Another promising University of Miami Hurricane football player was arrested last month - this time for DUI. The response by the UM athletic department again was immediate and a day later the freshman student was out of school. It is unclear whether this student left voluntarily or he was expelled. You can see the local coverage of the story here.
The 2014-2015 college academic year has just started for most colleges and universities. Here in Miami, students have been back to campus for about a week now and classes have just begun. This is a very busy time for Freshman and returning students alike. New and old friends are meeting up and enjoying themselves all around campus and town. As I warn every fall, students should be extra careful in these first few weeks of the semester when the police are out in full force patrolling for typical college student illegal activity like drugs use and underage drinking. Many campus [...]
The Florida Legislature is taking up the pervasive problem with these Mugshot Websites again and it looks like this time it may pass. Read about it here. I have been complaining about these Mugshot websites that obtain arrestees' booking photos, also known as mugshots, from the jails as soon as someone is arrested and publishing them on their websites, along with their names and charges. Not only is the a great source of embarrassment for those arrested, but also many times charges are dismissed or expunged and these Mugshot websites never correct their data. Worse yet, they will not remove [...]
Graduation may finally be here for some college students. Hopefully, post graduation plans include many employment opportunities. It is rare these days to obtain a job without going through a criminal background check. These words will immediately invoke fear in many, many college students who may have partied too hard or made a silly, youthful mistake that resulted in an arrest during the college years. Almost all of my college student clients want to know what exactly is on their criminal background as result of an arrest and/or criminal case. When I handle a criminal case I am able to [...]
College students who have been arrested off campus may be under the incorrect impression that they are in the clear - that their school will not find out about the arrest and they can't be disciplined by the University for it. When in fact any police officer, prosecutor or anyone else can report misconduct to your college disciplinary office. And recall most student codes of conduct also apply to student activity which occurs off campus and even during vacation (read all about it here in my earlier blog post on this very dangerous topic). I have had students arrested off [...]
As the 2013-2014 academic college year comes to a close, the statistics for 2012 are in and have been comprehensively analyzed by website rehabs.com in its report, "Drugs on Campus, Exploring the Drug Cultures of Hundreds of College Campuses through their Crime Data." This website is a very interesting read and does a tremendous job analyzing the statistics of college arrests in many areas, not only alcohol and drugs.
Perhaps one of the most significant search and seizure cases for the digital age is centered around a college student who was initially pulled over for a routine traffic stop. He was ultimately arrested for driving with a suspended license and the police impounded his smartphone AFTER scrolling through it to find incriminating evidence of videos and photos of gang activity. The phone landed him in prison for 15 years. You can read aboutthe case here. The US Supreme Court will now decide whether the police illegally searched that smartphone without a warrant. Oral arguments on this issue were held [...]
I love Key West. They really know how to deal with a problem down there. They have something called "Spring Break Court." Key West, like most big Spring Break destinations, suffers from many arrests of college students for relatively minor crimes like underage drinking, open container violations, fake IDs, etc. The problem with the arrest of a college student on Spring Break vacation is that they are not locals and must return to their home, usually hundreds of miles away, at the end of the week before their criminal case can come to court to be resolved. Key West has [...]
Last week the NFL finished up its 2013 annual draft in a time when there has been no shortage of college football players in the news for behavior off the field including arrests and suspensions. This issue of college athlete arrests is not exclusive to football players, but every college sport experiences arrests of team members. Policy varies widely from university to university regarding punishment for these student athletes - some receive almost no discipline while others are thrown off the team. However, this week it seems that things may be looking up for college athletes who face arrest and [...]
There has been a lot of discuss in the past few days about captured Boston Bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, not receiving his Miranda Rights pursuant to the public safety exception. This has been the subject of much debate because normally arrested suspects in the United States are read the well known Miranda Warnings before interrogation or at least that is what you would believe by watching Law & Order. You know how it goes - "you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you . . ." Many college students (and other [...]
