Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

A landmark decision that may have a huge impact on people in Florida was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 22. The decision will greatly expand the privacy protections that people enjoy under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear an appeal of a conviction by a man whose charges largely rested on location information from his cell phone carrier. Cell phone companies gather location information for business reasons. Under the third-party exception to warrant requirements, law enforcement officers have been able to gain access to this information without warrants.

A Florida man was arrested on June 25 and accused of possessing crack cocaine. Alvin McCants, 50, formerly a defensive end for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was pulled over in his car as he drove near St. Petersburg in the early morning hours. Once pulled over, he was accused of possession of crack, a felony charge, as well as driving with a revoked or suspended license.

McCants was released from custody after posting bond. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and will return to court on July 10 for trial. McCants' early life was characterized by a promising athletic career, but his post-retirement life has been more troubled. As a young man, McCants was an All-American college athlete at the University of Alabama. After graduation, he was drafted into the NFL in 1990. He played three seasons with the Buccaneers and two seasons with the Oilers and Cardinals. Injuries due to sacks brought his career in professional football to an end in 1995.

Evidence against some people in Florida facing criminal charges might be based on eyewitness identification, but this is not always reliable. In one case in California, a man spent eight years in prison on a rape conviction and was released after being exonerated on DNA evidence.

The man was convicted after being identified by the victim and a witness. When the victim first identified the man in a photo lineup, she said she was 70 percent certain of his identity. By the time of the trial, she said she was 100 percent certain. However, the co-director of the California Innocence Project said this is not unusual. He said that eyewitnesses often identify the person in a photo lineup who most resembles the one who committed the crime. That person is then identified a second time in a police lineup. These multiple identifications solidify the idea of this person as the perpetrator, and by the time the trial occurs, the witness is fully confident.

On May 26, a Florida woman was arrested for alleged possession of crystal meth. Ironically, her first name is Crystal, and her last name is spelled similarly to the drug.

According to St. Augustine authorities, police were dispatched to a one-story office complex on Dixie Highway in response to a report of an unlicensed driver. Once on the scene, officers observed the defendant, age 40, a male friend, age 41, and a third individual sitting in a vehicle. They asked the trio for consent to search the vehicle, and it was granted.