Law Updates for November 11, 2011

Hernandez, 36 FLW 648, Fla, A Driver's License Suspension can be predicated upon a refusal to submit to a breath test, not only if the refusal is incident to a lawful arrest.  Driver can not be precluded from challenging whether the refusal is from an unlawful arrest.

Page, 36 FLW 2395, 4th DCA, Trial court erred in finding that the officer's use of defendants's name and date of birth for a warrants check turned consensual encounter into an encounter requiring reasonable suspicion.

Blue, 36 FLW 2399, 4th DCA, Jessica Lunsford Act went into effect July 1, 2007.  If someone's case happened in 2001 and VOP in 2009, they do not automatically have to wear the monitor, but can still apply monitor under 948.30(2)(c) if the court makes the requisite findings.

Harris, 36 FLW 2400, 4th DCA, Possession of cocaine with intent to sell - Evidence was insufficient to exclude the reasonable hypothesis of innocence that crack cocaine found in defendant's possession was for personal use. The officer's conclusion that the fifty rocks found were for sale to others was not supported by any corroborating facts other than the amount, and the fact that the defendant did not possess any paraphernalia, and the rocks were all in one package.  This is a good summary of the case law in this area.





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