For Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys
Resources and experts in the field of criminal defense can be invaluable in the effective representation of your client. Very often, successful arguments and supporting testimony considered routine by practitioners in one locale may be unheard of or untested in another. Borrowing strategy from your distant brethren may turn out to be the very break needed in your own case.
Our office is determined to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new legislation and developing case law. We maintain an extensive criminal law resource library which is kept current through the use of legal treatises, periodicals, case reporters, legislative session updates and various literature from experts in the field. Our membership in the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers likewise provides us with the opportunity to confer and consult with our collegues in this specialized area of the law.
We often receive calls and e-mail from other attorneys asking for direction in resolving criminal defense related issues. In addition to handling such inquiries and in the further spirit of cooperation, we have provided our yearly review of new criminal laws passed by the Florida Legislature on this page.
Lawyers seeking assistance on DUI related matters should visit our extensive website page: For DUI Defense Attorneys Only.
Russo & Russo Criminal Law Legislative Update - 2008
Our office reviews and summarizes new legislation for easy reference. Each year, during the sixty-day legislative session, several hundred Session Laws are enacted. These Session Laws take effect on the date indicated in the Session Law (or if no date is indicated, on July 1st of the same year). The Florida Statutes are updated with the changes or additions made by the Session Laws and are completely reprinted with those updates every year. Unfortunately, this legislation is often lengthy, cubersome, and complex. In addition, criminal law legislation typically makes changes or additions to numerous stuatutes within a single bill or topic. Because Florida's method of preserving legislative history can be quite confusing, this concise guide to the 2008 legislative session is an invaluable tool for staying current and for researching modifications in already existing areas of the law.
Council Substitute for House Bill No. 29 (DNA samples) - Effective July 1, 2008
943.325 - Revises the offenses for which a conviction will require an individual to submit a DNA sample to the State. Under this bill any individual convicted of a felony will be required to provide such a DNA sample. Additionally, persons convicted of misdemeanor stalking, voyeurism, exposure of harmful material to minors, observation of customers in dressing rooms, or any violation of the Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act will be required to submit DNA samples for the State’s DNA database.
Council Substitute for House Bill no. 502 (Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Firearms in Motor Vehicles) – Effective July 1, 2008
790.251 - Protects an individual’s Constitutional right to bear arms by prohibiting employers from restricting the ability of their employees to keep legally owned firearms in their motor vehicles. Employers may not prohibit their employees from keeping legally owned firearms locked inside of their vehicles while at work. Furthermore, an employer is prohibited from inquiring into the existence of such a firearm, conditioning employment on a promise not to posses a firearm, or taking action against a person in response to their legal possession of a firearm.
Council Substitute for House Bill no. 13c (Motor vehicle property damage insurance) – Effective immediately
316.646 is amended to require that any person operating a motor vehicle have in his or her possession proof of property damage liability insurance. An amount of $10,000 in property damage liability coverage or $30,000 in combined bodily injury and property damage liability coverage is needed to satisfy this requirement. A person’s failure to provide proof of insurance at or before a scheduled court date will result in an indefinite suspension of their driver’s license until adequate insurance is procured. The act also mandates that an individual must submit proof of personal injury liability and property damage liability insurance when registering their vehicle in Florida.
Committee Substitute for Senate Bill no 1988 (Driving with license suspended, revoked, or cancelled) - Effective July 1, 2008
322.34 is amended to provide that a third or subsequent conviction a person for Driving While License Suspended or Revoked is no longer a felony in the event that the suspension was originally based on a financial delinquency. This bill also directs the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to conduct a study analyzing the effectiveness of license suspension as a punishment and describes alternative methods to increase compliance with the violations that now result in license suspension.
House Bill No. 61 (Offenses against Officers) - Effective July, 1 2008
776.051 - Provides that a person may not use force to resist an arrest by a Law Enforcement Officer, or use force to resist a Law Enforcement Officer who is otherwise engaged in a legal duty, if the Officer is acting in good faith and is known to be or appears to be a Law Enforcement Officer.
Council Substitute for House Bill No. 321 (Murder of Law Enforcement Officers) - Effective October 1, 2008
782.065 is created to provide a minimum mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for release for any person found guilty of murdering a law enforcement officer.
Council Substitute for House Bill No. 1363 (Controlled substances) - Effective July 1, 2008
802.03 is amended to prohibit the possession or sale of “Salvia divinorum” and “Salvinorin A”, by designating these as Schedule I controlled substances. Thus, it is now illegal to possess, sell, manufacture, or deliver salvia. The exception to this rule is that any drug product approved by the FDA that contains salvia will not be considered a controlled substance.
Council Substitute for House Bill No. 1417 (Counterfeit goods) – Effective October 1, 2008
This bill amends 831.03 by providing a definition for “retail value” for the purpose of restitution analysis and creating an inference that a person in possession of more than 25 counterfeit items possesses these items with the intent to sell them. Retail value is defined as “the counterfeiter’s regular selling price,” except when the goods appear to a reasonable person to be authentic, in which case the retail value shall be the price of the authentic counterpart.
House Bill No. 313 (The Barwick-Ruschak Act; Dating Violence) - Effective October 1, 2008
784.046 – This act provides requirements for police pertaining to the investigation of dating violence. Police officers investigating alleged incidents of dating violence must now assist victims to obtain medical treatment, inform victims about the existence of domestic violence centers, and provide victims with a document explaining their legal rights to pursue prosecution and secure an injunction against the suspect. Additionally, when investigating incidents of dating violence, officers are obligated to obtain written statements from victims whenever possible.
House Bill No. 489 (Sexual violence) - Effective July 1, 2008
741.313 is amended to allow victims of sexual violence or their family members to request 3 working days of leave from their employers in the wake of an incident of sexual violence. Likewise, the bill also prevents retaliatory action against an employee who takes advantage of the provisions of this law. Any violation of this section creates a private cause of action for civil damages. Employers were previously required to grant this leave only to the victims of domestic violence or their family members, but the eligible category has now been expanded to include victims of sexual violence as well.
Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 622 (Orders of no contact) - Effective October 1, 2008
921.244 is amended to include violent career criminals, as defined in 775.084(1)(b), in the category of offenders who are prohibited from making direct or indirect contact with the victims of their crimes. Previously this category was limited those convicted of sexual battery or lewd and lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of persons under 16 years of age.
Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 173 (Controlled substances; marijuana cultivation) - Effective July 1, 2008
893.02 is amended to define the term “cultivation,” prohibit persons form owning or possessing a place with knowledge that that place will be used to manufacture controlled substances, and to revise criminal penalties associated with the cultivation of controlled substances. Cultivation is defined as “the preparation of any soil or hydroponic medium for the planting of a controlled substance or the tending and care or harvesting of a controlled substance.” This bill additionally provides that a person who owns, leases, or rents a place which they know will be used for the distribution or cultivation of a controlled substance commits a third degree felony. If a person is in actual or constructive possession of such a place with such knowledge, they commit a second degree felony. Furthermore, if an individual is in actual or constructive possession of a place which they know will be used for the distribution or cultivation of a controlled substance, and knows or should have known that a minor was present or residing at that place, they commit a first degree felony. 893.02 is further amended to provide that the possession of 25 or more cannabis plants constitutes prima facie evidence of an intent to sell or distribute marijuana. Moreover, the bill allows photographs or video recordings of drug manufacturing equipment to be admissible at trial to the same extent as if the evidence were physically introduced.
Committee substitute for Committee substitute for Committee substitute for Senate Bill No. 1442 (Exploited Children) - Effective October 1, 2008
92.56 is amended to allow the use of pseudonyms to designate victims of child pornography, and to create a requirement that law enforcement officers report crimes involving child pornography to prosecutors, who will in turn enter information relating to the crime, including the name of the defendant, into a database maintained by the office of the Attorney General. Additionally, the act provides that when an individual is charged with lewd and lascivious conduct via the internet, the fact that an undercover officer was involved is not a defense to this charge.
House Bill No. 85 (Lewd and lascivious molestation) - Effective July 1, 2008
775.082 is amended to provide enhanced sentences for repeat lewd and lascivious molesters. Under this bill a person’s second conviction for lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under the age of 12 carries with it a sentence of imprisonment for life.
Senate Bill No. 366 (Elderly persons and disabled adults) - Effective July 1, 2008
921.0022 is amended to reclassify the offense of aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult from a second degree felony to a first degree felony.
Council Substitute for House Bill No. 537 (Video voyeurism) - Effective July 1, 2008
810.145 is amended to provide that a person over 18 who is responsible for the welfare of a child under 16 commits a third degree felony if they perpetrate video voyeurism against that child. Additionally, it is a third degree felony for an adult employee of a school to commit video voyeurism against a student. Finally, it is also a third degree felony for a person of 24 years or older to commit video voyeurism against any child under the age of 16.
Current through end of session.
