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Editor: Will Hanlon & Charlie Lambert
Profession: Tampa Defense Attorneys

Category: Criminal Law

Case #06-CM-024478; Judge Lawrence Lefler; Date: December 14, 2006

FACTS: The client (a huge Bengals fan) came to Tampa to see the Cincinnati Bengals play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During the closing seconds of the game the Bucs threw a pass that seemed to be incomplete. Our client walked down a couple of stairs to celebrate a Bengals victory with another fan. At that point security personel ordered a tampa police officer to remove him. The police officer grabbed the defendant and removed him from the stadium. During his removal the defendant was handcuffed too tightly, which caused him to pull away from the officer. The officer felt the defendant was trying to resist and threw him against a concession stand in the stadium. As a result the defendant's face was bloodied and bruised.

DEFENSE: Most people are not aware that you can resist without violence an unlawful arrest. In contrast, you cannot resist with violence even an unlawful arrest. That became very important in this case because the officer was not lawfully arresting the client for a crime when the client pulled away from the officer. In addition, this case involved a situation where the law enforcement officer misunderstood why the defendent (client) was pulling away. In order to be found guilty of resisting without violence you must intend to resist the officer. Our client was simply reacting to the handcuffs when he pulled away.

RESULT: The Case was dismissed upon our motion.