A SAFIR LAWYER SERIES
Legal news, court rulings, and law changes, read the way a lawyer-scientist reads them.
← All blog articles · Called Safir · Safircracking · Fail-Safir · Safir Harbor · Better Safir Than Sorry · Ask Safir
A new statute, a fresh appellate ruling, or a case in the headlines usually reaches you as a scary paragraph with no context. This series reads the primary source and tells you what it actually changes, and for whom.
Every entry in the series
The Safir WireHow Many Jurors Decide a Florida Criminal Trial? Six, Twelve, and the Eight That Decide DeathTwo Tampa juries, one death and one life. Six jurors, a unanimous verdict, eight of twelve for death, and the Supreme Court case that could change the six.RORY SAFIR | September 2026The Safir WireAsleep in a Running Truck in Tampa: The Welfare Check That Became a DUIDeputies woke a man asleep in a running truck and a DUI followed. A judge threw it out; the appeals court put it back. Where a welfare check ends and a stop begins.RORY SAFIR | September 2026The Safir WireCan Florida Police Stop You Just for Carrying a Gun? A Federal Appeals Court Said NoDetectives stopped a man at gunpoint because he had a pistol in his pocket. The Eleventh Circuit said a concealed gun alone is not reasonable suspicion in Florida.RORY SAFIR | September 2026The Safir WirePolice Took His Blood Without a Warrant. The Court Just Took Back the Rule They Used.A driver refused a blood draw after a fatal crash and police took it anyway. The Fourth District affirmed suppression and receded from the sentence prosecutors had been citing as a probable…RORY SAFIR | September 2026The Safir WireFlorida’s Super Speeder Law: What Section 316.1922 Actually SaysFlorida created the crime of dangerous excessive speeding on July 1, 2025, and a first conviction carries jail. The bill was rewritten three times before it…RORY SAFIR | August 2026The Safir WireA Golf Cart, a Refusal, and the Hearing Most Drivers Never RequestA recent client of this office was stopped while driving a golf cart and arrested for DUI. Florida treats a golf cart as a vehicle for…RORY SAFIR | August 2026The Safir WireDHSMV Has Opened Rulemaking on the DUI Hearing RulesThe Department has opened rulemaking on the chapter that governs DUI administrative suspension hearings. Nothing has changed yet. Here is what is in scope.RORY SAFIR | July 2026The Safir WireArmed Volunteers Can Now Guard Florida Churches. Here Is What the New Law Does Not Change.Since July 1, 2026, a volunteer with a concealed weapon license can provide armed security at a Florida church, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship…RORY SAFIR | July 2026The Safir WireFlorida’s New Domestic Violence Law Is Here, and the Monitoring Pilots Start in Pinellas and PascoFlorida’s domestic violence laws got their biggest overhaul in years on July 1, 2026, when House Bill 277 took effect.RORY SAFIR | July 2026The Safir WireFlorida’s Habitual Traffic Offender Trap Just Got BiggerBuried in the stack of laws that took effect on July 1, 2026 is one that will quietly turn ordinary traffic tickets into felony cases. House…RORY SAFIR | July 2026The Safir WireMissy’s Law Is Now in Effect: Plead Guilty to a Dangerous Crime in Florida, Go Into Custody That DayOn July 1, 2026, the plea hearing in Florida changed.RORY SAFIR | July 2026The Safir WireWhen a Florida Theme Park Ride Hurts You: Lessons From the Epic Universe Coaster CasesUniversal’s Epic Universe opened in Orlando in 2025, and one of its headline attractions, the high-speed Stardust Racers coaster, has become the center of serious injury…RORY SAFIR | July 2026The Safir WireOn Court TV: The Forensic Turning Point in the Nancy Guthrie CaseOn February 19, I joined Court TV to break down the forensic turning point in the Nancy Guthrie case: DNA recovered from gloves found near the…RORY SAFIR | February 2026
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More from the firm: Called Safir, Safircracking, Fail-Safir, Safir Harbor, Better Safir Than Sorry, and Ask Safir.
