Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog

Our Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorneys have learned that Oliver McCall, the former world heavyweight champion was arrested earlier this month on a drug offense. According to Fort Lauderdale police, McCall was arrested on cocaine possession charges and is also charged with violating probation for a previous offense.

The 44-year-old fighter has had previous drug-related issues and served jail time for charges including crack cocaine possession.

Some boxing experts predict the arrest could mark the beginning of the end for McCall, who has since been removed from headlining an eight-fight card that was scheduled for last Tuesday. However, McCall's son Elijah will still be part of the fight.

Sources: Former world heavyweight champion Oliver McCall arrested in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida Sun Sentinel, February 15, 2010

Former Heavyweight Champs in Trouble, About.com, February 16, 2010

Continue reading "Florida Police Arrest Former Heavyweight Champ on Drug Charges" »

Twenty years ago, Miami set up the nation's first drug court as a way to get nonviolent offenders into court-supervised drug rehab programs instead of spending time in jail. Now over 2,300 drug courts have sprung up around the country, and the Obama administration hopes to boost funding to drug courts, because these specialized courts are currently only available to a very small percentage of drug offenders.

The problem, according to advocates for drug courts, is a lack of money. There are currently about 1.2 million drug-addicted offenders and the $64 million in federal funds received by drug courts this year are not enough to treat all those who need it. The drug court association says that would take about $1.5 billion over six years, as well as matching funding from states.

Some defense attorneys say that prosecutors tend not to choose defendants with serious drug problems and that requiring defendants to plead guilty in order to get into drug courts is unfair. Still, there is evidence that the programs are working. About three quarters of drug court graduates remain arrest-free for at least two years after completing the program.

Source: Drug courts successful for few who get in, Associated Press, November 30, 2009

Continue reading "Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers Discuss Drug Courts" »

Our Palm Beach and Broward County Drug Defense Attorneys recently read in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Cuban refugees are dominating the Florida's indoor marijuana trade. According to the article, hundreds of growhouses have sprung up since 2005 and supervisors for the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area approximate that as much as 90 percent of those arrested on grow-house-related marijuana charges are Cubans who arrived in the US within the past five years.

In Palm Beach, 90 to 95% of the arrests as part of drug busts called "D-Day" and "Eagle Claw" were Cuban. And in Miami-Dade, 95% were Cubans. That trend is reversed in Broward County, where only 11% of the arrests in 2008 and 2009 involved Cuban refugees.

Since there is no central database for sharing information about pot grow houses among police agencies, many Florida cops do not know much about the industry. Often when police raid a grow house, they arrest low level workers rather than their bosses or ringleaders. Authorities say that many of those involved in the illegal drug trade escape serious punishment because US policy does not allow the deportation of Cubans and many keep the number of marijuana plants under 100 to avoid tougher federal sentences.

Cubans dominate illegal pot grow house trade in Florida, drug and law enforcement officials say, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 30, 2009

Continue reading "Broward and Palm Beach Drug Lawyer - Marijuana Grow Houses on the Rise" »

A new bill passed during the spring legislative session, House Bill 29, makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for landlords to permit tenants to connect utilities themselves. Judges are mandated to accept an unpermitted electrical junction as proof of intent to violate the law. Stealing utility services to manufacture a controlled substance such as marijuana is also now a first-degree misdemeanor.

Several weeks ago, investigators discovered a marijuana grow house in Lorida after an electrical transformer blew. Inside the house, they found 341 marijuana plants, grow lights CO2 generators, and other items. The tenant was charged with producing and trafficking of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A representative of Glades Electric estimates that over $80,000 worth of electricity was stolen. The diversion was wired so it appears that the house uses a normal amount of electricity when in actuality, the monthly bill should be around $2,000 per month. These grow houses cost the company over $1 million every year.

New grow house law targets landlords, Highlands Today, May 21, 2009

Continue reading "Florida Criminal Lawyer Comments on New Marijuana Grow House Law" »

Last week in South Florida, the Broward County Sheriff's Office sent a letter to judges and attorneys stating that inmates would no longer have access to substance abuse treatment, anger management, computer skills, and other training programs due to budget cuts. These programs are commonly used in Broward County for drug possession cases, domestic violence battery cases, felony battery cases and violation of probation cases.

Those programs will end by August 1, saving around $2.2 million. Broward County officials asked the Department of Community Control to reduce its budget by $50 million for the fiscal year starting October 1.

More than a fifth of Broward County's jail population used those programs, and some inmates got reduced jail sentences after completing treatment programs for drug abuse. While some inmates will still be able to participate in voluntary programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, reduced sentences will no longer be an option, which some worry could lead to overcrowding. Broward County is already under court order to avoid overcrowding in its prisons.

Broward sheriff wants to end inmate treatment programs to save money, South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 14, 2009.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale Felony Attorney - Broward Jails Cutting Inmate Treatment Programs to Reduce Budget" »

After three decades in Miami-Dade County, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has relocated to a vacant pharmaceutical office complex near Weston Road in Weston. The DEA was evicted from its old headquarters in Doral, which is being converted into a city center.

Affordability of rent and convenient access to South Florida's highways were both factors in the decision to relocate to Broward County; however the new geography of South Florida's drug trade was also a consideration. Drug activity in South Florida is no longer centered around Miami, as it has spread to the suburbs of Broward and Palm Beach counties.

In fact, when federal authorities arrested the leader of a Colombian drug ring three years ago, their raids took them to a Weston storage unit. Family members of the drug lord were living quietly in Broward County, according to prosecutors.

However, some worry that the DEA will out of place in Weston, since there are no prisons or courthouses nearby. However, the DEA will also maintain outposts in Miami, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. A city commissioner for Weston said he predicts that the move will be an economic boon for the town.

DEA moves to Weston: In upscale Broward city, the new neighbors are narcs, South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 5, 2009

Continue reading "Broward Criminal Attorney Discusses Relocation of DEA" »