When a Judge Cannot Judge You! In Wagner v. State, 342 So 3d 712 (Fla. 2d DCA 2022), the state appellate court granted a petition for a writ of probation seeking review of a trial judge’s decision to deny Mr. Wagner’s motion to disqualify his trial judge, and ordered the chief judge of the circuit court to appoint a successor judge.....

Hot off the press – State confesses error – 4th DCA orders new trial Christopher Parsons was convicted and sentenced for providing false information to a pawnbroker and for dealing in stolen property.  Parsons appealed, arguing that fundamental error occurred because the jury verdict was possibly not unanimous. Based on the State’s confession of error, the Fourth District agreed and....

LOOKING AT LU JING v. STATE Case No. 4D21-147 arrived to the three-judge appellate panel of the Fourth District clothed in spy novel mystique: a female Chinese national resisting arrest after allegedly trespassing onto the grounds of United States President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Defendant was convicted of resisting a police officer without violence contrary to....

Are the results of lie detector tests admissible in court? “Liar, liar… pants on fire!” Children all over the English speaking world know this sing-song rhyme. It is “sung” when someone gets busted telling a lie. Police investigators have used lie detectors, also known as “polygraphs,” for over a century now. The first polygraph was invented in 1921, when a....

“…[L]et’s Kill All the Lawyers” “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” stands out among William Shakespeare’s most famous one-liners. In his play Henry IV, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2, the character “Dick The Butcher” suggests one of the ways the pretenders to the throne can improve their chances is to first kill all the lawyers.....

When Judges Disagree… In a decision published only one week ago in Saffold v. State, 2023 WL 8246165 (Fla. 4th DCA 11/29/2023), the Fourth District held that the defendant-appellant was not entitled to bring a motion to withdraw a plea pursuant to Rule 3.170(f) , Fla.R.Crim.P., upon court-ordered resentencing. The Court therefore affirmed the denial of the defendant-appellant’s motion to withdraw his....