Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Emily Bauer, 16, was recently hospitalized for weeks due to the adverse effects that synthetic marijuana had on her brain. Although there is no MRI of her brain before the injuries and thus, doctors are unable to determine how long ago she began to use synthetic marijuana, her family believes Emily began to take the synthetic drug two weeks before her hospital visit.

Bryant, Emily’s stepfather, already knew she used real marijuana occasionally. He stated in an interview that he did not condone it, but that he was aware of his inability to control her when she was not at home. “Had I thought that there was any chance that she could have been hurt by this stuff, I would have been a lot more vigilant. I had no idea it was so bad,” Bryant said.”

The synthetic drug used by Emily is best known by the street names “Spice” or “K2,” which is an herbal mixture sprayed with chemicals that’s meant to create a high similar to smoking marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Synthetic marijuana was linked to 11,406 drug-related emergency department visits in 2010.

On December 14, 2012 a 20-year-old gunman shot and killed 26 persons, 20 of which were students between the ages of 6-7, at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman subsequently kill himself.

Nouel Alba, age 37, is being accused of a charity scam in connection with the Connecticut school mass shooting and was indicted Tuesday on a charge of making false statements to the FBI.

Alba allegedly used her Facebook account, make telephone calls, and sent text messages falsely portraying herself to be the aunt of a shooting victim. Alba provided fictitious details about the tragedy and the effects it has had on her in an effort to further to solicit donations.

The judge presiding over James Holmes case, the gunman who opened fire in a Colorado movie theatre, has agreed to delay arraignment — a formal reading of charges by the court and, oftentimes, the entering of a plea by the defendant — in the case to allow defense attorneys more time to review over 30k pages of evidence as well as hundreds of videos.

The arraignment was scheduled for Friday after Judge William Sylvester ruled Thursday that prosecutors had provided sufficient evidence in the preliminary hearing for the case to proceed to trial. The judge raised concerns with Holmes’ case being appeal if he moved too quickly with the arraignment.

Holmes is charged with 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the July 20 shooting rampage at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater that left 12 people dead and scores injured.

Kimberly Lightsey, a mother of four children between the ages of one and 11 years old, abandoned her children in a hotel room in Winterhaven, Florida to go out partying.

In return for avoiding five years in jail, Lightsey agreed not to have any more children. This plea bargain was offered by judge Bartow. When the judge offered the deal, Lightsey momentarily heisted and looked over to her boyfriend stating that she wanted more children, however, she agreed to the plea bargain and she is now legally precluded from having children for the next 13 years. In addition, she was banned from having any unsupervised contact with minors. She was also placed under house arrest for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service.

Another guest at the hotel told police after hearing crying coming from the bedroom and an overturned stroller in a hallway. When police entered the hotel room they found it in ‘complete disarray’ with trash, food and clothing strewn everywhere. Lightsey was arrested when she returned to the hotel room. All of her children were taken into care before being placed with relatives.

A shooting occurred during a New Year’s Even fireworks show in Sacramento, California. Two people were fatally shot and three people were wounded. A 22-year-old unnamed man was in custody as a suspect for the Sacramento shooting.

The shooting occurred among about 40,000 people, including families with young children. Police canceled the next fireworks show, which was scheduled for midnight.

The shooting stemmed from an argument that began inside of a sports bar, which escalated into a lethal encounter. An employee tried to break up the fight, and the suspect fired several rounds toward the people he was fighting with.