Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Man Acquitted of Trafficking Flakka After His Lawyers Establish Reasonable Doubt That He Knew What Was in the Packages
What happens if you get criminal charges because the police find drugs in your possession, and it is the first you ever found out about having any drugs? You can win your case if you can argue that the drugs don’t belong to you. You could also argue that they are not drugs, but… Read More »
Dunedin Woman Could Face Life in Prison for Selling Drugs That Led to Fatal Overdose
It is easy to think about drug crimes and violent crimes as being completely separate. Pretrial diversion programs and alternative sentencing options are available to many people charged with drug-related offenses simply because the defendants, even if they committed the actions of which they were accused, were not directly endangering the lives or physical… Read More »
Florida Teacher Faces Felony Drug Possession Charges After Burger King Drug Binge on Lunch Break
When determining the severity of the drug possession charges a person faces, the quantity of the drugs matters, but so does the context in which the defendant possessed or consumed the drugs. One can sometimes make the argument that my taking or possessing drugs, one is only hurting oneself, but if other people, especially… Read More »
Meet the Floridians Serving Life Sentences After Pleading Guilty to Nonviolent Drug Charges
The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevents cruel and unusual punishment. If you plead guilty, you will get a lighter sentence than you would if you had been found guilty at trial. Life sentences without parole are only for the most violent of violent crimes, like murder. All of these statements are true,… Read More »
After High Speed Chase, Police Arrest Man with Briefcase Full of Fentanyl
Just how dangerous is fentanyl? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is approximately ten times as strong as heroin and 100 times as powerful as morphine. While, for ethical reasons, it is not possible to test how much fentanyl constitutes a lethal dose, the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that it… Read More »
State Troopers Arrest Two Orlando Men in Traffic Stop, Seize Self-Described “Bag Full of Drugs”
Some drug busts require months of investigative work before authorities have probable cause to suspect defendants of possessing, consuming, or distributing drugs. Other times, though, it seems like people are going out of their way to get caught. Whether they post pictures of their drugs on social media, make drug references on vanity license… Read More »
Police Have More Questions Than Answers After Child Finds Bag of Drugs in Gas Station Bathroom
The presence of children makes the consequences for almost any drug offense more serious. Using drugs in the presence of a child is a more serious charge than simple drug possession. Likewise, it is worse to get caught selling drugs near a school than simply to get caught selling drugs. Some recent drug busts… Read More »
Brooksville Man Charged with Possession of Two Pounds of Fentanyl Could Face Life in Prison
When you hear your drug charges read to you, the first thing that goes through your mind is fear. What will happen to your family if you go to prison? How will you rebuild your relationship with them? How will you support them financially if prospective employers don’t give you a chance because of… Read More »
Two Men Arrested in Haines City for Keeping Large Quantity of Drugs in House with Child
It will be a while before criminal cases related to drugs go back to the way they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Pretrial diversion programs that gave people arrested on drug charges a chance to get sober without a drug conviction following them around are a boon to Floridians, but it will be some… Read More »
How Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Fentanyl Arrests and Overdoses in Florida?
The COVID-19 pandemic has made many of us realize, more than we ever did before, how many aspects of our daily lives are the direct result of things that happen all the way on the other side of the world. Just a few months after the first cases of the novel coronavirus were diagnosed… Read More »
