Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Get ready. These dated jokes will probably be making the rounds again: “What do you say if Chris Brown is your blackjack dealer and you need another card?” Or how about this one: “I was going crazy trying to remember Rihanna’s ex boyfriend’s name. Then it hit me.”

The reason why Chris Brown is back in the news is that early today, he was arrested in Washington after a fight broke out near the W Hotel. Police charged Brown with felony assault. According to police, the Grammy Award-winning singer was allegedly involved in a physical altercation, which resulted in the victim sustaining injuries. Brown was arrested along with his body guard. The victim went to the hospital with significant enough injury to justify police charging this as a felony.

TMZ provided more specifics on what Brown allegedly did. They claim that the alleged victim told them that he and a friend were simply hanging out at the W when they saw two woman about to take a photograph with Brown. The victim alleges that he and his friend photo bombed the two woman and that Brown became enraged, striking the victim in the nose, causing a fracture. According to TMZ, the victim claims that just before striking the victim, Brown yelled, “I’m not into this gay sh*t, I’m into boxing.” The victim further told TMZ that he may need surgery tomorrow.

A lot of people are still drinking and driving. In spite of much stiffer penalties and increased public awareness concerning the harms of committing that criminal offense, it seems people are still doing it regularly. Weekly, you can count on another celebrity making headlines for a DUI arrest. This week, it was former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss who was arrested in Nevada on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana, her second marijuana-related run-in with the law in the past three months.

Of all the criminal matters I defend, I am most frequently asked questions about DUI laws more than any other offense. The article below should assist in helping you understand many of those issues.

CRIMINAL DEFENSE FORUM

So ‘Little Tony’ was found guilty in the murder of Gus Boulis. Tony, also known as Anthony Ferrari, was convicted yesterday of the 2001 murder of Boulis, the former Sun Cruz casino cruise ship and Miami Subs chain owner. This was one of Broward County’s most sensational trials. The entire trial lasted three weeks. Jurors took seven hours to deliberate their verdict. They’ll return in December to determine whether he should be given life or death.

There are a couple of unusual and or interesting points to note. First, it took twelve years from the time that Boulis was gunned down to the time that jury rendered their guilty verdict. It took eight years from the time that Ferrari heard the words, “You’re under arrest,” until he heard the word, “guilty.” Delays generally help the defense. I’m not stating emphatically that either the defendant and/or his attorney intentionally stretched out the pretrial preparation time the length that it would take a doctor to obtain both his undergraduate and med school degrees. I’m just saying that there’s a common phrase that we hear in the criminal arena, which is, “Cases for the defense generally get better with age, like wine.” Unfortunately for Lil’ Tony, that was not the case here.

Another point that needs to be made is, “Listen to your lawyer.” Ferrari’s attorney begged him not to testify. Footage shown on local media, literally featured Ferrari’s attorney banging his head against the courtroom wall. I felt his frustration over not being able to persuade his client to follow his advice. While the decision is ultimately up to each defendant to make, they typically rely upon whatever their attorneys advise them. Why? Because veteran, experienced, talented litigators, generally know a lot more about trial work than their clients. They have cultivated a gift for creating reasonable doubt. They know when their clients have to testify. They also have a feeling for how their client will be received by a jury. Generally clients take that advice. Not in this case.

One of the greatest challenges I have as a criminal defense attorney is in finding out, “Why?” Why did my client do what he did? (Assuming that he/she did commit the offense and the evidence can prove it) What motivated my client, for example, to commit a violent offense like aggravated battery, aggravated assault and even murder? You might think the easy solution is to simply ask them. Often I do. It’s not so easy. Many are not forthcoming. Many are not very communicative. Many lie or tell versions of the truth as they see it. Some are mentally ill and/or sociopaths. Uncovering the true motive can be very difficult, yet crucial, in order to zealously mitigate what they have done.

That same challenge is one that the attorneys for 14 year old Philip Chism must be facing right now. Chism is the Massachusetts teen accused of brutally beating a 24-year-old beloved math teacher to death. The teen has been described as someone who “kept to himself and wasn’t very outgoing.” “He was always quiet. …He never talked to anyone,” one of his classmates explained. Also, he had recently moved to Danvers, Mass. from Tennessee. No one knows why his family moved.

The teen, who was ordered held without bail, was in the victim’s math class. According to students in that same class, there was nothing unusual about the teen and victim’s relationship with each other.

“I killed a man and accept full responsibility.” No, not me. Matthew Cordle. You know, the Ohio man who made headlines after confessing in a viral video that he killed a man while driving drunk. Yesterday was judgment day for him and he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison and was stripped of his driving privileges for life. Cordle continued to seem remorseful when he passionately stated, “Whatever my sentence may be, the true punishment is living,” Cordle also was ordered to pay court costs and a $1,075 fine.

Cordle pleaded guilty in September to aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a vehicle while impaired. He took responsibility for killing 61-year old Vincent Canzani while driving drunk on June 22. Cordle maintains that while driving drunk he had “blacked out,” which is why he doesn’t remember details of the night of June 22, 2013.

The victim’s ex-wife, Cheryl Canzani Oates wrote to the judge and stated that her deceased husband wouldn’t have wanted Cordle to get the maximum sentence of 8 1/2 years, and believed that Cordle was “sincere in admitting he was sorry” that he caused her husband’s death. She further stated, “I know what pain Matthew feels. The pain will stay with him until his death.”