Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

How times have changed! A father in Fairfield, Ohio actually got jail time because his daughter, Brittany failed to receive her General Equivalency Diploma (GED). At the time he was sent to jail, she was 18 years old. That makes her a legal & consenting adult! Even so Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus sent him to jail on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor because at the time he ordered Brittany to complete her GED she was still a minor. To make matters even worse for this dad, Brittany was not even living with him during the time she was ordered to complete her GED. She was living with her mother but since her dad had custody, he was the one held responsible. Brittany is presently attending school to complete her GED and even she thinks her dad is got the short end of the stick. What’s ironic is that if Brittany’s dad would have spanked her in order to get her butt in gear, he’d probably be going to jail on an abuse charge. There’s not much more to say on this one other then this is absurd.

Here’s another one courtesy of our neighbors just north of the border. A twelve year old sixth grader from Quebec, Canada didn’t like being grounded and missing a graduation trip with her elementary school class mates, so she filed a lawsuit. Initially, she was ordered by her dad not to go online because she had posted pictures of herself on an internet dating site. However, when she got into a fight with her stepmother, the dad took it up a notch. He told her that she couldn’t go on the three day trip with her friends. The girl went to stay with her mother and then promptly filed a motion asking the court to overturn the punishment. Outrageous! No way the courts would touch this one, right? Well, if that were the case, it wouldn’t make my blog. Unbelievably, Quebec Superior Court Judge Suzanne Tessier ruled that the father’s punishment was out of line. The Judge’s reasoning was that the girl had already been sufficiently punished.

This case obviously concerns me. All it takes is one clever American child who reads this story and says, “Hey, I shouldn’t have to sit in time out any more. Also, how dare my parents take away my cell phone. We’ll see what Judge Judy has to say about that!” While it may be good for business, I am willing to forgo the opportunity of defending parents in court if it means that our legal system won’t embrace these ridiculous lawsuits

I’d say “thank God” this one happened in Canada and not here, however, I could see this easily happening on our great country. On May 30, 2008, an educational assistant who works in a special education class with five autistic children at Terry Fox Elementary, made a shocking allegation. She alleged that one of her students, 11 year old Victoria, was being sexually abused. The school then immediately contacted the Children’s Aid Society (Florida’s equivalent of the Department of Children and Family (DCF)) who immediately took action.

The teacher didn’t hear allegations of abuse from the 11 year old autistic child. Rather, she heard the information from a psychic. Yes, I said it…a psychic…a psychic who had never met the little girl. Apparently, the teacher went to see a psychic who asked the teacher if she works with a little girl with the initial “V.” When the teacher said, “yes,” the psychic replied, “Well, you need to know that this girl is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.”

The girl’s mother, 38 year old Colleen Leduc is a single mom working hard to support herself and her 11 year old autistic daughter. She was sick to her stomach when told that school officials were reporting these false allegations. Leduc was told by officials at the school that the school is required to report suspected abuse if there are “reasonable grounds.”

Imagine a place where failing to mow your lawn could land you in jail. I know what you’re thinking…that could only happen in some communist country. Well, think again. In Canton Ohio (that’s the Canton Ohio in the United States), homeowners face possible jail time if they are found guilty of a “second high-grass violation.” The city council unanimously passed a law making a second violation a misdemeanor, carrying a fine of up to $250 and as many as 30 days in the slammer. The new law takes effect in one month. Mayor William J. Healy II said, “This is the type of action we need to take in order to clean up our neighborhoods and our city,”

Imagine several armed law enforcement officers bang on your door in the middle of the night demanding to search the contents of your home computer. Over your vehement objections, they storm in and go through all of your personal data, including all e-mails and financial information. Further imagine that they return several hours later and search it again. Then they come back in a week and do the same thing. Sounds like a communist country right? This couldn’t be the U.S. Well it is, and it could happen soon in Indiana, unless Steve Morris can do something to stop it.

Steve Morris, along with the ACLU, is suing every single prosecutor and sheriff in the state of Indiana because he believes a new law that takes effect in July aimed at “protecting children” should be thrown out. The law that he finds unconstitutional is one that would allow law enforcement to search his computer at any time. You see, Steve Morris is a sex offender. He was convicted of child molestation more then a decade ago. The law would also require that Morris, and all sex offenders, install a device on their computer which would permit law enforcement to monitor their usage. The device must be paid for by the sex offender. Morris and his attorney think it’s a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.

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In 1990, Robert Kosilek was convicted in a Boston courtroom for murdering his wife. Now serving a life sentence, Kosilek, who in 1993 legally changed his name to Michelle, claims that he’s a “woman trapped inside a man’s body.” As a result, Kosilek has been battling the Department of Corrections to pay for a sex-change surgery.

Kosilek first sued the Department of Correction in 2000, saying its refusal to allow her to have sex-change surgery violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. She said her body is becoming more masculine. In response to the law suit, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled in 2002 that Kosilek was entitled to treatment for gender identity disorder – including hormone treatments, laser hair removal and psychotherapy — but stopped short of ordering sex-reassignment surgery.

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