2500 Rhode Island Ave, Suite B, Fort Pierce, FL 34947
Call Today: (772) 489-2200
2500 Rhode Island Ave, Suite B, Fort Pierce, FL 34947
Call Today: (772) 489-2200

2500 Rhode Island Avenue
Suite B
Fort Pierce, FL 34947

Call Now For A Personalized Case Evaluation

(772) 489-2200

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Our Cases
The accused, R.T. (not his real initials). was arrested on July 7. 2010. in Martin County, Florida, on charges of burglary, first degree grand theft and criminal mischief over $1,000. A detective concluded that R. T. committed these offenses when he entered the restaurant where he was employed “after hours”. The detective supposed that R.T....
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Kenneth Sanderson (not his real name) had recently turned 18. He looked around and found a used pickup truck which was for sale by a man in Fort Meyers, Florida. Sanderson learned about the pickup through a friend, R.J. Keane (not his real name). Keane had recently installed a sound system in the truck for...
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Grand Theft Defense Attorney
Help from a Grand Theft Defense Attorney This case illustrates the attempted use of criminal punishment to gain advantage in business disputes. Depending upon your point of view, the practice of using criminal arrests in the context of a civil dispute is odious and detestable, a legal form of extortion. “Victims” like the idea of...
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Polk County Grand Theft Lawyer
Charges Cleared by Polk County Grand Theft Lawyer Alexa Gutierez (not her real name) was charged with stealing a paycheck from a mailbox, duplicating the check with fake information and electronically depositing the check into her account. The Polk County Prosecutor thought she had a pretty solid case. After all, who else would deposit money...
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Port St. Lucie vehicular homicide attorney
Not Guilty Verdict Following a Port St. Lucie Vehicular Homicide Arrest In some cases, someone who is involved in a fatal car accident in Florida might be charged with vehicular homicide. This is a serious felony offense that can result in a lengthy prison sentence and a substantial fine. Port St. Lucie vehicular homicide attorney...
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Indian River First Degree Murder Attorney
Indian River First Degree Murder Attorney Pleas Murder Case Out To 15 Years John Edwardson (not his real name) was charged with 1st Degree Murder.  The incident occurred in Indian River County on or about November 10, 2011. Edwardson went to jury trial in April, 2014 and was found guilty of 1st degree murder with...
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Second Degree Felony Murder Lawyer
Recent Case From Second Degree Felony Murder Lawyer Jeffrey H. Garland In Florida, you can be charged with felony murder when someone dies while you are committing certain types of offenses even when the death was unintentional. Felony murder carries the same potential penalties as first-degree murder. People who are convicted of felony murder can...
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Fort Pierce Violation of Probation
Help from a Fort Pierce Violation of Probation Lawyer Ajay Temple (not his real name) was on 10 years sex offender probation in St. Lucie County.  With just a few months to go the Probation Officer told Ajay he owed an extra $19,570.15.  He offered to let Ajay make monthly payments of $2,817.18 per month....
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Not What It Seems: All Charges Dropped Donald Wing and his wife Alana (not their real names) were charged in Martin County with Second Degree Arson and Burning to Defraud Insurer.  The investigator for the Florida Division of Financial Services (DFS) claimed that Donald and Alana burned their 2017 Infiniti QX70 on 3/24/19. The DFS...
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Okeechobee Felony Battery Attorney
Help from a Okeechobee Felony Battery Attorney Michael Trask (not his real name) was arrested in Okeechobee County on 2/18/2019 for felony battery.  Michael promptly retained Jeffrey H. Garland to handle the matter. For reasons that were never clear, the State initially reduced the charge to misdemeanor battery.  Latter on, the State would upfile the...
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Saint Lucie Drug Conspiracy Lawyer
Hiring a Qualified Saint Lucie Drug Conspiracy Lawyer Hector Suarez (not his real name) was arrested for a cocaine conspiracy by DEA on July 30, 2019, in St. Lucie County.  Hector’s family retained Saint Lucie criminal defense lawyer Jeffrey H. Garland just after the arrest. Attorney Garland recognized that “cooperation” in the case would be...
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Fort Pierce Domestic Battery
Help from a Fort Pierce Domestic Battery Defense Lawyer The world feels like its crashing down on you when you’re arrested for Fort Pierce domestic battery. All the more so when you’ve no criminal record. So, it was when Victor Johns (not his real name) was arrested for battery on July 8, 2019 by the...
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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....
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On November 8, 2018, the Florida Supreme Court issued a 15-page opinion reversing the death penalty imposed upon Eriese Alphonso Tisdale. Attorney Jeffrey H. Garland represented Mr. Tisdle on this appeal. Mr. Garland anticipates filing a petition before the United States Supreme Court seeking certiorari review. Mr. Garland will argue that any resentencing proceeding would...
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St. Lucie County deputies went to Armando Ring’s (not his real name) house on 4/5/18 to execute a misdemeanor arrest warrant for failure to appear. The deputies did not have a search warrant. As shown in the picture, Ring’s house was fenced, gated and posted against trespassers. The deputies disregarded the gate, fence and no...
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The client was upset that he was denied the opportunity to buy a firearm due to an erroneous background check. He retained Jeffrey Garland to “fix it”. Garland tracked the problem to a 1976 Martin County arrest for more than five grams of cannabis. At the time, that was a felony, but the records showed...
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Indian River County Drug Trafficking Attorney
A Seminole Police Department (SPD) officer initiated a stop for speeding on a section of State Road 721 which was inside the Brighton Reservation. The SPD officer did not catch up to the SUV until it was well off the Reservation. SPD jurisdiction exists only on the Reservation. However, the law allows an SPD officer...
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A St. Lucie County jury found Lane Reynolds (not his real name) not guilty of lewd computer solicitation and attempted lewd and lascivious battery on August 1, 2018. The same jury found Reynolds guilty of unlawful use of a two-way communication device. This inconsistent verdict was, Attorney Jeffrey Garland believes, based upon government entrapment and...
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Matilda Harris (not her real name) was given a criminal summons for trespass after notice on 12/13/17. A Glades County jury found her not guilty on 5/11/18. Shortly after the incident, Matilda retained Indian River County criminal defense attorney Jeffrey Garland for her defense. Garland reviewed the evidence, then filed a motion in limine to...
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Vero Beach Domestic Battery Attorney
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...
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Adolphus Stevens (not his real name) was arrested by Port St. Lucie police on 4/17/17 for possession under 20 grams of cannabis and for possession of drug paraphernalia. Stevens made the mistake, you see, of walking across a vacant lot in broad daylight in a residential area. Several minutes later, a PSLPD officer detained and...
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Phillippe St. Jean (not his real name) exports stuff to Haiti using 40′ shipping containers. He rents a warehouse in St. Lucie County to store the containers for short periods of time until pickup by the shipping company. St. Jean made the common mistake of trying to help out a friend in need. The friend...
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Julie Banner (not her real name) retained Port Saint Lucie criminal defense Attorney Jeffrey H. Garland for her appeal. She had been convicted of DUI and sentenced, among other things, to 120 days in St. Lucie County’s Crossbar Hilton. She was not a happy camper. Attorney Garland moved for an appeal bond to secure Banner’s...
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Pictures do not always tell the whole story. On 8/16/17, the jury returned verdicts of not guilty on charges of sale of cocaine, and possession of cocaine with intent to sell, in just 26 minutes. Evidence showed that a detective with the Okeechobee County Drug Task Force stopped the CI on 11/14/16 for an alleged...
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“Easy Rider” (not his real name) was arrested on 6/25/17 for having a concealed firearm at Earl’s Hideaway in Sebastian, Florida. Easy Rider was surprised, because he showed the Sebastian police officer his concealed weapons license. The police officer asserted that the concealed weapons license did not work in Earl’s Hideaway, because it “is a...
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Julie Banner (not her real name) was convicted of DUI at a jury trial in St. Lucie County. Judge Yacucci sentenced Banner to 120 days in jail. St. Lucie County DUI defense Attorney Jeffrey Garland was retained to pursue the appeal. Garland immediately moved for stay of sentence and an appeal bond. Judge Yacucci denied...
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“Landlord” was arrested on 1/17/17, for trying to repair water damage to one of his rental properties. The tenants had said they were anxious to get the repairs completed, so that their children would not be exposed to mold. Turns out the tenants were a special breed of “squatters”, who specialize in avoidance of paying...
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“Fisherman” was arrested in Martin County for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia on 12/30/16. He exercised his right to remain silent, figuring the deputy would not listen anyway. So Fisherman retained Attorney Jeffrey Garland. He turned down drug court, because he “knew” there were no drugs. Attorney Garland contacted the Indian River Crime Laboratory...
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“Cowboy” was arrested on 9/10/15 in Okeechobee County on a capias charging conspiracy to commit racketeering. The long lasting drama would finally end on 5/22/17 when the charge was nolle prossed by the State. The State theorized that Cowboy had conspired with a racketeering organization, because he had supposedly purchased an “eight ball” (about 3-1/2...
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The mother on the other end of the phone was frazzled and upset. Her baby girl had just been sentenced to prison. The mother could not understand what went wrong or why. The mother retained Jeffrey Garland on 8/2/16 to look into the matter. Attorney Garland filed the motion for post-conviction relief (PCR) three days...
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Preston Rock (not his real name) was charged in Okeechobee County with three felony charges: conspiracy to introduce contraband, unlawful compensation for a public servant, and bribery. Rock was arrested on warrants in February, 2015. All charges were dropped on 2/21/17. What happened? On 4/12/14, Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) investigators converged on the Okeechobee...
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In an earlier blog report, the tugboat captain, Blaine Masters, got his felony DWLS set aside via postconviction relief. After that, Masters hired Garland to fix his life-time license revocation. See Tugboat Captain’s Coast Guard License Saved Via Motion to Correct Sentencing Error. Turns out that DHSMV “merged” Masters’ driving histories in 2014. Apparently, DHSMV...
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The State gave up on efforts to convict customers on a weird theory that the drug customers had become “co-conspirators” with the drug trafficking organization. All charges against Justin Jaybird (not his real name) were dropped on 11/29/16. The strange saga began with a combined DEA-State investigation into methamphetamine distribution in the middle of Florida,...
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George Lyman (not his real name) plead no contest on 2/9/15 with the specific understanding that his driver license would be suspended for six months. Martin County Judge Darren Steele followed the plea agreement and imposed the 6-month suspension. Turns out that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) had different ideas....
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Darnell Compton (not his real name) was arrested on 8/27/16 in Port St. Lucie for felony child neglect. Police had been notified that a 1-year old toddler had been left alone in a car. The car was parked outside of a Walgreens store at about 2:00 A.M. The child’s mother was also arrested for the...
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Cicily Jones (not her real name) hired Jeffrey Garland on 2/26/15 to appeal her conviction for resisting without violence. The trial took place before Judge Yacucci in St. Lucie County. Attorney Garland argued on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to prove the “lawful execution of legal duty”, which is an element of the charge....
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Tugboat Captain’s Coast Guard License Saved Via Motion to Correct Sentencing Error Tugboat Captain’s Coast Guard License Saved Via Motion to Correct Sentencing Error Blaine Masters (not his real name) was charged with felony DWLS. After paying for not one, but two other lawyers, he plead out to the felony and got “just” 120 days...
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Retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander Russell Miner (not his real name) retained Attorney Jeffrey H. Garland to “clean up” old and erroneous entries on the criminal history maintained by FDLE. A FDLE examiner advised that an arrest for possession of cannabis under 20 grams remained “active”, even though the date of arrest was 6/14/1974. The...
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Roscoe Riley (not his real name) was charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering in Okeechobee County. The information alleges a conspiracy to violate unspecified provisions of Chapter 893, dealing with controlled substances. Attorney Garland sought, without success, to dismiss the charge for failing to properly outline the scope and purpose of the conspiracy. The motion...
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Josh Berringer (not his real name) was arrested on 3/6/16, at the Okeechobee Music Festival, for trafficking in LSD. His family immediately retained Okeechobee drug trafficking attorney Jeffrey Garland. Garland identified irregularities in the manner of the search and the processing of evidence. The supposed field testing of evidence did not match the charge. There...
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Child custody disputes commonly escalate into litigation and, occasionally, into arrests. Police can arrest a parent for “interfering” with custody under limited circumstances.  Mary Nance (not her real name) learned that police can be quick to arrest on “probable cause”. Nance was arrested for violating her husband’s custody rights on 3/5/16. She was given no...
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Respect for law enforcement is diminished when an officer seeks to justify a stop for a reason shown to be false. Subsequent investigation proved that the stopped car had nothing but factory tint. Prosecutors, wisely, dropped charges on 1/20/16, rather than dispute the evidence from a defense expert concluding that the trooper’s “reason” for the...
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Gustof Nesmith (not his real name) was cited for driving without a valid license on 10/4/15. The charge was actually a “gift”, because Nesmith’s license was suspended on account of a long ago New Jersey DUI conviction. Nesmith had been jailed by St. Lucie County Judge Yacucci for the same offense about a year earlier....
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There have been an increasing number of arrests for contraband coming into jails. Many of these arrests are the direct result of improperly performed police “pat down” searches made at the time of arrest. The arrestee is taken to jail against their will. The arrestee is told they have a right to remain silent. The...
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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...
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Solomon Jean Pierre (not his real name) had a hard time getting to the United States from his native country of Haiti. Once here, Pierre was granted status. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued him an employment authorization card which allowed Pierre to obtain work and a Florida Driver License. Pierre took advantage of...
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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...
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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...
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Hector Long (not his real name) was arrested on 3/6/15 by Fort Pierce Police. What makes this arrest unusual is that Long is the owner of a “motel”. He was arrested for trespass when he entered the room of a tenant. Initially, Long thought that he could “do-it-yourself”. He was thinking that the criminal courts...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Fort Pierce Fraud Theft Lawyer
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...
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Recently Attorney Garland was published in the Southern Reporter regarding one of his appeals. To view the article Click Here.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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  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....
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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 ...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Johnny Morris (not his real name) was arrested on 2/16/12, in Okeechobee County for possession of cocaine, possession of cannabis under 20 grams, possession of drug paraphernalia, and misdemeanor driving while license suspended (DWLS). Morris bonded out of jail. The State subsequently filed formal charges (which added a charge of evidence tampering), and provided discovery,...
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On 6/2/12, Jude Lawson (not his real name) was stopped at about 1:00 A.M. in Fort Pierce. The deputy claimed that Jude was playing loud music in his pickup truck in violation of Florida Statute 316.3045. The deputy discovered that Jude’s license was suspended for failing to pay child support. Judge was arrested for DWLS...
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Client’s car was stopped for a “loud music” violation of Section 316.3045. The client was initially represented by the public defender, who recommended that he plea “no contest” to DWLS and to a separate charge of resisting an officer without violence. The client soon learned that the withhold of adjudication for the DWLS would still...
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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...
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In June, 2012, an FHP trooper was radar timing cars traveling west on Port St. Lucie Boulevard in the area of the Floresta Drive intersection.  The trooper was watching cars as they came down the west side of the bridge over the north fork of the St. Lucie River.  Drivers ordinarily have to brake on...
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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...
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