July 19, 2024, the police conducted the traffic stop in regard to the Defendant for traveling approximately 90 miles an hour and 70 mile per hour zone. The police made contact with the driver, and she rolled down the window halfway. The police asked the Defendant to roll down the window all the way and she did not comply. The police asked for her license, registration and insurance and she pulled out a stack of credit cards. The Master Sargeant asked the driver step out of the vehicle because it would be safer to communicate outside on the side of the interstate. The Defendant appeared to be nervous, and they asked her to roll down the windows and step out of the car multiple times. After she failed to comply, the officers pulled the driver out of the vehicle and she tried to pull herself back in the vehicle to try the police. The officers also noted that they detected the scent of marijuana emanating from the vehicle and placed her under arrest for resisting arrest without violence. Search incident to the arrest revealed that methamphetamines, marijuana and cocaine in the vehicle. In addition to the drugs, the police found over $22,000 in cash in the vehicle. After discussing the case with the Assistant State Attorney, we were able to negotiate the following plea: All of the felony drug charges will be dismissed, the client can plea no contest to resisting arrest without violence, adjudication will be withheld and she will forfeit half of the cash seized.

Our client was pulled over late in the for speeding. Port St. Lucie Police Department called a Drug Recognition Expert Officer to the scene to conduct a DUI investigation. The client was cooperative with all questions and the field sobriety exercises. However, the Drug Recognition Expert Officer thought otherwise and arrested for a DUI. He demanded a breath test which resulted in a breath sample of .050 and .051. The Drug Recognition Expert Officer requested a urine sample under the guise of Implied Consent. His urine sample came back positive for cocaine, cocaine metabolites, and cannabis metabolites. The client rejected all plea offers. We challenged the arrest with a motion to suppress the urine results but lost. The client then elected a trial. At trial, Attorney Jonathon Alford and Attorney Alyssa Grant successfully excluded the Expert Testimony Portion of the Officer in a motion in limine. The State also put on an FDLE Expert Toxicologist to show the effects of cocaine on the human body and mind.  At trial, though effective cross examination, Attorney Jonathon Alford was able to argue in closing that the client was following the law, and nothing in the initial DUI investigation lead the Expert Drug Recognition Officer to believe he was under the effects of cocaine and alcohol like the FDLE Expert Toxicologist explained. The jury came back in 35 minutes with a verdict of Not Guilty.

Our Client was arrested and booked into the County Jail for driving while license suspended, a misdemeanor; however, the officer wrote the citation for driving while license was permanently revoked, a felony.  The officer then amended all the paperwork to match the citation, so everything alleged a felony.  Rather than being sent to circuit court, which has jurisdiction over felonies, everything was sent to county court, which only has jurisdiction over misdemeanors.  Knowing the county court had no jurisdiction to try our client, we set the case for trial.  Prior to being called up for trial, speedy trial expired, so the State could not amend the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.  Since our Client’s license was suspended, not permanently revoked, the State was forced to drop the case when we were called up for trial.

Client was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of battery. State was threatening to file a firearm enhancement and prison time if client did not accept house arrest plea offer. We turned down all offers to set the case on the trial docket. State decided not to go forward and nolle prossed all charges against client.

The Defendant was pulled over by FHP for a routine safety check of his commercial vehicle.  The client has a valid Puerto Rican CDL and thought it was valid in the US.  The officer would not accept the Defendants commercial driver’s license and charged him with No Valid CDL.  Counsel’s office contacted the Assistant State Attorney and negotiated a dismissal of the charges because the Puerto Rican CDL was valid because Puerto Rico is a US territory.

On July 9, 2022, an officer from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office approached a vehicle, parked on the side of the roadway pointed towards the intersection. The officer stopped and approached the vehicle to make sure that the driver did not need any assistance. When the officer made contact with the driver, he appeared to be dazed and confused and made unintelligible responses to the officer’s questions. The officer asked the client to step out of the vehicle and do roadside sobriety tests. The Defendant did not do well on the roadside sobriety test and also gave a blood alcohol sample of .206 and .194. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. After reviewing the case with the State Attorney, the driving under the influence charges were dismissed.

On March 20, 2024, the police observed a Toyota Tundra in the parking lot of a closed city park. The vehicle was running and occupied by our client. The police asked him why he was in the park after hours, and he replied that he was just hanging out.  There is a strong odor of alcohol emanating from his breath, his eyes are bloodshot and glassy and his speech was slurred. Police ask the defendant to perform roadside tasks and give a bread sample. He refused both and was immediately arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. After speaking to the prosecutor regarding the case, The driving under the influence charges were dropped.

On April 18, 2024, the police were called in regard to a driver that was all over the road and they called believed that he was intoxicated. The police were able to catch up with the driver and Observed the driver into several lanes, not being able to maintain control of vehicle or her speed. Police were  to pull the driver over. The driver performed poorly on the roadside tasks and gave a blood alcohol sample a .204. After discussing the case with the Assistant State Attorney, We were able to negotiate a plea for reckless driving to resolve this case.

July 21, 2024, the police were called in regard to an erratic driver in Franklin County. The police initiated a stop and observed the Defendant unsteady on his feet,  swaying back-and-forth on the roadway and slurring his speech. The driver was not able to perform roadside tasks but did give a blood alcohol sample a .213 and .206.  After discussing the case with the Assistant State Attorney, We were able to get the DUI charges dropped.

Our Client was arrested for the felony of driving while license revoked as a habitual traffic offender. With our assistance, Client’s declaration as a habitual traffic offender was removed from his driving record, along with the corresponding driver license revocation. With a valid license, we were able to negotiate a time-served plea on the misdemeanor of driving without a valid driver license.

Our client was out on his boat with friends when his boat was stopped for a vessel safety check. The Officer said he smelled alcohol coming from our client. The Officer then asked our client to conduct a seated battery of tasks and our client agreed to perform the tasks. The Officer later arrested our client for Boating Under the Influence (BUI). This client had 2 prior DUI’s and the State wanted him to go to jail for 60 days in this case. Our client could not afford to do that — he had a job and a family, and most importantly, learned from his past mistakes and felt he did not do anything wrong in this case. Despite that, the State persisted with seeking 60 days jail so we set the case for trial. We worked on the case for months to demonstrate that our client was innocent, presenting the State with video evidence as well as evidence from the police reports tending to show that our client was not guilty of BUI. Finally, at the last court date before trial, the State conceded and dropped the Boating Under the Influence charge and our client did no additional jail time.

Our client was pulled over for speeding past 2 marked police cars. She was pulled over and officers immediately suspected her of DUI. The Officers stated our client did not know where she lived and she was slurring her words. The Officers asked our client to perform Field Sobriety Tasks and she agreed. After performing the Field Sobriety Tasks, the Officers arrested our client for DUI. Frustrated, our client began acting out and resisting officers’ efforts to bring her to jail. The State refused to drop the case as they believed they could prove that our client was guilty of DUI to a jury. Our client refused to take a plea, insisting that she was not DUI. We took the case to trial and vigorously cross examined officers on the video evidence, their statements, and their reports. In the end, the jury agreed with us and found our client not guilty of DUI and one count of resisting an officer without violence.