Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog

Generally speaking, state attorneys (prosecutors) cannot simply bring in any evidence against a criminal defendant for use at a trial, notes Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney Moore. The rules of evidence are complicated and vary between each jurisdiction. The Florida rules and the federal rules of evidence have many similarities, although they are not identical by any stretch.

Certain types of evidence is inadmissible in a criminal trial because it is not sufficiently reliable. Polygraph tests, or lie detectors, fit into this category. Even though law enforcement agencies still occasionally use polygraphs when they are investigating serious felonies, the results cannot be used in court. Why is that? For the simple reason that they are not accurate enough. Further, the idea that a machine detects when a person is lying may persuade jurors to give too much weight to its results -- even if they are cautioned that the results are not as reliable in reality as they may be in the popular conscience.

Hearsay evidence is also inadmissible in criminal court unless it falls into an exception. Hearsay is perhaps the most famous rule of evidence and determining what is or is not hearsay can be complex. The basic definition is that it is a statement, made outside of court, but offered in the court as evidence of the truth of what the speaker said. For example, suppose that a police officer testified that he heard a woman scream, “Help! I’m being attacked!” The evidence would be hearsay if he testified to it in court and the prosecutor sought to use the statement to demonstrate that a woman was, in fact, being attacked. The statement would not be hearsay, however, if it was offered simply to prove that the police officer was aware there was another person present. Nonetheless, even otherwise admissible statements may be barred if they are too highly prejudicial or not sufficiently relevant to the matter at hand.

The most effective testimony in criminal trials comes from individuals who have personal knowledge of the events to which they are testifying. For instance, an alibi who can credibly testify that his cousin -- the defendant -- was at their uncle’s house with him, fishing and barbecuing, knows exactly where the defendant was during the time the crime took place because he was there, too. Video evidence can also be highly persuasive. If a man is accused of attacking a woman in Fort Lauderdale around 11:00 p.m., but he locates video footage of the ATM he visited in Miami Beach at 11:13 p.m. or security tapes at the club where he was at midnight, the alibi is strong.

Many of Broward County criminal attorney William Moore's clients are concerned about the effect that a criminal record can have on their lives. Having a criminal record in your past can be problematic for many reasons. Employers are increasingly conducting background checks on potential employees, and workers with a past criminal records are seeking to have their records expunged or sealed in higher numbers. Most commonly, the offense on their criminal record represents either a serious departure from the person’s normal character or it was a result of a misguided youthful mistake. After all, a person can go joyriding in somebody else’s car at 18, but turn into a loving father with a respectable job at 35. These mistakes should not be held against them forever. Less frequently, people seek to have their records expunged because the conviction was the result of past problems in their lives, such as a drug addiction for which the individual was later successfully treated.

Generally speaking, Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney Moore notes that adult criminal records are a matter of public record, and a single arrest -- even if you were not convicted of the crime -- can follow you as you apply for jobs, seek approval for apartments or in homeowners’ associations, and otherwise interfere with your life. Sealing records makes them unavailable to the general public. However, certain government agencies would have complete access to the records. If the criminal records are destroyed, however, the records will not be publicly available (as with sealing), but even state agencies will be unable to view the records. Instead, they will only be able to see that there was an expunged record, but will not have access to the specific information contained within it.

Sealing and expunging of records requires that the applicant obtain a certificate of eligibility from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement before going to court on the matter. You will also have to be fingerprinted and meet other procedural and statutory eligibility requirements. In some instances, the record may need to be sealed for a period of ten years before expunction is a possibility.