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

Sometimes Even Lawyers Need to Know When to HIre a Lawyer

Category: Criminal Law

C. v. V; Judge: William Law; Date: June 21, 2007

FACTS: Our client was a defendant in a civil suit involving the sale of a medical waste disposal unit. Early in the law suit the plaintiffs petitioned the court for an injunction to prohibit the sale of the unit to buyers in Spain. During that hearing the plaintiffs claimed that Mr. Vance misled the Court in several ways in an effort to promote the sale of the unit without the consent of the shareholders. Plaintiff's counsel felt the representations were so misleading they motioned the Court to find Mr. Vance in Criminal Contempt. Initially, plaintiffs counsel's attempts to get the Court to grant the motion failed, but Judge Willard Pope eventually granted the motion because of the affadavits claiming to have knowledge of the falsity of the statements. Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.840 (a).

Civil Attorney, John Schifino, of the Williams Schifino law firm represented Mr. Vance in the shareholder derivative suit. Once the Court issued the Order to Show Cause, and Mr. Vance was threatened with the possibility of being convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail, Mr. Schifino called our office immediately. Opposing counsel, on the other hand, decided to prosecute the contempt charge without the assistance of a criminal attorney. Many of the plaintiffs in charge of the management of this civil suit were themselves lawyers, which made the decision to allow a civil attorney to prosecute this criminal charge even more surprising. It was a decision that turned out to be fatal to the prosecution of the charge.

After Judge Pope issued the Order to Show Cause the case was transferred to Judge William Law's court room. A couple of months after the arraignment of the criminal charge, opposing counsel withdrew from the case, and the shareholders retained another civil attorney. Months passed and opposing counsel made no efforts to set up depositions. Unlike criminal cases, it is not unusual for civil cases to last several years. Opposing counsel, probably because he is used to prosecuting civil cases, felt that his recent introduction into the case warranted a number of continuances to allow him to familiarize himself with the case. He refused to appreciate a right that all criminal defendant's share; the right to a speedy trial.

Mr. Vance, like any one else charged with a crime, has a right to a speedy trial. If the prosecution fails to try a criminal defendant's case within a specified period of time, and again fails to try the defendant's case within the recapture period, the defendant is entitled to discharge (dismissal) from the crime. Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.191(p). In Mr. Vance's case the speedy trial eventually expired, and we filed a notice of expiration of speedy trial with the Court, and the prosecution. The prosecution, probably because he had no experience in criminal court, made no efforts to respond to the notice of expiration of speedy trial. His failure to act led us to file a Motion for Discharge (Dismissal). After hearing our argument at the Motion for Discharge hearing the Court turned to opposing counsel for rebuttal. During opposing counsel's argument he responded to the judge's questioning by saying, "I am not sure your honor, because I am not a criminal attorney".

I make this point to emphasize a theme that repeats itself in many of the criminal cases that we see at our office. That recurring theme is the failure of many people being investigated for criminal charges to hire a criminal attorney as soon as they have been contacted by law enforcement. Many people, probably like the lawyer who decided to prosecute this criminal contempt charge, feel that criminal matters are simplistic. They feel that they might be able to save themselves the fee paid to a criminal attorney if they resolve this criminal matter on their own. Tell that to the civil attorney who attempted to prosecute the criminal charges against our client. As an esteemed colleague of mine once said, "If you find out you have a heart problem, you don't go see a podiatrist".

Seminar For Tampa DUI Lawyers

Category: Firm News

A seminar for handling DUI cases is being offered on Friday, May 19, 2006. The seminar is being held at the Tampa Marriott Waterside, and will focus on the following issues:

(1) DMV - Hearings and Appeals (Writ of Certiorari)
(2) Case Law Update
(3) Jury Selection, Opening Statements and Closing Arguments
(4) Pretrial Motions And Blood/Breath Updates
(5) DUI Trial themes and tactics
(6) Attacking Field Sobriety Tests

The course has been approved by the Bar for 7 CLE credits and the speakers are all well known local DUI lawyers.

Closing Argument Competition

Category: Firm News

The Florida Bar has approved CLE credits for participation in the Closing Argument Competition at the Stetson University College of Law. The competition does not take a lot of your time, and it is very helpful to the students. Four students competed in the last round yesterday and Ashley Jones ended up winning. According to the competition's coordinator, Megan Lattz, Ms. Jones won a $300.00 cash prize, and will be exempt from having to compete in the first round of competition in Stetson's trial team competition. If you are interested Ms. Laatz is looking for more lawyers to act as jurors on the Opening Statement competition coming up soon. You can reach Megan Lattz through the Stetson University School of Law at (727)576-0584.