Category: Criminal Defense Law

Former executive director accused of stealing money from Overtown charity

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MIAMI - For nearly 50 years, the Overtown-based Transition Inc. charity has helped formerly incarcerated or homeless people get back on their feet. "They helped me find employment," Freddie D. Clarke said. "They work with you, with your resume." Transition estimates they helped place 1,000 people in jobs last year and thousands of others get help in other ways to get back on their feet. But now they need help as... [...]

Attorney, Judge Argue Over Parkland School Shooting Evidence

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An attorney representing the suspect in last year's Florida high school massacre and the judge overseeing the case got into a brief but heated argument Friday during an otherwise routine pretrial hearing over evidence. Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill accused Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer of misrepresenting her arguments during a hearing over whether prosecutors are turning over in a full and timely manner evidence McNeill and... [...]

Florida Dad Who Dropped Daughter Off Bridge Claims Insanity

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A jury has been selected in the murder trial of a Florida man who threw his 5-year-old daughter off a Tampa bridge. It took a week for lawyers to agree on 12 jurors and four alternates to decide the fate of 29-year-old John Jonchuck. Prosecutors are slated for opening statements at 1 p.m. Monday at the Pinellas County Courthouse. No one disputes that Jonchuck dropped his daughter Phoebe 62 feet (18 meters) into Tampa Bay on Jan. 8,... [...]

Broward Prosecutors Exonerate Man In 1983 Rape, Murder of College Student

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At his sentencing for the 1983 murder of a West Palm Beach college student, Ronald Henry Stewart said he was pleading no contest because it was in his best interest. Although his attorney pointed out a slew of flaws in the case — a potentially faulty eyewitnesses, the use of jailhouse snitches, and fingerprint evidence that didn't match Stewart's prints — Stewart had previously been convicted of multiple rapes, and he feared being... [...]

Senate panel OKs compensation for the wrongfully convicted

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INDIANAPOLIS: A measure advancing in the Indiana Senate would compensate residents found to have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee made minor revisions to the House-approved legislation Tuesday before voting 7-0 in favor of it. The measure now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further analysis of its financial impact on the state. Indiana is one of 17 states... [...]