Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

It’s not just the repeat offenders and career criminals that find themselves looking a serious time down the road. Sometimes a snap decision – albeit a very bad one – in the heat of the moment can have someone facing decades behind bars. James Alonzo Hines, 61, is in that boat now after an afternoon…

Davinian Williams, an unarmed man, was shot and killed by a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer during a routine traffic stop in the Arlington area of Jacksonville, according to a report on News4Jax. The officer fired seven shots at Williams, six of which hit their target. Williams was pulled over for what the officer described as erratic…

Restaurant inspection reports are the public records de jour for Jacksonville media these days – creating searchable databases and weekly features showing their readers and viewers which restaurants are infested with roaches and have slime in the ice machine. A failed inspection can destroy a business’ reputation, even force the restaurant to close until the…

Despite the protestors and the national media attention clamoring for reconsideration, a judge denied a new trial to a woman who fired a warning shot to scare the husband she said she feared. The outrage is centered on the 20-year minimum mandatory sentence Marissa Alexander now faces at age 31, according to a report in…

A Jacksonville man is turning to police and prosecutors after his neighbor’s gun accidentally went off, sending a bullet through the wall near his stairway. The law’s response? Sorry, we can’t help you. The homeowner called police shortly after the incident – which came moments after the victim’s daughter was playing right by the staircase,…

Undercover Jacksonville police officers are putting a dent in the underground scrap car part business, wearing wires and trying to take down people buying stolen cars and parts. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced a string of Duval County arrests last week in cases they’ve been building in the last month, according to a report in…

Florida law allows the state to charge people with murder, even if they were not the direct cause of the death. So, if someone is committing a felony at the time a homicide occurs, that person can be charged with what is called “felony murder.” A prime example surfaced last week in connection with the…

Various crimes and patterns cycle in and out as the “hot” crime for police to make arrests for. It’s been drugs, lately child porn has been popular, it often depends on what’s in the headlines. In recent years, Jacksonville police brass have made a big public push to concentrate on stolen and illegal guns and,…

The state has dropped DUI charges against a former Jacksonville police officer, now that blood tests show he was not impaired at the time of the crash. Michael Rolison’s career with JSO is still likely over though. He had 12 years with the agency but resigned the day after the crash, telling News4Jax he was…

The publicity surrounding Florida’s now infamous “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law has activists digging through older cases and reinvigorating their push for dropping criminal charges or reducing sentences in Jacksonville and all over Florida. The case of Marissa Danielle Alexander is the second such case to make Jacksonville headlines lately in the wake of the…