Mar 05, 2021 By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Top Stories
Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin
The second Florida House committee meeting on a proposed bill to toughen criminal penalties for rioting went about as the first.
Dozens of people showed up to speak against it and were given a minute or less each to testify because of time constraints on the meeting.
Backers called the bill necessary, while Democratic members blasted it as an infringement on civil rights. And in the end, the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee on March 3 passed HB 1 on a party line vote, as the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Subcommittee did just over a month ago.
Mar 04, 2021 By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Top Stories
11th Circuit State Attorney, justice reform commission back the legislation
Katherine Fernandez Rundle
A grass-roots justice reform group begun by the 11th Circuit State Attorney’s Office is backing legislation calling for better training of police to de-escalate potentially violent confrontations and limiting the use of choke holds.
The Continuing Criminal Justice Reform Commission, set up by State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in December, has won sponsorship for the legislation (SB 1970 and HB 1513) from Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Miami, will be co-sponsoring.
Gain time reform passes out of Senate Criminal Justice Committee floridabar.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from floridabar.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Feb 25, 2021 By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Top Stories
Rep. Spencer Roach
Bills being pushed by Florida’s state attorneys to make it harder to take depositions from juvenile victims and witnesses in violent crime cases have been introduced in the Florida Legislature.
HB 465, sponsored by Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Ft. Myers, and SB 1328, by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, would prohibit depositions, except with a showing of good cause, from victims or witnesses under 18, those with intellectual disabilities, or victims of sexual assault. The prohibition would cover 13 types of violent crimes.
Those crimes include murder, sexual battery, lewd and lascivious offenses under F.S. §800.04, human trafficking, kidnapping, domestic violence, child abuse, and aggravated cyberstalking.
Bill would prevent PDs and paid private counsel from working together on the same case floridabar.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from floridabar.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.