Out-of-Towner wrongfully charged with Firearm Felonies Saved from Prison Sentence

In State v. DB, Case number 2007 CF 2166, a visiting family from Kentucky was driving home on Florida’s Turnpike, when the driver was vicitimized, in a Road Range incident, by another vehicle occupied by 4 Georgia residents. DB, to protect himself and his family, removed a large calibre handgun from his glovebox and placed it carefully on the center console.

The Georgia residents called law enforcement, and the Florida Highway Patrol detained DB in Seminole County, where the State of Florida ultimately charged D.B. with four (4) counts of “Aggravated Assault with a Firearm”. Each charge, under Florida’s sentencing scheme, carries with it a three (3) year minimum mandatory prison sentence.

D.B. hired Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer Jay Kirschner, who determined that Seminole County (where the charges were filed) was the incorrect “jurisdiction” to prosecute the case. (Discovering that fact was no facile task, as the “mile-marker” where the road rage incident occurred was on the borderline of two (2) counties……neither of them Seminole. Ultimately, Kirschner was able to obtain certified survey maps from the Department of Transportation proving incontrovertibly that Indian River County was the correct jurisdiction where the incident occurred).

The State of Florida, on the eve of expiration of Florida’s “Speedy Trial” deadline, re-filed the case—-this time in St. Lucie County.

Correct jurisdiction; Wrong Venue.

Kirschner filed a Motion to Dismiss the action, and just hours before the hearing, the State offered DB a plea to misdemeanor “reckless display” charges, imposing court costs and probation. D.B. since has returned to his home in Kentucky, where he lives happily with his family.