Articles Posted in Breaking News

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The year was 1984. A flight attendant was handed a note by one the plane’s passengers. It was from a hijacker who threatened to take the lives of all of the 57 passengers and crew members. His demands included that the plane, which was headed to Miami, return to Havana, Cuba. The hijacker, a Black Panther member, wearing all black, brandishing a small pistol, and calling himself, “Lt. Spartacus,” boasted of having a bomb on the plane. He hijacked the plane thinking that upon his landing in Cuba, he’d be welcomed as a fellow revolutionary and be provided military training to assist him with his own uprising in the U.S. The plane’s captain, a military veteran, tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the hijacker using the plane’s intercom system.

The plane returned to Cuba. The hijacker, whose real name was William Potts, was immediately arrested by Cuban authorities. He was tried and convicted in a Cuban court and sentenced to 15 years in prison. While in Cuba’s violent prison, Potts turned down opportunities to go home to the U.S. prior to his sentence concluding.

The jurors screwed up. Yeah, I said it. Miami Jurors convicted 23 year old Eric Rivera of second degree murder for his role in the crimes that led to the death of famed Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor six years ago. Rivera was also found guilty of Armed Burglary. The six men and six women that comprised the jury could not find that Rivera actually fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor in spite of Rivera admitting in a videotaped confession to pulling the trigger.

Prosecutors wanted the jurors to come back with a first-degree murder conviction, which would have mandated a life sentence from Judge Dennis Murphy. Rivera who was 17 at the time he committed the crimes, still faces a possible life sentence on both charges for which he was convicted.

The reason why I chose to write about this jury verdict is because it speaks volumes. What it says, amongst other things, is that jurors can and will do whatever the hell they want, regardless of what the law dictates.

In Winter Garden, Florida, a gas station clerk’s life may have been saved by his cell phone. The clerk was shot at during an attempted armed robbery and his cell phone blocked a bullet fired at his chest in an attempted armed robbery.

The shooting occurred Friday when a man entered inside the Hess gas station and asked a clerk to help him find a certain beverage. The man immediately pulled out a gun and demanded that the clerk open the safe, but the clerk was unable to do so. A second clerk then entered the store and the perpetrator ordered that he open the safe.

Once both clerks were unable to open the safe, the perpetrator shot his gun as he left the store. Emergency services workers were called to the store, and as they were interviewing one of the clerks, he complained pains in his chest. They later realized that the gunshot hit one of the clerks and it struck his cell phone and the cell phone had stopped his bullet. The chest pains were caused by the impact of the bullet on the cell phone. He didn’t suffer any other injuries and was quickly released after being checked at a hospital.

Recently, one Florida prison inmate hit the legal lottery. The Florida Supreme Court just reversed his cocaine trafficking conviction. First, let’s go back to 2009 to learn what he did.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was executing a search warrant at the home of Baron Greenwade. When they arrived, they found him in his garage. Unfortunately for Mr. Greenwade, he was caught red handed clutching a green bag that contained nine 1 ounce baggies.

At Greenwade’s trial, a chemist testified that she analyzed the one bag provided to her and determined it contained 234.5 grams of cocaine. Because in Florida possession of 200-400 grams of cocaine warrants a trafficking charge, Greenwade was facing a fifteen year minimum mandatory sentence. He pleaded guilty to three counts, but not to trafficking. On that offense, he went to trial. A jury convicted him and he was off to the pokey for 15 unpleasant years.

Two Florida teens have been arrested and charged with felony aggravated stalking after law enforcement concluded that their actions led to the suicide of a 12-year-old classmate. Police allege that the teens’ intense bullying was the cause of the victim’s tragic demise. The actions of the teens stemmed from a dispute they allegedly had with the victim over a boy that they both dated. The bullying and harassing alleged went on for more than a year. Some of the many on line messages sent to the victim included, “Why don’t you go and kill yourself?” and “You should die.” In addition to the numerous on line threats, the victim was allegedly physically attacked by one of the teens. The night before the victim jumped to her death, she sent an on line message to a boy, “I’m jumping. I can’t take it anymore.”

Both teens were booked and charged as juveniles. One of the arrested teens, a 12-year-old, was released to her parents. The 14 year old accused teen was still being detained at a juvenile detention facility.

When hearing of high profile matters like this, I am frequently asked how I would defend the case. My generic response is always, “I would do everything in my power to ensure that they received the best possible outcome under challenging circumstances.” While that response may satisfy some, far too many want to know more. They may come back with, “No, really, what would you do specifically to defend these teens?” I explain that the first thing that I would do would be to thoroughly discover all available facts. One of the things that I did learn was that one of parents is alleging that one of the arrested teens had her computer hacked. Additionally, the parents swore that their teen would never write anything as heinous as what the two are accused of authoring. So, regarding that teen, the answer is simple. I’d secure a forensic expert to examine the teen’s computer in order to provide me with the proof I needed to illustrate how and when her computer was hacked. Very simple. We win. Case closed. Unfortunately, it’s probably not going to be that easy.

DNA tests have confirmed that Ariel Castro is the father of 6-year-old Amanda Beryy born to one of the three women he is accused of keeping in captivity for more than a decade. Castro’s DNA does not match that of any other Ohio abduction cases.

Berry was one of the individuals rescued Monday along with Michelle Knight, who disappeared in 2002, and Georgina “Gina” DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004.

Castro is currently on suicide prevention, which is standard procedure for high-profile inmates. A day earlier, a judge ordered he be held Thursday on $8 million bond on kidnapping and rape charges.

Jana Winter, a fox news reported who reported the notebook that was allegedly sent from James Holmes to his psychiatrist failed to reveal her sources and she now faces jail time for not disclosing such information.

Winter has been subpoenaed by Holmes’ attorneys to testify on Wednesday and has indicated that she does not plan to reveal her source. Winter fears that revealing her source will tarnish her reputation in her professional field.

Days after the July 20 theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado, Winter scored a major scoop on FoxNews.com, reporting about the existence of the notebook. She cited a source who described the book as including illustrations and other details of how the massacre would occur.

A angry former apparel designer was killed Friday morning by police gunfire in front of the Empire State Building, one of the most famous skyscrapers in the world and one of New York City’s best-known tourist attractions, after he murdered a former work acquaintance, Steven Ercolino. Authorities said the shooting did not seem to be linked to terrorism.

The shooter was identified as 58-year-old Jeffrey Johnson, who was laid off from his job, as a designer of women’s accessories at Hazan Import last year, as a result of down sizing. Johnson’s relationship with the company ended after a bitter dispute with the victims and company’s account executive, Steven Ercolino, 41, authorities said.

A friend of Ercolino’s who witnessed the shooting told police that she noticed Johnson, who was wearing a suit and carrying a black bag, outside the building. She saw him walk up to Ercolino and without saying a word to him, fire continuously at him.

What should have been a joyful reunion turned sour Wednesday night, when an 18-year-old Palm Springs man was arrested on assault charges after his 21-year-old brother in the Marines returned home for the first time in three years. It is hard to see a violent assault case such as this occur between two family members, but experienced criminal defense attorneys will recognize the importance for the defendant of ensuring proper legal counsel. Jaquez Devon Strange was released on his own recognizance Thursday by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Ted S. Booras. Strange has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and simple battery.

Strange remained quiet throughout his first hearing in Booras’ courtroom, but shook his head in disagreement when the judge suggested that his Marine brother should have “stomped him to the dirt”. This is precisely the style of courtroom demeanor that awaits most individuals who face such charges without a competent criminal defense attorney being present. As a Miami criminal defense lawyer, I understand that such charges are very serious and have the potential to result in jail time but I also, having seen this play out over and over, have a great deal of sympathy for people that find themselves in this situation. Everyone thinks that there is a “type” of person who ends up on the wrong side of the law when the truth is that all of us have within us the potential to make a bad decision—even one that has a violent end.

The official report, made by the Palm Springs police officer who first responded to the emergency call, describes the incident as evolving from an argument between the two brothers. A criminal defense attorney always recognizes that many assault charges spring from transitory emotions and are not indicative of “normal” behavior. The returning Marine, whose name is blacked out in the police report, reportedly arrived home at about 5:30 p.m. to surprise his family. Jaquez Strange told the responding officer that upon seeing his older brother he said “Hi” before returning upstairs to finish ironing his clothes. His brother was unsatisfied with the greeting and chased Strange upstairs, where they got into an argument. And that, unfortunately, is quite common—a simple exchange gone wrong.