Exploring Legal Horizons

If you or a loved one is a victim of stalking or if you have been accused of stalking someone and injunction has been filed against you, this article provides a brief overview of stalking and cyberstalking injunctions.  Stalking is defined as willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly following, harassing, or cyberstalking another person. “Cyberstalk” means to engage in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at a specific person, causing substantial emotional...

When the prosecution and the defense cannot agree upon a sentence, a person charged with a crime may enter a plea to the court with no dispositional understanding-an open plea-in the hope that the judge will provide a better sentence than the State has offered. An open plea means that the judge can sentence someone to the statutory maximum. For example, if your loved one pled guilty or no contest to a third-degree felony, the court can sentence them up to five years in prison. After an open plea is entered, the court will conduct a sentencing hearing where both sides will present evidence,...

Have you ever had a client come to you with the idea of secretly recording a conversation? Or worse yet, a client brings you a tape they surreptitiously made? This issue is especially relevant because the new smart phones, specifically iPhones, have a new feature that enables a user to record a telephone conversation. Generally, it is illegal in Florida for one party to records a conversation with another party if the other party did not consent to it and the recording is made where there is an expectation of privacy. Fl.St. § 934.01(4). The purpose of this article is to familiarize...