Florida Criminal Attorney Blog

Published on: December 16, 2008

No DUI charges expected in Hernando overpass truck crash

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The dump truck driver who smashed his rig into an overpass at Interstate 75 and State Road 50 last week will likely not be charged in the incident, the Florida Highway Patrol said Wednesday.

Tampabay.com is reporting that FHP has nearly wrapped up its investigation of the crash involving a Brooksville man who said that the bed of his truck inexplicably started to rise as he passed under the overpass causing him to hit the first and second outside concrete beams that support the I-75 overpass. FHP is still waiting for a report from the state Motor Carrier Compliance Office on the truck’s most recent inspection but they have already determined that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he was driving the truck. No one was injured in the the accident.

The Florida Department of Transportation worked quickly to repair the damage to the bridge as more than 40,000 drivers use I-75 at that site each day, while another 19,000 travel along SR 50.

Published on: December 10, 2008

Brooksville woman charged with drug possession

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Hernando Today is reporting that a Brooksville woman faces felony drug charges in relation to a traffic stop Sunday evening.

Police reports allege that deputies pulled over a red Saturn after receiving a report from detectives that there could be drugs in the car. After the stop, police found 3.5 grams of methamphetamine in several small plastic baggies, as well as marijuana.

As a result the driver, Vikki Sue Coleman, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine as well with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. Coleman allegedly told a deputy she had been selling the drug for the last three weeks because she needed the money.

Published on: December 9, 2008

Prosecutors will not seek death penalty in Casey Anthony murder case

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

ABC Action News is reporting that prosecutors will not pursue the death penalty in Casey Anthony’s case- the central Florida woman charged with killing her 3-year-old daughter. The Orange County State Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Friday that it is not in the best interest of the people of the State of Florida to pursue the death penalty for Anthony.

The victim was last seen in June but her mother did not report her missing until July. The toddler’s body has not been recovered. The 22-year-old defendant has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators about the disappearance of her daughter. She faces life in prison if convicted.

Published on: December 7, 2008

Tampa teens arrested for burglary

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Three Tampa juveniles have been arrested on charges of burglary and grand theft auto. It is not clear at this time whether they will be treated as adults.

ABC Action News reports that the charges stem from an incident on East Jean Street on Friday. Thinking no one was home, Tampa Police say the juveniles cased an elderly Sulpher Springs woman’s home and then the teens broke in. The victim heard the noise created by the break in and she investigated, using her crutches. She surprised the juveniles who fled with keys to her van which also had her wheelchair inside.

The juveniles were apprehended a short time later in the same neighborhood when police stopped the kids in the stolen van. Police were able to recover victim’s specialized wheel chair from a dumpster. Grand theft auto is third degree felony holding a maximum penalty of five years. Burglary of an occupied dwelling is a second degree felony.

Published on: December 5, 2008

Man charged with DUI after rear-ending Marion County deputy

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Ocala.com reported today on a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle that was rear-ended in Silver Shores late Wednesday night. The 62-year old man was charged with driving under the influence.

Officials say Deputy Pam Race had stopped at the intersection of Dogwood Road and Baseline Road when Robert Dalton failed to stop and struck Race’s vehicle in the back. The deputy was not injured but the damage to her vehicle was estimated at $2,000. Florida Highway Patrol officials said the driver refused to submit to a draw blood or a breath test. Officials detected alcohol on Dalton’s breath and believe he may have been under the influence.

Refusing to submit to a breath test can cause your driver’s license to be administratively suspended as can a DUI arrest–however in some situations these suspensions can be set aside. If you have been arrested for DUI it is imperative that you contact a lawyer promptly as challenges to driver’s license suspensions must be made within 10 days from arrest.

Published on: November 24, 2008

Port Richey Doctor sentenced to 33 Years In Prison For Child Porn

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The Tampa Bay is reporting that the Port Richey doctor convicted of possessing and receiving child pornography was sentenced this afternoon to 33 years and 9 months in federal prison.

The Doctor’s wife at the time was the person who alerted law enforcement to his criminal activity. She later testified against him at trial. Investigators say they found images of children as young as six on the Doctor’s office and home computers. At sentencing, family members of the Doctor testified to the Judge that they had been molested by the Doctor when they were children and that they have never been able to move on from the trauma that caused in their life.

The doctor’s medical license has been suspended indefinitely by the Florida Department of Health.

Published on: November 17, 2008

Orlando Report Shows Teachers Accused of Sex Crimes in on The Rise

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The Orlando Sun Sentinel is reporting that at least 150 Florida teachers have been disciplined in the past three years for accusations arising from sexual misconduct with students. One concerning trend the report showed is sexual misdeeds is rising in Florida – especially among female educators.

Some of the most severe cases resulted in arrests and criminal convictions for sex offenses but the Sentinel’s review of teacher-discipline records from the Florida Department of Education found that many of the alleged misconducts did not rise to a criminal level.

Regardless of whether the teachers were criminally charged, the facts of some of these incidents are alarming. Among the “not charged” cases are allegations that a Port Orange teacher sent text messages to a boy, calling him “cutie” and “sexie”; a ninth-grade teacher in Tampa who asked a student about the color of her nipples; and an Orlando coach who used e-mail and instant messages to tell a 13-year-old girl he loved her and wanted their relationship to grow beyond friendship.

Those 150 disciplinary cases don’t include the dozens of educators who have been suspended or lost their teaching certificates since 2006 for molesting nonstudents, downloading porn at school, having sex in public and trying to pick up prostitutes. Many of the cases occurred in the South Florida and Tampa Bay areas. In Central Florida, 34 teachers were disciplined in the three-year period, including 12 from Orange County, 11 from Volusia, four from Polk, three from Seminole, three from Brevard and one in Lake.

Published on: November 8, 2008

New Port Richey Cop Resigns After Allegedly Driving Drunk

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Officer Christopher Sutherlin, accused last week of fleeing an accident in which he was driving drunk, resigned from the police force this week.

According to Florida Highway Patrol reports, last week Sutherlin rear-ended a pickup on U.S. 19 north of Main Street and sped away. The pickup driver followed Sutherlin until he was forced to pull over because of front-end damage to Sutherlin’s car. Early the next morning, Troopers arrested Sutherlin on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and later gave him a Breathalyzer test, which registered blood alcohol levels of 0.148 and 0.151 blood-alcohol level. (Florida law presumes a driver impaired at 0.08.)

Sutherlin is charged with DUI, DUI with personal injury and DUI with Property Damage as well as Leaving the Scene of an Accident. The Times reports that the police department began an internal investigation of the incident, which also involved Officer Joseph Pascalli, who was riding with Sutherlin. Pascalli, who had been part of the department’s DUI unit, is now working the midnight shift on patrol.

In a strange twist to the story, Joshua Vitori–who was driving the pickup Sutherlin struck– is a former Pasco County paramedic who resigned from his job last week as a result of accusations he stole $300 from a patient in his ambulance.

Published on: October 16, 2008

Hundreds of DUIs may be dismissed as a result of DUI Tester not following protocol

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

DUI arrests in South Florida are under suspicion as a result of allegations that an Inspector at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the government agency that oversees the maintenance of Breathalyzer machines, failed to follow protocol when testing faulty machines.
Defense attorneys say it is a scandal that raises questions about thousands of DUI cases in Monroe, Broward and Miami Dade counties, and they are right. According to CBS 4 in Miami, the Breath Test operator, Suzanne Veiga, encouraged police agencies to abort tests on Intoxilyzer 8000 machines that were giving questionable results, would unplug the machine if the inspection was failing, and then plug the machine back in to prevent the machines from reporting the malfunctions to Tallahassee.
The Intoxilyzer 8000 is the only breath test machine approved for use in Florida and there are more than 300 in use statewide.

The whole purpose of the breath testing protocol is to insure that the Intoxilyzers are working correctly and rendering accurate Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) levels. By keeping malfunctioning machines in police stations, this FDLE inspector has jeopardized the prosecution of thousands of DUI defendants, not to mention potentially causing the arrest of innocent people for drunk driving. My guess is that many of these DUI cases will be broken down to Reckless Driving charges or dismissed outright- it will be too hard for State Attorneys to overcome the presumption that the “faulty” Instruments involved in those arrests rendered invalid results, since they were never properly tested by Veiga.

Published on: October 9, 2008

DUI dismissed as a result of Sheriff’s Office Forgery

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Josh Poltilove reports on Tampa Bay Online that a Hillsborough County Deputy Sheriff allegedly forged supervisors’ signatures on important DUI paperwork on two separate occasions. At least one DUI was dropped by the State Attorney’s Office as a result of the forgery.

The Internal Affairs investigation found that the Deputy Sheriff, Justin Speaks, committed six felonies–three counts of forgery and three counts of uttering a forged instrument– and conduct unbecoming to a member of the Sheriff’s Office. The IA report alleges that Speaks forged Sgt. William Porter’s name and initials on a DUI report this year and that Speaks previously forged Sgt. Ron Harrison’s initials on a different DUI report and Sgt. Richard Figueredo’s initials to an HCSO supplement.