Criminal Trials

CIA Operatives, Barrels of Whiskey, and a Biker Named Thor

Casey Anthony: Appeals Court Tosses Out Two Convictions

Two charges down, two more to go -- that's the tally for Casey Anthony the horrible human being Florida mother woman who wiggled her way out of murder charges related to the death of her 2-year-old daughter. Today an appeals court tossed out two of Anthony's remaining convictions, charges for lying ... More >>

State Attorney Candidate Jim Lewis's Five Craziest Court Cases

Broward State Attorney Mike Satz, who has held the office for 837 years and counting, has rarely faced a serious challenger in his reelection bids. This November, he'll be running against Republican Jim Lewis, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who most recently ran (unsuccessfully) for attorney general.The m ... More >>

Pill-Mill Docs Cynthia Cadet, Joseph Castronuovo Plead Not Guilty in Deaths

Doctors Cynthia Cadet and Joseph Castronuovo were charged last year, along with 30 others, in participating in the George brothers' South Florida pill-mill scheme that dished out millions of pain pills to patients from as far away as Ohio. So far, almost all of those people -- including both Christo ... More >>

Nicole Okrzesik Pleads Not Guilty in Juliana Mensch Strangling; Trial Tentatively Set for August

Nicole Okrzesik, the 23-year-old accused of strangling Juliana Mensch with her boyfriend in March, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder on Monday and has had her trial tentatively set for August 6. She could face the death penalty.Though we reported that the original trial, with co-defendant Ja ... More >>

Michael McAuliffe Went Fishing for Corruption in Riviera Beach, Went Home Empty-Handed

He rode into the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office promising to fight corruption, but in Riviera Beach, Michael McAuliffe failed spectacularly.Three years ago, McAuliffe charged three Riviera cops with felonies ranging from official misconduct to tipping off a murder suspect about an impending arre ... More >>

Lisa Pembleton, Star Witness in John Goodman Trial, Gets Grilled About Her Free Lawyer

​Lisa Pembleton doesn't drink. Neither do her friends. "I don't hang out with those kind of people," she said on the witness stand in a West Palm Beach courtroom today. Her sobriety is just one of many stark differences between Pembleton, a horse trainer and student of the equestrian sport of dres ... More >>

Lawrence Hunt Pleads Guilty to Killing Middle School Teacher Calvin Williams

​Two years ago, Lawrence Hunt told police he killed his lover, Calvin Williams, because he feared Williams was about to rape him and give him HIV. If the case had gone to trial, family and friends of both men would have been dragged through a public airing of intimate secrets. Did the 41-year ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale Police Say Its Cops Aren't Facing Any Charges -- That It Knows Of

​Amid the dissemination of the transcripts from Scott Rothstein's deposition in Miami, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department has released a statement claiming none of the department's employees will be facing charges -- that it knows of.Rothstein was asked about his associations with organized cri ... More >>

Taurus Bryant Gets Life in Prison After Shooting Man He'd Known for 20 Years Over Fake Drugs

Palm Beach County Sheriff's OfficeTaurus Bryant​After shooting a man he'd known for more than 20 years because the man's uncle wouldn't pay for fake drugs -- and the 13 other criminal convictions on his rap sheet -- Taurus Bryant received a mandatory sentence of life in prison.Back in November 200 ... More >>

Guerdwich Montimere, AKA Jerry Joseph, Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault After Posing as Teen Basketball Star

Montimere came clean after posing as Jerry Joseph.​Guerdwich Montimere, the former Dillard High School basketball player who moved to Texas when he was 22 and reinvented himself as a 16-year-old, came clean in the legal sense yesterday.He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child - ... More >>

Casey Anthony Found Not Guilty, No Thanks to Nancy Grace

"Tot Mom" Casey Anthony​The circus that is known as the Casey Anthony trial has come to an end with "Tot Mom" being found not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse.Was the evidence circumstantial? Sure. Did Casey Anthony's lawyers deliver some of the wo ... More >>

Alcee Hastings Faces Ethics Investigation; Allegedly Too Touchy-Feely With Ex-Staffer

Wikimedia CommonsIt's sex-scandal o'clock in Congress.​Miramar's Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings faces a House ethics investigation after he was allegedly a little too hands-on with a former female staffer.Winsome Packer -- who worked on the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation chaired by Ha ... More >>

Broward Sheriff's Detective Acquitted Of Drug-Bust Charge Championed By Al Lamberti

Broward Sheriff's OfficeAlbury Burrows​It turns out publicly lambasting a detective from your own department about criminal accusations may not be the best idea before that detective is found guilty.Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti might have to learn that the hard way, since Albury Burrows -- a ... More >>

The Judge And The Wiseguys

Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato made her name as a Mafia fighter. As a former prosecutor and cop, she has both presided over, tried, and investigated high-profile mob cases.  John "Johnny Meatballs" Piteo is oft-convicted bookmaker with suspected organized crime ties who has done two str ... More >>

Jack Tobin: One Of A Kind

Margate political powerhouse and consummate deal maker Jack Tobin, who died Tuesday at the age of 69, will be laid to rest Friday. He's remembered with near reverence by many who knew him, even those who also knew the rather unseemly nature of his long political career as a state legislator, Ma ... More >>

Charles Harper's Plea Deal Haunted by the Specter of Past Incidents With John Bowman

John Bowman and Charles Harper​When Charles Harper pleaded guilty to stalking his former foster dad, Broward Circuit Judge John Bowman, he gave up any chance of appeal and received a permanent mark on his adult criminal record. As part of a plea deal reached with the state, Harper has to apologize ... More >>

What John Toombs' Acquittal Means for the Dysfunctional Riviera Beach Cops

Schneider is accused of forging her supervisor's signature on official documents.​"We have a little dysfunction in the chain of command in Riviera Beach," defense attorney Steve Sessa told a jury in Palm Beach Circuit Court yesterday. "Because of that dysfunction, that's why we're here."Sessa was ... More >>

UPDATED: Agent John Toombs in Court Today; First Trial in the Riviera Beach Police Scandal

​Agent John Toombs was acquitted this afternoon on all counts. Read more details after the jump.Riviera Beach Vice Agent John Toombs will be in court this morning facing allegations that he tipped off a murder suspect to help him avoid being arrested. Toombs' trial is the first in the scandal ... More >>

In Riviera Beach Police Investigation, Sgt. Pat Galligan Remains Free

PBSOSchneider was charged with forging Galligan's signature.​The FBI and the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office have been investigating an overtime scam at the Riviera Beach police department for nearly two years. Yet the highest ranking officer at the heart of the scandal, Sgt. Pat Galligan, has ... More >>

Former Accused Cop in Heavily Contested Judge Race

John Fry is facing John Howes in a runoff for a Broward County Judge right now, but ten years ago, that must have seemed like an impossibility. He had lost his job as a Margate cop and was facing criminal charges for, as the Miami Herald put it at the time, participating in an arrest ... More >>

Tony Villegas' Competency Hearing Postponed Until Day of Ex-Wife's Sentencing

Tony Villegas' trial is on hold.​Tony Villegas arrived in Broward County Court this morning looking weary after more than two years in jail, his thin face hidden by a scruffy brown beard. He sat quietly, cuffed hands in his lap, wearing a black-and-white striped shirt that set him apart from the d ... More >>

Alleged Kidnapper Who Led Boynton Police on High-Speech Chase Has Lengthy Rap Sheet

This is a Dodge Magnum similar to the one that Laderic Brown is accused of stealing.​Laderic Brown has only been an adult for 23 months, but he already has a dozen criminal cases in Palm Beach County courts -- and that doesn't include the charges of home invasion, kidnapping, ramming a police crui ... More >>

Suspect in Teacher's Murder Was Also Accused of Robbery

PBSOLawrence Hunt is now charged with second-degree murder.​The man accused of fatally shooting his alleged lover, L.C. Swain Middle School teacher Calvin Williams, is no hardened criminal, but he has been accused of violence before.Three years ago, when he was in 11th grade at Palm Beach Gardens ... More >>

For Polo Mogul John Goodman, Other Celebrity DUI Cases Offer Hope of Minimal Punishment

Facebook.comScott Wilson, 23, drowned in a canal after Goodman's Bentley crashed into his car.​As polo mogul John Goodman faces vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter charges for the Wellington car accident that led to the death of 23-year-old Scott Wilson, many wonder if he'll receive special le ... More >>

Deadline Day Dramatics in Broward Judicial Races

Noon today was the deadline for filing to be on Florida ballots, leading to some last-minute jockeying in the Broward judicial races. Broward Circuit Court Judge Lee Seidman -- facing three challengers in his reelection bid -- opted out of that race. But he didn't do so to run against Judge Susan Le ... More >>

Morning Juice: Family Identified From Sunken Minivan; Mass Murderer's Attorney Wants to Seal Records

​A quick look at what's making news around here:A Palm Beach County jury gave a not-guilty verdict to Allison Dinsmore, the 27-year-old teacher from Boynton Beach tried on felony animal-cruelty charges after leaving her two cats home alone, where they starved to death. [Palm Beach Post]The bodies ... More >>

Stanford Employees in Fort Lauderdale Accused of Shredding Evidence of Massive Fraud

FlickrDid Allen Stanford's local employees try to cover up his crime?​The first criminal trial in the Stanford Financial Group fraud is under way, and it ain't pretty for the local branch. In opening remarks of a trial that began Monday in Miami, prosecutors told the jury that Thomas Raffanello an ... More >>

North Florida Murder, South Florida Evidence, Leads to North Pennsylvania Arrest

A multijurisdictional murder case started, it appears, when Broward sheriff's deputies responded to a Crimestoppers tip that a red Mazda truck left at the Greyhound bus stop in Fort Lauderdale was involved in a murder. The truck was registered to 76-year-old Tommy Lee Kellum of Lake City, Florida. A ... More >>

The Cover-Up: Judge Ana Gardiner Lied Under Oath

If you haven't read Judge Ana Gardiner's transcript, you should. It says more about Broward County corruption than anything I could ever write. And it's clear that Gardiner has lied under oath and should be investigated and ultimately criminally charged for doing so.  The Florida Supr ... More >>

Liberty City Six Judge Refuses to Pay Private Investigator After He Speaks Out

The Agent From Iran

How a mother of two ended up in a plot to smuggle high-tech gear to the enemy

RIP Judge Charlie Kaplan

With a Bullet

Corruption-busting lawyer Bruce Udolf wants to be Broward sheriff. After the Ken Jenne experience, though, are voters too suspicious of lawyers turned cops?

Judge's Gambit

Gardiner's only defense was an off-the-wall cease-and-desist letter

Lambs to Slaughter

Again and again, local claims of abuse point to one priest, the Rev. Neil Doherty, and the Catholic archdiocese that protected him

Accidental Hit Man

Sure, Paul Brandreth talks like a wiseguy. But is he a cold-blooded killer?

Just Say Uncle

The DEA's "Twin Oceans" hooked a big fish, but can they reel it in?

Justice Severed

Maharaj went from the high life to a life sentence — 20 years so far for a crime he may not have committed

Law and Disorder

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is guilty of being bizarre fun.

An' Jushtiss f'r All!

The Luckiest Perps

Missing Leg

The cops tagged amputee Duane Brown as one of "America's Most Wanted," but now he's fighting back

The Captain of Deceit Strikes Again

Richard Scheff still can't get the story of the Frank Lee Smith case straight -- and he doesn't seem to care

Snitch and Whitewash

The state need not look far when investigating the murder of a Broward deputy. But it will have to look deep.

A Handy Dandy

Jeff Wright brings out the best in people

Police Beat

More than four years after a Delray Beach cop gave him a body full of bruises and a face full of pepper spray, a local doctor is still seeking justice

Grift and Run

The FBI doesn't want you to know about Mel Ruth

The Redemption of Crime Boy

Former criminal-in-training Percy Campbell reclaimed his life and now illuminates a better way to handle hard-core juvenile delinquency

Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Henry Wallace insists he wasn't insane when he stabbed his landlord seventeen times. And he thanked his jury for agreeing with him.