Below are just a few of our success stories here at the law offices of Lee Lockett. Full names have been substituted with initials to protect identities. All of these cases are real and occurred right here in northeast Florida arising from several different jurisdictions such as Clay, Duval, St.Johns, Baker and Nassau counties.
STATE OF FLORIDA V. D.B.
Client was arrested as she pulled into a parking space at her apartment late at night. The police were summoned due to a friend of her's calling in a possible suicide attempt. As the police approached her as she exited her vehicle they immediately detained her and asked her several questions regarding the call. After they dispelled any danger, they continued the detention and began a DUI investigation due to an allegation that she had an odor of alcohol on her breath and blood shot watery eyes. She was eventually arrested and blew over the legal limit. Later in court we filed a Motion to Suppress all the evidence due to the perceived unlawful detention. Although the prosecution disagreed with my motion, a hearing was set before the judge where we successfully argued that all the evidence must be suppressed under the state and federal constitutions. The judge suppressed all the evidence at our request and the state subsequently dropped all charges.
STATE OF FLORIDA V. B.C.
Client was driving down a local road and was allegedly observed by a police officer drinking out a container of some sort. After following my client for some distance, the officer also alleged my client was swerving. The officer then pulled him over and conducted a full blown DUI investigation. After opining that he was too drunk to drive and after allegedly failing all the sobriety exercises, the officer placed him under arrest. The client later refused the breath test. Because the state refused to drop the charges we requested a jury trial. At trial we dissected each exercise while cross examining the arresting officer and successfully argued to the jury that despite the officer's opinion, the client actually did quite well on the exercises. The jury acquitted client and found him not guilty after deliberating for less than an hour.
STATE OF FLORIDA V. D.H. PARTS I AND II
Client is traveling down mayport road at a very high rate of speed and ultimately crashes through the guard gate at the Mayport Naval Air Station's entrance. A video surveillance camera picks up the images of his car crashing through the gate as military personnel literally fly out of the way to avoiding being hit. The car ultimately crashes into the side of a building inside the property and federal military personnel converge on the scene in large numbers. After emerging from the car an immediate criminal investigation is initiated and the client is ultimately arrested for DUI. We immediately filed a Motion to Suppress all the evidence (including the breath test where client blew over the legal limit) utilizing a rarely used legal ground found under a very old federal law called the Posse Comitatus Act. Under this law, the highest court in the land stated that where an individual is being investigated for a state law violation, local civilian authorities must be summoned to assume the primary role in the investigation and arrest. Because the federal officers conducted the entire investigation and arrest, I argued to the prosecutors that they would lose all their evidence should the case go to a full hearing in front of the judge. The state attorney's office agreed that the issue had merit and dropped the case and allowed the client to plead no contest to a Reckless driving ticket instead. After the case was over, the client unfortunately gets arrested again for DUI about a month later. After deposing the officer regarding the basis for the initial stop we quickly realized that a legitimate argument could be advanced in a motion that would invalidate the entire arrest. Luckily the state again agreed and dropped the DUI to another Reckless driving citation.
STATE OF FLORIDA V. W.T. PARTS I AND II
Client gets arrested traveling through Baker county in I-10. He pulls into a rest area and police approach his parked vehicle. The police then detain client and begin a criminal investigation and search his car after he is placed under arrest for DUI. Felony contraband in the form of illegal drugs are found in the car and he is also charged with a series of felony cases as well. During depositions of the officers we learned that proper procedures under state and federal law were not observed and filed a Motion to Suppress all the evidence. While this case was pending, the client is arrested in Duval county for DUI also. We had to act fast because under state law, once you are arrested and released on bond, you can be re-arrested for picking up a new arrest. At the DMV hearing we successfully argued to the hearing officer that the arrest was bad and got the client's license back on the first charge. The prosecutor there ultimately agreed to drop all the felony drug charges and the DUI as well. He pled no contest to a Reckless driving charge. Our focus then turned on the Duval county DUI. After lengthy negotiations with the state, we were again successful in getting the DUI dropped and client received the benefit of another Reckless driving disposition.
STATE OF FLORIDA V. P.M.
Client is arrested for DUI and pled no contest at his first appearance. He was released and wanted to undo his plea and wanted his conviction set aside. We filed the Motion to Withdraw his plea and set aside the DUI conviction. The judge denied the Motion and we appealed. The Circuit court agreed with our position that the Motion should have been granted and the lower court was reversed. Back at the trial court level we then began representation on the DUI. We ultimately convinced the prosecutor to drop the DUI based on several factual and legal weaknesses that we uncovered.
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