of Representatives, found that red-light camera timers are often set too short to increase the numbers of tickets. And of course, the state law allows the state to rake in 40% or more of the revenues generated by red light camera tickets, whereas previously it had no share at all of most cities’ revenues.

Continue reading "State Legislature Considering Statewide Law Standardizing Use of Red Light Cameras" »

Our Miami-Dade traffic offense attorneys were interested to note an article highlighting a heightened enforcement effort by Florida Highway Patrol. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran an article April 19 saying FHP troopers plan to pay extra attention this week to enforcing speeding laws in the area of Interstate 595 that is currently under construction. Those areas, like all work areas in Florida, are subject to a 55-mph speed limit, lowered from 65 mph, for the safety of workers on foot. Violating that speed limit will incur double the usual fine, which means a speeding ticket costing $405 for someone caught going 15 to 19 mph over the speed limit, and $455 for someone driving 20 to 25 mph over.

Interstate 595 is under construction for about 10 miles between Davie Road and Nob Hill Road, said the newspaper. The project is supposed to ease traffic by adding reversible lanes, new outside lanes and ramps. However, the construction has changed the road commuters confront five days a week by closing some shoulders and narrowing the lanes. And of course, crews will be working on the edges of the road and behind barricades. The goal of the stepped-up enforcement, which coincides with Work Zone Safety Awareness Week, is to prevent injuries to both the road workers and the drivers in serious accidents. Flashing signs will warn drivers when they’re approaching the reduced-speed areas. Enforcement will be more intense from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, because those are the times when crews can close lanes altogether for work.

Preventing unnecessary accidents is a worthwhile goal. But as Fort Lauderdale traffic ticket defense lawyers, we suspect that the increased enforcement will have negative consequences for some drivers. With the economy the way it is right now, many people simply can’t afford a ticket that costs $400 or more. Those drivers may deal with the ticket by simply ignoring it. This saves money in the short term, but ignoring a speeding ticket in Florida has long-term consequences. A speeding ticket puts points on your license -- four points for speeding up to 15 mph above the limit and six points for 16 mph or more. Your license is suspended at 12 points, so it only takes a few violations to lose your license for a year. Once that happens, you can be pulled over at any time and arrested for driving on a suspended license, sometimes before you even realize there’s a problem. Losing your license, with or without a subsequent arrest, can also throw your work, home and social life into chaos.

Continue reading "State Troopers to Crack Down on Speeding in 595 Construction Work Zone" »

Just before the holidays, the Orlando Sentinel undertook an investigation that amused our Fort Lauderdale traffic ticket defense attorneys. According to the Dec. 22 article, Florida Gators team members have racked up a total of 251 traffic tickets in Alachua County, where Gainesville is located, between 2006 and 2009. Thirty-two of those cases have not yet been resolved, meaning the ticket has not been paid or the charges were not resolved. This includes traffic citations of all types, including tickets that didn’t lead to an arrest as well as high-profile incidents like the DUI arrest of Carlos Dunlap on Dec. 1. The newspaper counted citations among 96 students who participated in Gators games or were listed as participants in the organization.

The traffic offenses were not evenly distributed throughout the team, the investigation found. Twelve Gators players have seven or more tickets. By contrast, 32 have no tickets at all. Among them is quarterback Tim Tebow, as well as 11 students who haven’t yet been on campus for a full year. Most of the traffic offenses counted were citations rather than criminal charges, for offenses like speeding and expired registration. Dunlap had the only drunk driving charge, but others on the team had been arrested for repeatedly driving with a suspended license. A state’s attorney told the newspaper that this is a common problem in Florida because too many unpaid traffic tickets of any kind can trigger a suspension. A driver caught with a suspended license will be issued yet another citation for that offense -- but failure to pay that ticket could lead to arrest.

As West Palm Beach traffic citation criminal defense lawyers, we see this process at work for all kinds of drivers, most of whom are not football stars. Younger people aren’t always the most responsible drivers, which is one reason why their auto insurance rates are higher. Getting traffic tickets, and failing to pay them, is not the best behavior, but they’re not unusual for young adults getting their first taste of freedom. As the article notes, Florida’s license-suspension process is almost notorious for leading to surprise arrests, for people who had no idea that failure to pay tickets could mean jail. And many of the Gators players are famous, which means they may be victims of officers’ eagerness to show that they don’t play favorites.

Continue reading "Investigation Shows Gators Players Have 251 Traffic Citations Team-Wide" »

On Oct. 10, the Miami Herald ran an article on an issue familiar to Miami-Dade criminal defense attorneys like us: the problems with Florida’s “nuisance laws.” As the article notes, Florida’s criminal code mandates jail time for a number of minor crimes, such as selling flowers by a roadside or being in a park after it closes. Law enforcement likes that these crimes are punishable with jail time. Police agencies argue that punishing minor crimes seriously helps prevent more serious crimes. However, the judges who handle these cases in the courtroom complain that they take time away from more important, serious cases and charges are usually dismissed. The Miami-Dade county commission is studying whether to decriminalize 18 infractions judges say fall into that category.

According to court data analyzed by the Herald, 52,560 people have been charged with these quality of life misdemeanors since 2005. Of these charges, 93% were dropped by prosecutors or dismissed by judges. Among those charged was Alex Marichal, a house painter from Miami who was pulled over in his work truck for the crime of not having a business sign on the side of the vehicle. The law was intended to stop criminals from posing as small businesspeople, but it sent Marichal to jail for a night. A judge dropped the charges once he proved that he was a legitimate businessman and had bought a sign. Miami-Dade Chief County Judge Samuel Slom told the county commission that these cases had no business in a criminal courtroom, and urged the commission to consider making the 18 offenses civil offenses, or criminal offenses not punishable with jail.

As Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyers, we strongly support this effort. As the article notes, sending law-abiding people to jail and the courtrooms for minor infractions like Marichal’s is not a good use of taxpayer money and resources. Just as importantly, it can also have dramatic negative effects on the lives of the people arrested. For a small businessperson, an arrest means not only an uncomfortable and humiliating night in jail, but the loss of money from missing work and possibly also from paying for a legal defense. For homeless people, who are frequently the targets of nuisance laws, an arrest could mean the loss of what few possessions and opportunities they have. If there is an outstanding bench warrant stemming from, say, too many traffic tickets, the situation could become even more complicated and expensive. And of course, nuisance laws give unscrupulous law enforcement officers an opportunity for racial profiling.

Continue reading "Miami-Dade Considers Ending Jail Time for Minor Crimes Known as ‘Nuisance Laws’" »

Florida law enforcement agencies have stepped up the little-known practice of confiscating vehicles used to commit traffic crimes, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported June 30. According to the article, law enforcement in Florida has always had the power to seize vehicles used to commit crimes or to flee from officers. But that law was little used until recently, with only 11 vehicles forfeited in Florida in all of 2007. This year, the newspaper said, the total was 22 vehicles before the end of June. Defendants do not need to be convicted to have their property seized, a policy that raises concerns about abuses by police eager to generate revenue.

The article shares the experience of Kevin Eugene Jones, a motorcyclist caught riding at 141 mph on Interstate 4. He fled rather than pull over for police, but was eventually caught and charged with fleeing and eluding law enforcement, a charge that allows law enforcement to deem his custom motorcycle forfeited. Jones has not had a trial on the fleeing and eluding charge, but he had already lost his civil forfeiture case when he was offered a chance to buy back his bike at 70% of market value. He told the newspaper that he believed this was extortion, and others interviewed by the paper agreed, saying the forfeiture laws allow police agencies to make extra money by violating drivers’ rights.

As Sarasota traffic offense lawyers, we understand those concerns. Abuse of asset forfeiture laws is not just a theoretical concern -- as the article notes, the Volusia County sheriff’s office was investigated more than a decade ago for seizing property in legally weak cases. On the federal level, asset forfeiture laws are used in large-scale and serious criminal cases like drug trafficking, child pornography or racketeering. (This practice also has its critics.) Fleeing when the police try to pull you over is illegal, but the harm to society is substantially less than with these other crimes, which is why the penalty is also less.

Continue reading "Florida Law Enforcement Increases Practice of Seizing Vehicles Used for Speeding, Eluding Police" »

A recent article in the Miami Herald underscores a serious problem for Florida drivers and South Florida traffic ticket lawyers like us: Tickets for failing to pay SunPass are clogging up traffic courts. According to the June 6 story, a change in state law means that people with SunPass tickets must now appear in traffic court if they want to avoid having points assessed on their licenses for paying the ticket. Not surprisingly, this has driven up demand for court dates in traffic court, where authorities say the number of SunPass ticket cases has doubled since the change in the law.

Before July of 2007, people could pay SunPass tickets with the clerk of court and receive a “withhold of adjudication” instead of a guilty verdict. Now, paying the ticket means an automatic guilty plea. That matters because pleading guilty to any traffic offense in Florida puts points on your driver’s license -- three, in the case of SunPass tickets. That means just four three-point SunPass toll tickets within a year can trigger an automatic driver’s license suspension. Drivers who don’t happen to get the suspension notice in the mail can be charged with driving on a suspended license, leading to jail time and further legal trouble. Even when points don’t trigger a suspension, they drive up auto insurance rates and make it more likely that

To avoid these drastic outcomes for failing to pay a $1 toll, drivers must contest the ticket in traffic court and either win (unlikely) or reach a settlement with authorities (common). Cases involving SunPass tickets accounted for just under 30% of all traffic cases in 2008, requiring special sessions and triggering complaints from the traffic courts.

Even authorities at the Turnpike acknowledge that this is a bad use of the traffic courts’ time. As Sarasota traffic ticket defense attorneys, we agree. Traffic court is typically reserved for extreme cases -- people who are accused of potentially dangerous violations like speeding, or those with so many non-criminal traffic citations that they face criminal penalties. Those aren’t categories that most people with SunPass toll tickets fall into. Appearing in court is a bad use of their time and the court’s.

Balliro, Galasso, Leskovich & Seltzer represents Florida drivers who are forced to go to court over SunPass tickets and other traffic citations. Our Fort Myers traffic citation defense lawyers can contest a ticket that you believe was written in error -- or, if you’d rather plead guilty, negotiate for a fair settlement that doesn’t hurt your ability to work and take care of your family. In many cases, we can appear in court for you, meaning you don’t need to take time away from work or school. And because we know legal trouble happens at all times of day -- not just from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday -- we are available to clients and potential clients anytime you need us. To learn more at a free, confidential consultation, you can contact us online or call toll-free from anywhere within Florida at 1-866-ARRESTED.

Former New York Giants football player Plaxico Burress successfully contested four traffic tickets from Broward County, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported June 1. Burress was pulled over March 1 and issued tickets for speeding, improper lane changes, overly tinted windows and improper display of his tags. Burress and his Fort Lauderdale traffic tickets defense attorney contested all four tickets because he was not given information on paying or fighting them, as required by Florida state law. Neither Burress nor the sheriff’s deputy testified at the hearing.

As this case shows, you don’t necessarily have to plead guilty to a traffic violation just because you get a ticket. Law enforcement officers are human and make mistakes at work just like the rest of us, and sometimes, those mistakes can get your ticket dismissed. Furthermore, pleading guilty -- which you do automatically whenever you pay the ticket -- can have consequences that affect your driving record and your life. Because paying a ticket adds points to your license, people who pay easily contested tickets unnecessarily sign up for a license suspension, which can lead to yet more legal trouble when they don’t realize they’re driving on a suspended license. At Balliro, Galasso, Leskovich & Seltzer, our Miami traffic ticket defense lawyers protect our clients from unreasonably harsh penalties for minor traffic infractions like speeding.

Burress faces more legal trouble, most notably for a firearms violation. The former Giants wide receiver carried a handgun in the waistband of his sweatpants into a Manhattan nightclub, where the gun began to slip down into his pants. In catching it, he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself in the right thigh. The wound was not serious, but he had no concealed weapons permit for the state of New York, and only an expired one from Florida. He was charged with unlawfully carrying a handgun and suspended for the rest of the season. Reports say Burress, who has a home in Lighthouse Point, would be interested in joining the Miami Dolphins if he’s acquitted, but is in talks with other teams.

As Fort Myers firearms violations defense lawyers, we wish Burress luck with his firearms case as well. Carrying a concealed weapon is a victimless crime in itself, and it infringes on citizens’ Second Amendment rights. In fact, in this case, the only victim is Plaxico Burress himself, who suffered a gunshot wound and professional consequences for his mistake. BGL&S is proud to represent people accused of firearms violations in South Florida, including concealed weapons violations, felon in possession charges and civil matters before state and federal regulatory agencies. Several of our Sarasota weapons charges defense attorneys are hunters, collectors and marksmen, so we understand the bureaucratic hassles our clients face to exercise their legal rights.

BGL&S represents Floridians accused of all types of crimes, from traffic tickets to serious, violent crimes. Our South Florida criminal defense attorneys don’t believe in the automatic plea deals that some other firms strike. We have taken hundreds of cases to trial and we are more than happy to do the same for our clients, when justice demands it. And because we know criminal charges come at all times of day and night, we make ourselves available to clients and potential clients anytime -- 24 hours a day and seven days a week. If you or a loved one is accused of a crime and you need help, contact BGL&S online as soon as possible for a free, confidential consultation or call 1-866-ARRESTED toll-free.