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Jessica Daniel (not her real name) is a good mom who thinks misbehaving children should be reprimanded in some fashion. On August 16, 2018, Jessica was arrested, because a Port St. Lucie police officer disagreed with Jessica’s parenting practices. You see, Jessica had been visiting a friend in a nice part of Port St. Lucie....Read More

Help from a Vero Beach Domestic Battery Attorney Spencer Scott (not his real name) is a “marine officer”, licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard to operate a variety of vessels. Captain Scott’s career would have been negatively impacted by a guilty verdict. His clients are, after all, large corporations and wealthy individuals. Capt. Scott’s sister...Read More

Human trafficking that involves both sex and drugs is a growing problem in many American communities. The recent arrest of two men in Fort Pierce brings the issue home to the Treasure Coast. According to the local police, a prostitution ring has been operating on the streets of Sunrise City and preying on women under...Read More

Fort Pierce police arrested a 26-year-old local man on the night of December 14 on a series of charges, including drug possession and weapons possession. The man, who had previously served two years in prison, was taken to the St. Lucie County jail and arraigned on bail of $100,250. The man was first seen on...Read More

Watch Out For The Angry Ex-Girlfriend Barney Mello (not his real name) probably moved the relationship along too fast. After just several months, he moved in with his new girlfriend, Lola Mulekick (not her real name). Barney maintained a superior level of income. His presence immediately advanced the financial security of Lola’s home, and the...Read More

A search warrant was executed on 8/13/14 on 1604-A Avenue K in Fort Pierce, Florida. According to the arrest affidavit, Jamie Baucomb (not his real name) was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia. These charges were based upon nine crack cocaine rocks which were...Read More

Okeechobee Stampede Bar Brouhaha Resolved – The Case For a Better Defense Something happened at the Okeechobee Stampede bar around 1:30 – 2:00 A.M. in the early morning hours of 2/14/15. This was not a lovers’ quarrel. Whatever it was, no one involved thought it important enough to complain about that night to the Okeechobee...Read More

In the case below, St Luice Criminal Appeals Lawyer Jeffrey Garland was able to reverse and remand a new trial for his client Edwin Jose Garrido. Attorney Garland was able to get a new trial for his client due to ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to investigate defenses as to the amended dates and failing to...Read More

Rodney Rockaway (not his real name) was arrested for DUI and possession of cannabis under 20 grams on 10/20/13 by the special investigations unit (SIU) of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office and by Officer Michael Acevedo of the Fort Pierce Police Department. Initially, Rockaway “went with” the public defender’s office. Later on, he retained...Read More

Astor Johanson (not his real name) had just helped unload the catch from a commercial fishing trip. Johanson drove away from the docks in his SUV, happy to be back on dry land after a successful fishing excursion. An overly alert St. Lucie County Sheriff’s detective noted that Johanson was not wearing a seatbelt. Thus...Read More

Attorney Jeffrey Garland was retained to represent Emilio Garcia (not his real name), just after his arrest for domestic violence. The wife is the person who actually retained Mr. Garland. As is so often the case, police responded to the Garcia residence in Fort Pierce, Florida, on 6/20/14, shortly after midnight. Mrs. Garcia was upset...Read More

Help from a Fort Pierce Fraud Theft Lawyer The last remaining mortgage fraud charge against Carl Crankshaft (not his real name) was dropped by the State on 10/21/14. This brought to a successful conclusion the ill-begotten prosecution. The underlying facts in this case were not in any serious dispute. Ultimately, the State was forced to...Read More

Recently Attorney Garland was published in the Southern Reporter regarding one of his appeals. To view the article Click Here.Read More

Revoked Bond Lands Citizen in Jail…Thrice Ready for Trial Secures His Release Ron Wilson (not his real name) ran into trouble upon trouble. Initially jailed on the say so of a neighbor with known mental instability, Ron secured his release on bond. He then ran into problems with his estranged wife, with whom he was...Read More

Aggravated Battery Charges Dropped in Okeechobee County Newt Ranger (not his real name) was arrested for an aggravated battery that allegedly occurred on 10/26/13, at about 1:30 A.M. 17-year-old Newt, together with a number of other juveniles and adults, were at Douglas Park in Okeechobee. The State accused Newt of hitting a 22-year-old man in...Read More

Racing on Highway Charge Reduced Alan Jasper (not his real name) was charged with racing on the highway in violation of Section 316.191(2)(a), on November 19, 2013. Shortly after bonding out of jail, he hired Attorney Jeffrey H. Garland.   A Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) trooper alleged that he observed Jasper engage in a high...Read More

Pot Charges Dropped Magnum Jones (not his real name) was arrested for possession of marijuana under 20 grams on August 27, 2013. Police approached two men who were simply standing next to a van located in a public place. The police officer claimed that there was nothing on the ground when he first engaged both...Read More

  State Drops DUI Based on Lack of Proof of Actual Physical Control The Defendant, Ajax Monroe (not his real name), was arrested for this DUI on 12/12/12. The underlying charge had, allegedly, occurred on 8/14/11. Ajax was hospitalized as a result of the accident. He was arrested on a warrant. Ajax retained Jeffrey H....Read More

Allstate’s “DriveWise” Records Show Squatter to be Liar: Stalking Charge Dropped at Jury Selection A 77-year-old man was arrested for “stalking”. The “victim” made a sworn statement as follows: [Mr. Cook] has be[en] coming by my house 3 to 4 times a day dating to back to last year. If we go to the store,...Read More

Dealer Plate Defeats Charge of Attaching Unassigned Tag Alex Anderson (not his real name) was driving a fully restored 1978 Chevy down a public highway minding his own business. Unbeknownst to Alex was the practice of local law enforcement to stop white folks driving in a “black” part of Fort Pierce at about 11 in...Read More

State Forced to Drop Trafficking in Cocaine and Oxycodone Charges Fletcher Bowdoin (not his real name) was arrested on 12/20/12 by the Fort Pierce Police Department. The police report states that Bowdoin was found hiding under a bed. The police claimed that 20 grams of “crack cookies” were found in the kitchen trash, together with...Read More

On 2/18/13, a Fort Pierce police officer arrested Carlos Montoya (not his real name) for allowing an unlicensed person to drive. Carlos is an “undocumented alien” who is trying to gain permanent resident status. A conviction for this charge – even with a “withhold of  adjudication” – would be potentially disastrous. Treasure Coast Lawyer Defeats...Read More

Judge Tosses Out Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrests for Playing Christian Music at Home Monica Williams (not her real name) had the proverbial “neighbors from hell”. The neighbors had previously filed police reports making all sorts of claims. The neighbor claimed that she could hear Monica talking and coughing, which caused her “fear”. Although the ...Read More

Lonely Heart’s Club – Sister Accuses Her Own Mother and Brother of False Imprisonment and Battery – All Charges Dropped After Year of Intense Litigation – Detective Poses as Pseudo-Psychologist Adrian Antoon and his mother, Giselle (not their real names), were arrested in Indian River County in August, 2012, on charges of false imprisonment and...Read More

A manager of a nationwide sporting goods chain was charged with grand theft via embezzlement. The manager retained Fort Pierce Attorney Jeffrey Garland within days of his arrest. Based upon many factors, including a lack of price record and immediate repayment of 100% of the misappropriated funds, the manager was allowed to plead to a...Read More

Jack Martin (not his real name) was arrested in March, 2013, for child abuse. He promptly retained Jeffrey H. Garland to represent him in the Martin County case. Fort Pierce Child Abuse The discovery materials revealed a tragically familiar scenario. As a young man, Martin married, had two children and divorced. Martin agreed to leave...Read More

Our Country may have been founded on principles of personal freedom and liberty, but the enveloping police state is acting with all dispatch to suppress “limited government”. Your government, in the mad pursuit of the “war on drugs”, jailed a 78-year-old senior citizen for “doctor shopping” on the thinnest of pretexts. Mrs. Shipley (not her...Read More

Kent Ford (not his real name) had never been arrested.  Never been in trouble.  Nada.  Kent retired from up north to Port St. Lucie with his bride of many years.  Life was good.  Back during the great land boom, they bought an investment property in a gated community in St. Lucie West.  The hope for...Read More

F.M. (not her real initials) went shopping at the Express store in the Vero Beach Mall on July 8, 2010. She would not, unfortunately, be able to forget this day, and the matter would not be resolved until 364 days later, just 5 days before a jury was to be picked. The day started out...Read More

U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Renea Thomas was arrested on December 17, 2009, while working as a corrections officer for her civilian employer, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. SLCO Sheriff Ken Mascara, at a news conference, accused Sgt. Thomas of stealing money, official misconduct and forgery and uttering a forged instrument. Twenty-one months later, the...Read More

G.J.B. was arrested on July 9, 2005, for the offense of organized fraud under $20,000.00. The charge arose out of his association with a construction company. The company had been formed several months after Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in order to take advantage of the need for home repairs.Read More

PROLOGUE Every man has a line, a point which, once passed, there must be a reckoning. For some, being pushed across this line is an invitation to fight or to get even. For others, there is a sense of helpless passivity. For Brian O’Hara, when pushed across this line, there was an intense desire to...Read More

A Fort Pierce lawyer found a 17 year-old Supreme Court decision that kept his client out of jail. By Susannah A. Nesmith Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Every year, dozens of people traipse through pastures in wester Martin and St. Lucie Counties picking hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow in cow manure.Read More

On June 12, 2007, agents from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office (SLCSO) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) executed a search warrant on a convenience store located in a predominantly immigrant/Hispanic part of Fort Pierce. The search focused on financial records involving the “transmitting” of funds and “check cashing”. Boxes of records...Read More

Famed Highwaymen artist Willie Daniels, retained the firm of Kirschner & Garland, P.A., to represent him in connection with a domestic battery charge lodged against him by the Fort Pierce Police Department. The State “picked up” the charges by filing an Information against Daniels on July 8, 2005. After conducting a thorough investigation into the...Read More