Pinellas County Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog

Technically, the law describes burglary as a crime where a person enters either a structure, conveyance or curtilage with the intent to commit a crime therein.  A structure could be a house or business or shed; a conveyance is usually a car; and curtilage, is the surrounding area of the house that is fenced in.  

Contrary to popular belief, the crime one is intending to commit inside of the structure does not need to be theft.  It can be criminal mischief, such as the time a kid had a party while his parents were away and all the other kids used their roller blades to ride all over the expensive hardwood floors.  Or it can be smoking pot in a shed.

Sunday's article in the St. Pete Times describes the foreclosure mess and the opportunities it creates for criminals.  The article says people enter the vacant homes and strip them of anything valuable, squat in the houses, or are using the vacant homes to hide their stolen property. 

Interestingly, this article from the Palm Beach Post. describes a very common scenario, which is NOT A CRIME.  A homeowner who was about to be foreclosed on, allowed several men to go into the home and take appliances, cabinets, toilets, copper wire, etc. The men were later charged with burglary.  The Court said that this was NOT A BURGLARY, because the owner of the home gave them permission to take the stuff.  It seems that because the house had not yet been foreclosed, it was not yet owned by the bank and therefore the men could not be convicted of burglary since the actual owner of the home allowed them to take the property. 

Since I'm forever in search of a bargain on a house, I've looked a tons of foreclosed homes.  Most of them are completely wrecked, missing appliances, door handles, pool filters, anything of value is gone.  Which makes the "bargain" not so good when you have to put $50,000 into the home to make it liveable.  I guess people think that if they are losing all the equity in their homes, why bother saving anything for the bank.  I guess they don't think about the fact that they got a mortgage for a home they could never afford.  And I guess the banks were too busy making money to realize that half the people they were giving mortgages, could never afford to pay.  Who is the real criminal here?

There's an 11 year old girl being held in the Pinellas County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of arson and attempted murder.  Apparently, she and her 15 year old boyfriend, poured gasoline around mom's bed while she slept and tried to light mom on fire.  Luckily mom escaped.

She's now being represented by a private attorney who says her mother does not want to prosecute.  If this was your child what  would you do?  11 years old is still like a baby to most mothers.  Perhaps the problem in the mother - daughter relationship was that mom didn't approve of the 15 year old boyfriend.  I hope that's what the problem is.  St. Pete Times article

This case is strikingly similar the the Valessa Robinson case from Tampa in 1998. A 15 year old girl at the time, she and her boyfriend killed her mother and dumped the body.  She's currently serving a 25 year sentence, her boyfriend on death row.  See Tampa Bay Online

So what do the courts do with a kid like this?  Even if mom has a change of heart and decides she doesn't want to prosecute, I am almost sure the state will prosecute the child without the help of mom.  And despite the popular notion that juvenile records are expunged when a person turns 18, that's not the case.  So this little girl will have an arson and attempted murder charge on her record forever.  Crazy huh? 

What about her age?  The law says that anyone under 8 years old is not mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions.  Clearly anyone under 14 can't understand the court system. - Most adults don't understand it.   Mr. Walker, the Assistant State Attorney in charge of Pinellas Juvenile Division, indicated she may be charged as an adult.  Mr. Walker rarely gets the law wrong.  But in this case, he did (Sorry Joe) - unless the child is 14 and/or has previously been convicted of a violent crime, they can't' be tried as an adult.  (A disclaimer here: Mr. Walker may have been misquoted by the St. Petersburg Times, it wouldn't be the first time the paper misquoted) 

Is the girl mentally ill?  Perhaps.  If her lawyer decided to take that route, she will have a "competency exam" which will be a review by a psychologist to decide if she can understand the court process and/or the consequences of her actions. 

Where's the boyfriend?  The 15 year old will be prosecuted as an adult.  And once the charges are filed, he'll be moved from the juvenile detention center to the Pinellas County Jail, and held in the juvenile section there.  Not a nice place.  I hope his parents can afford a lawyer.

Several days ago I wrote about a runaway dog in New Port Richey, FL who had a rope tied around her neck when she was a puppy.

Here's the picture from today's St. Petersburg Times of the dog now.  Once in awhile I need to have a feel good story on my blog.

I've always wondered whether the attorney client rooms in the jail were really private. Of course "they" say the rooms are not monitored, and allegedly the phone calls to attorney's are not monitored either. But my paranoia of big brother has never been alleviated - UNTIL NOW.

An investigator with the Public Defender's Office was using the private rooms to have  SEX WITH HER BOYFRIEND who is an inmate.(Tywan Armstrong who has a ridiculously long record and has been in the Pinellas County Jail since last January - I sincerely hope she didn't meet him there) It took jail officials 2 months to figure this out. With this in mind, the rooms are clearly not monitored. But they probably will be now.  For those of you that have never been in the Pinellas County Jail, only attorney's, doctor's, or other jail personal are allowed into the interview rooms.  If you are visiting an inmate, you go to a trailer across the street and watch your friend on a video screen.  They stay in the jail.  There are no in-person visits.  And for the 100th time - THOSE VISITS ARE TAPED AND MONITORED.  I am 100% sure of it. 

When someone in custody hires me, my first line of attack is to get them out. I NEVER want to talk about the facts of the crime while they're in jail, because I'm afraid someone is listening. If you look up at the ceiling in the attorney/client rooms, there is a camera. Who knows if it has sound? I guess it's not on because this lady was able to get away with HAVING SEX with her boyfriend. Yuck - the jail is dirty. Here's a picture from Hillsborough County Jail - the interview rooms in Pinellas don't look this good.

So what was the lady charged with?  Good question, she hasn't been yet.  The media reported that she was "charged" with one count of offical misconduct which is a 3rd degree felony.  But read the FL Statute

838.022  Official misconduct.--

(1)  It is unlawful for a public servant, with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit for any person or to cause harm to another, to:

(a)  Falsify, or cause another person to falsify, any official record or official document;

(b)  Conceal, cover up, destroy, mutilate, or alter any official record or official document or cause another person to perform such an act; or

(c)  Obstruct, delay, or prevent the communication of information relating to the commission of a felony that directly involves or affects the public agency or public entity served by the public servant.

(2)  For the purposes of this section:

(a)  The term "public servant" does not include a candidate who does not otherwise qualify as a public servant.

(b)  An official record or official document includes only public records.

(3)  Any person who violates this section commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

I don't think it fits - it seems the Legislature never contemplated such a mess . . . .

Lately I've notice a plethora of article about crimes against animals - specifically dogs.  I actually got a dog for Christmas.  For several months I've been looking for a dog and this one, a beautiful chocalate lab, was found running around the parking lot of my office. Apparently she escaped from her owners.  It seems she was an "outdoor dog".   This is where I rant.   One should not have an "outdoor dog" in Florida.    It's too hot, dogs aren't meant to be in 100% humidity and 95 degree weather.  (Nor are people, but that's another topic for another day.)

Over the years, I've had many pets.  Some people say that if you are good in this life, you will come back to life as one of my dogs.  I follow closely the crimes against animals.  Michael Vick and the dog fighting, the guy who had sex with his neighbors horse in South Carolina, and most recently this case from New Port Richey, FL, where someone tied a rope around a Puppy's neck and let it grow  into the dog's neck.  Like my new dog, the dog ran for days before anyone was able to catch him and get him help.  

Then there's a story in today's Tampa Tribune about a nutcase who has been overbreeding dogs for four years.  The SPCA investigators go to his house and take dogs, but no one stops him.  The dogs are sick and malnurished.  

Do people realize that if they take care of their pets,  feed them, and let them inside of their homes and hearts they'll have the best friend of their lives?  What else in life is as constant as a good dog?

Unfortunately, the law doesn't protect animals.  There's a misdemeanor and felony charge of  animal cruelty but it is rarely prosecuted.  (see FL Statute 828) In fact, dog fighting is only a misdemeanor.  

One more story from Christmas - a New Port Richey doberman New Port Richey doberman ran away one month ago and was returned home for Christmas.  The owner's say she escaped from the back yard.  If she was left in the back yard - why do you think she ran away? Shocker of all shocker's the owner was a cop.