Turner county defendant accused of Possession of Marijuana With Intent to Distribute acquitted after 2 day trial

The police saw the Defendant who had an active warrant and gave chase after he ran on foot. After they caught the Defendant, they retraced his steps and found a bag of marijuana near where he had been. No officer saw him touch the marijuana nor make any movements which would indicate he was hiding marijuana. He was just near where it was found. The Defendant was arrested and charged with possessing the drugs with the intent to distribute them. At trial, we pointed out all the discrepancies between the officer’s statements and said there was no evidence he possessed the drugs. The entire case rested on the state wanting the jury to assume the drugs were his and assumptions are not enough. The jury agreed and acquitted him after deliberating for less than 20 minutes.

Dougherty county Murder case dismissed after we filed a Demand for Speedy Trial

The Defendant was arrested along with others for the murder of an individual that was shooting at them. After investigating the case it was determined that he shot in self-defense after the “victim” and his friends began shooting at the Defendant and his friends. Since it is not a crime to defend yourself, we argued that the Defendant was actually the victim and the decedent was the perpetrator. Realizing the state could not disprove our claim of self-defense, we filed a Demand for Speedy Trial and the court immediately placed the case on the docket. With insufficient evidence to proceed and the case being forced to trial, the state moved to dismiss the case. After 2 days of hearings where we had to prove to the court that the case should be dismissed against our client, the court finally granted the state’s request to dismiss all charges against the Defendant and 2 of his co-defendants. Five more co-defendants remain in the case and are awaiting trial.

A Sumter county case involving Possession of Contraband by Inmate was dismissed after we Investigated the Case

The Defendant was arrested for possession marijuana while an inmate in prison. After 4 years of nothing happening in his case, the Defendant hired us. We investigated the case and discovered that the prison’s administrative disciplinary procedures against the Defendant had been dismissed back in 2013, but the reason for the dismissal had been accidentally deleted from the form provided to the State and us. When we pointed this out to the DA, along with the fact that the Defendant spent another 2 years in prison after his arrest date without incident and had been on parole since then without any problems, the DA dismissed the case.

A Dougherty county case involving Elder Abuse was dismissed after we filed a Constitutional Demand for Speedy Trial

The Defendant was accused and arrested for Elder Abuse of his mother. The evidence against him was weak and mostly amounted to the fact that his elderly mother (who was not even in his care) was of extremely ill health with severe bed sores when he took her to the hospital for help. The state initially sat on the case to see if they could bring murder charges against him but then just began to drag their feet. Confident we could win at trial, we kept pushing for trial, but the state would not bring the Defendant to trial. We filed a Constitutional Demand for Speedy trial and then set numerous hearings spanning several years in an attempt to get the case tried or dismissed. At one point, the trial court denied the Motion to Dismiss and we appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed the judgment. After another year and more hearings, the trial
court dismissed the charges!

Dougherty county case involving Murder was dismissed after we filed a Constitutional Demand for Speedy Trial

The Defendant was accused and arrested for murder. The only evidence against the Defendant was a witness that claimed the Defendant was involved. We talked with that witness and obtained a written statement from him that he made up the accusation in an attempt to get a better outcome in a pending case against him. When we took that statement to the DA, he refused to dismiss the charges. We filed a Constitutional Demand for Speedy trial and then set several hearings to document that the state had no other evidence except the witness. After a sufficient time had passed without the state indicting the Defendant, we filed a Motion to Dismiss based on the demand for a speedy trial. When we appeared for the hearing, the state dismissed the charges!

Terrell county defendant convicted of Sexual Battery removed from sex offender registry

The Defendant pled guilty about 9 years ago for Sexual Battery after having consensual sex with his girlfriend, who was a minor. Subsequent to his plea, he was placed on the Sex Offender Registry and became subject to its provisions, which include annual registration and not being able to live and work in many locations. We filed a Motion to remove him from that registry, since the statute specifically exempts misdemeanor convictions from its requirements. After a hearing, the court agreed that he should never have been placed on the list and ordered his immediate removal!