With the legalization of marijuana for medical use in Florida, DUI arrests related to marijuana are on the rise.  If you have been accused of driving under the influence of marijuana, here are some things that you need to know.   Can Marijuana use lead to a DUI in Tampa, Florida? Yes.  When most people think of DUI, […]

Crimes in Florida can be divided into two general types, misdemeanors and felonies.  Florida misdemeanors are punishable by a maximum of up to one year in jail, while Florida felonies are punishable a year or more in Florida State Prison.   Florida law further breaks down misdemeanors and felonies into different levels, depending on the severity of […]

In the summer of 1787, the founding fathers drafted the United States Constitution in Philadelphia.  In June of 1788, New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify the constitution, bringing the United States Government as we know it into existence.   Article III of the Constitution established the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Constitution left the organization of […]

Federal government contracting started in the United States during the Revolutionary War and continues to this day.  While government contracting is indispensable to keeping the federal government working efficiently, fraud has always been a problem.  As Ben Franklin once keenly observed, “there is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily fall […]

The National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) has announced that David C. Hardy of the Hardy Law Firm, P.A., in Tampa, Florida has successfully achieved recertification as a criminal trial advocate. Attorney Hardy has illustrated his commitment to bettering the legal profession by successfully completing a rigorous application process and providing the consumers of legal […]

The Florida Supreme Court Decision that Established that Confessions Extracted by Threats or Promises Are Inadmissible at Trial In October of 1852 in Pensacola, Florida, a series of 4 fires broke out in just 2 days.  It was clear that there was an arsonist on the loose. An 1852 Pensacola Newspaper wrote that Pensacola’s residents […]

Facts of the Case – Rehaif v. United States Mr. Hamid Rehaif, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, entered the United States on a student visa to attend the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.  Under the terms of his visa, he was allowed to stay in the United States only so long […]

What Is Substantial Assistance? “Substantial assistance” is a term that is often heard in the media when federal criminal cases of public interest are in the news. Substantial assistance is a process by which a federal criminal defendant helps the government to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by persons other than the defendant. A defendant […]

What is a federal minimum mandatory drug sentence? Defendants in the Tampa federal courts with federal drug charges frequently face minimum mandatory sentences.  A minimum mandatory sentence is a minimum sentence that the judge must impose by law, whether the judge likes it or not. For example, if a Tampa federal drug case involves at […]

The Hillsborough County, Florida Drug Court is a voluntary program that is designed to take non-violent drug offenders out of the criminal justice system and place them into drug treatment.  The goal is to get non-violent drug offenders the help they need to kick their drug habit. In Hillsborough County, Florida, drug court is called […]