RECENT COURT VICTORIES

On September 7, 2024, the defendant was involved in a motor vehicle crash. During the investigation, the police discovered that he did not have a valid Florida Driver's license. This was a third time that the Defendant was charged with No Valid Driver's License. Under Florida law, the mandatory sentence for a third offense is a conviction and 10 days in jail. The attorney's for the Ticket Clinic negotiated with the State Attorney's Office to enter into a diversion program and have all charges dropped.

Our client was out at a local bar with friends. While at the bar she was attacked by other patrons. The police were called and arrived and scene and instructed our client to leave. Our client was alleged to have crashed into a police car and was detained. Officers on scene began a DUI investigation despite the fact that our client was just attacked. Officers arrested our client for DUI. We began working on the case and gathered witnesses and evidence and worked diligently on this client's case for months. We spoke with the State Attorney assigned to the case and provided legal argument as to why the State would not be able to prove the case at trial. Ultimately, the decision was made to set the case for a trial. On the day of trial the State dismissed all charges against our client.

Officers alleged that our client was found asleep in the driver's seat of a pickup truck in a roadway. Officers indicated that the pickup truck was  in drive when they arrived. Our client indicated that he was not the driver of the vehicle but instead his friend, who owned the vehicle, went to walk to get gas as the truck ran out of gas. Officers disagreed and conducted a DUI investigation and ultimately arrested our client for DUI. We began working on the case and investigated what happened that night. We later listed the owner of the truck as a witness so he could testify at trial. We spoke with the State Attorney assigned to the case and told them we are going to set the case for a trial. We later set the case for trial. As trial approached, the State offered to dismiss the DUI charge. Our client appeared on the day of trial and the State dismissed the DUI charge as offered.

Client was pulled over and arrested for Driving under the influence. After arrest Client provided an enhanced blow above .15. After negotiating with the State client was accepted into a DUI diversion program.  This program would reduce charge to reckless driving involving alcohol after completion of courses and payments of fines. After successful completion of this program the client was allowed to plea to reckless driving involving alcohol and was given a withhold of adjudication. Due to his lack of criminal history the client now has an opportunity to seal his record so that no private company can view the charge.

Client was pulled over and arrested for Driving under the influence. After arrest Client provided an enhanced blow above .15. The attorneys from The Ticket Clinic negotiated with the State client and the client was accepted into a DUI diversion program.  This program would reduce charge to reckless driving involving alcohol after completion of courses and payments of fines. After successful completion of this program the client was allowed to plea to reckless driving involving alcohol and was given a withhold of adjudication. Due to his lack of criminal history the client now has an opportunity to seal his record so that no private company can view the charge.

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.