The Safir Lawyer Blog

Milner, Georgia’s full-time police force resigned, and one officer’s resignation letter cited an allegation that the mayor put a tracker on the chief’s truck, Police1 reported. As of October 25, no outlet had reported charges. In Florida, section 934.425 makes tracking someone without consent a third-degree felony, and a second-degree...

Joseph DeSantis, a former Pasco Sheriff’s Office traffic control officer, was arrested on two aggravated assault counts after teens told deputies he chased them in his truck in Wesley Chapel, WFLA reported. Florida has treated a car as a deadly weapon since 1926 when it’s used like one, and a...

On October 15, 2026, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial because the State withheld FDLE call logs in which its own DNA analysts called the transfer theory the State argued to the jury highly unlikely. The ruling shows what Brady requires, and Florida’s discovery rule goes further on...

On October 9, 2026, the Florida Supreme Court suspended Broward Judge Lauren Peffer for 30 days over a fabricated recording she used in her campaign. Where authenticity of a recording is fought in a Florida criminal case: section 90.901, the original file, chain of custody and a forensic examiner....

A Lee County woman is charged with a felony after Anthropic flagged her Claude AI chat and reported it to police. What Florida’s written threats law, section 836.10, requires, whether a private AI chat is “sent, posted, or transmitted,” how a company can report a chat without a warrant, and...

On October 2, 2026, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed a Clay County man’s resisting convictions because deputies detained him only for matching a 911 caller’s short description. What Holliday v. State held, why the description wasn’t enough, its limits, and where the defense is....

Jury selection began October 6, 2026, in the Boston federal trial of former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell, accused of killing Sandra Birchmore and staging her death as a suicide. Why it’s a federal case, the cause-of-death fight, her statements in court, the digital evidence, and the dates ahead....

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to two federal counts of stalking resulting in death on August 14, 2026, and his lawyers now say New York’s double jeopardy law bars the state murder case. What New York’s statute says, where its exceptions put the fight, the dates ahead, and what happens if...

A 2023 study had six veterinary students run horse ultrasounds with 90 percent ethanol in a closed room, then blow into an evidential Dräger breath machine. Most tested positive, up to 0.087. What the study shows, what it doesn’t show about Florida’s Intoxilyzer, and where the defense is....

Some drugstore nasal inhalers contain levmetamfetamine, a form of methamphetamine, and a routine lab confirmation can’t tell it from the street drug. A chiral test can. What the science shows, the federal 80 percent line, and what Florida requires before probation can be revoked....

Since October 1, 2026, Florida requires the marking “775.261, F.S.” on the front of the driver license or ID card of every designated career offender. Who counts as a career offender, when the marked card is due, the felony for not getting it, and where the defense is....

Since October 1, 2026, Florida’s checklist for labeling someone a criminal gang member has 13 criteria, including admissions and gang-related language on social media, a live-in spouse’s word, and two sightings with known members instead of four. What changed in section 874.03, what the label does to a sentence, and...

Since October 1, 2026, Florida makes it a separate third-degree felony for an adult to commit aggravated animal cruelty in the presence of a minor, or to cause or entice a minor to commit it. The 2026 laws also expanded FDLE’s public animal cruelty website. What the statute punishes, who...

Since October 1, 2026, Florida makes it a third-degree felony to expose yourself or perform a non-contact sexual act while watching a child under 16 for sexual gratification, when the child could see you. The child doesn’t have to notice. What the law says, how it answers State v. Werner,...

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial ended in a hung jury on September 4, 2026, over whether she was criminally responsible. Why a retrial is allowed, the one Massachusetts rule that can stop it, who has to prove her state of mind, and what could happen at the September 29 hearing....

Starting October 1, 2026, getting into a Florida rental with a fake paystub, bank statement, or ID, a false identity statement, or by impersonating the applicant is a third-degree felony. What the new law covers, what it doesn’t, and the seven-day lease termination that comes with it....

Meg’s Law makes it a third-degree felony for a store licensed to sell tobacco or nicotine, or its clerks and employees, to have nitrous oxide on the premises starting October 1, 2026, with no minimum amount. What it covers, what was already illegal for buyers, and where the defense is....

Starting October 1, 2026, willfully violating a no-contact pretrial release condition is a crime after an arrest for battery, assault, stalking, and other violent charges, not only domestic violence. What counts as contact, what happens if the other person reaches out, and how the order can be changed....