Criminal Defense in the News

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....

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....

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...

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 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....

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....

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....

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...

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,...

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...