What to Do if your Child is Arrested in Pinellas County While on Spring Break

”You are now receiving a free call from _______ an inmate at the Pinellas County Jail.” These are words that no parent wants to hear. With its pristine beaches and vibrant night life, St. Pete Beach and Clearwater Beach are frequent destinations for Spring Breakers looking to cut loose during a week off from college. Drinking and drug use can sometimes result in criminal charges. If your child has been arrested while on Spring Break in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or the surrounding areas of Pinellas County, this article is for you.

Common Spring Break Charges

With nearly thirty-five years of experience in the Pinellas County justice system, the top-rated criminal defense lawyers at Defend Pinellas, PLLC know all too well that partying at spring break can, at times, lead to a criminal arrest. Common criminal charges for spring breakers include:

• Driving Under the Influence
• Possession of a Controlled Substance
• Disorderly Conduct or Disorderly Intoxication
• Domestic Battery
• Open Container

Don’t Allow a Spring Break Mistake to Impact Career and Graduate School Opportunities

A criminal arrest record can have significant impacts on an individual’s ability to obtain meaningful employment and earn acceptance into a graduate school. In some cases, the highly-experienced Clearwater Beach Defense Attorneys at Defend Pinellas, PLLC can help your child avoid a conviction through:

• Early intervention with the prosecutor
• A dismissal through participation in a diversion program
• A withhold of adjudication

Contact Our Office for a Free Consultation

If your student has been charged with a criminal offense while on Spring Break, time is of the essence. Contact our office today at 727-855-3847 for a free consultation. We will tailor a strategy designed to secure the most favorable and lenient outcome for your child.

Is Spanking Your Child Considered “Child Abuse” in Florida

An arrest for Child Abuse in Pinellas County, Florida can have serious and permanent ramifications. In this article, the best Child Abuse Criminal Defense Attorneys near me discuss a legal issue that commonly comes up in Child Abuse cases in the St. Petersburg and Clearwater areas: whether spanking your child constitutes “Child Abuse.”

Child Abuse Defined

Under Florida Statute 827.03, it is unlawful for an individual to knowingly and willfully inflict physical or mental injury on a child, to commit an intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury to a child, or to actively encourage another person to commit an act that resulted in or could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury. In this context, a child is defined as a person under the age of 18.

An Affirmative Defense

A parent or a person acting in the place of a parent may raise an affirmative defense to an allegation of “Child Abuse” if the parent imposed reasonable physical displine on the child for misbehavior under the circumstances even though physical injury resulted from the discipline. Thus, a parent may have an affirmative defense to an allegation of “Child Abuse” for spanking their child if such conduct was a reasonable exercise of parental discipline for misbehavior.

Contact Our Office for a Free Consultation

If you or a loved one has been arrested or under police investigation for an allegation of “Child Abuse,” contact our office at 727-855-3847 for a free consultation. In some cases, our early intervention with the prosecutor may result in the charges being dismissed. Our top-rated criminal defense lawyers in Clearwater look forward to speaking with you.

One of the things that we see in the law is that as technology improves, the Florida legislature has to respond to changes in technology and create new laws. In this article, the best criminal defense attorneys in Clearwater discuss the crime of Unlawful Installation of a Tracking Device.

What Constitutes Unlawful Installation or Use of a Tracking Device or Tracking Application

Under Florida Statute 934.425, it is unlawful for a person to place a tracking device or a tracking application on another person’s property. This unlawful conduct could include putting an “air tag” on someone’s vehicle, or adding a “tracking app” to their phone or ipad without their consent. 

Are There Any Exceptions to the Prohibition Against Installing a Tracking Device or Tracking Application?

Installing a tracking device or tracking application is not, in and of itself, a criminal offense. When the legislature crafted the law, they recognized that there are legitimate uses for such devices or applications and carved out several exceptions to the general prohibition. These include the following:

• Law enforcement agencies may do so when lawful (for example, when a warrant is granted for such purposes)
• A parent can put a tracking device or tracking application on a child if,
  • The two parents are together
  • The parent has sole custody of the child
  • Both parents consent to the tracking device
• A caregiver for an elderly adult may place a tracking device on the elderly adult if a physician certifies that it is in the adult’s best interest
• Consent. Spouses or friends are permitted to consent to such conduct – such as a husband and wife “sharing” their locations via an iPhone.
• A person acting in good faith for a business entity for a legitimate business purpose. For example, a tracking application for a “clock in” software.
• A person may place a tracking device on his or her own vehicle, provided that the tracking device is removed before its sale or divestiture. 

What Are the Potential Penalties for Committing Unlawful Installation of a Tracking Device or Application?

When the legislature first passed this bill in 2005, the offense was classified as a second degree misdemeanor, or the lowest level criminal offense in Florida. A second degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to 60 days in county jail, or six months of probation. However, as the technology improved and became more widely available, the legislature, again, responded to the prevalence of this offense and amended the statute to make this offense a third degree felony. This means that a person who commits this offense is subject to up to five years in state prison.

Contact Our Top Rated Pinellas County Criminal Defense Attorneys Today

If you or a loved one has been charged with Unlawful Installation of a Tracking Device in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or the surrounding areas of Pinellas County, we are lawyers that can help. In some cases, our early intervention may result in the charge being dismissed. In others, we may be able to achieve a dismissal through participation in a diversion program.

Do not go it alone. This offense can carry serious and lifelong consequences. Call our office at 727-855-3847 to schedule a free consultation today.

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An arrest for a domestic battery can be a life altering, world upending experience. In this article, the best domestic battery defense attorneys in Clearwater discuss five things you should know if you or a loved one has been arrested for a misdemeanor domestic battery in Pinellas County.

1. Under Florida law, an individual arrested for domestic battery must be held without bond until he or she sees a judge. What this means is that if someone is arrested for domestic battery, the individual will have to wait in the Pinellas County Jail until the advisory hearing. The purpose of the advisory hearing is to determine whether probable cause exists for the allegation, to set a bond, to appoint a public defender if the individual is indigent, and to set “reasonable conditions of release.”

2. It is very common that the Court will set Conditions of Release. The common conditions of release include “no contact with the victim,” no consumption of alcohol or drugs, the requirement that an individual wear an alcohol detecting monitor or GPS monitor and that the individual not possess any firearms.

3. A “No Contact” Order Means No Contact, and Violating this Order can have Significant Consequences. We are often contacted by the spouse of an individual who was arrested for domestic battery who tells us that the incident was the result of poor judgement, and that the spouse wants to be able to have contact with the person arrested. If the Court orders “No Contact,” the arrested must abide by that order until the Court permits contact. If the arrested violates a No Contact order, his or her pretrial release on the original domestic battery offense can be revoked, and he or she could face the additional criminal offense of “Violation of Pretrial Release.”

4. Our Office Can File a Motion to Modify Pretrial Release to Request Contact. It is very common that after an arrest, the parties want to resume having contact. In order to accomplish this objective the right way, our top-rated domestic violence defense lawyers can file a Motion to Modify Pretrial Release. After the Motion is filed, a hearing will be scheduled and both parties will need to be present for the Court to consider the motion. The judge will consider the history of arrests, nature of offense, extent of injuries, and any other relevant factors.

5.  Just Because an Arrest for Domestic Battery occurred, that does not mean that the individual will be prosecuted for the offense. One of the common misconceptions that people have is that the victim of domestic battery can simply “drop” the charge. That is not the case. After an arrest for domestic battery, the prosecutor will do its own independent investigation to determine what, if any charges, are appropriate. If a client gets our office involved quickly, our early intervention with the prosecutor can, in some cases, result in a dismissal of the charge.

Contact Our Office for a Free Consultation

If you or a loved one has been arrested for a domestic battery offense in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or the surrounding areas of Pinellas County, the stakes are high. A domestic battery conviction cannot be sealed or expunged. Our goal is to secure the most favorable and expeditious resolution for your loved one’s case. Contact our office at 727-855-3847 to schedule a free consultation with our experienced domestic battery defense law firm.