Legal News and Law Updates
We Don't Judge - We DEFEND! ®
UPDATES TO FLORIDA LAW
(with thanks to Barry Butin)
December 26, 2008
Hobbs, 33 FLW 1005, Fla, Confession-sexual abuse cases-92.565, which provides that in certain criminal actions a def confession or admission is admissible during trial without the state having to independently prove the corpus deliciti of the crime which sets forth factors which may be relevant in determining the state's inability to show the existence of each element of the crime, does not prohibit the court from considering the recantation of the victim as a factor relevant to whether the state is unable to show the elements of the crime, statute does not limit the trial court to considering only victim's physical and mental capacity at the time the crime was committed
D.S.D., 33 FLW 2872, 5th DCA, L & P, Juvenile presence early in morning in residential area without more not enough for L & P, ofc justified in questioning juvenile when he discovered them wearing dark clothes, in the area of a 3:30 a.m. prowler report, during encounter no additional facts came to light to support arrest for L & P, fact that ofc discovered a pair of gloves in juvenile's pocket does not alter result-cites cases
Smith. 33 FLW 2879, 4th DCA, Consent-voluntariness-where, after a traffic stop, def who was passenger in a car was detained on the side of the road by 2 ofcs with a canine unit while the driver of the vehicle was being searched and def was informed by officer that he was going to be searched and that he should turn over anything illegal before the search took place, def's act of handing officer pill bottle containing drugs was the product of an imminent pat down and not the result of an imminent act of free will