David Edelstein is an AV® Peer Review Rated criminal defense attorney
representing clients in state and federal criminal matters across the State of Florida.

A federal appeals court has overturned the drug trafficking conviction of a California man because of a prosecutor’s “inflammatory” remarks during his closing arguments. In a ruling (PDF) Tuesday, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the prosecutor’s remarks were both “improper and prejudicial,” the Recorder reports. The court ordered a new [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently grappling with the issue of whether an individual arrested for a minor violation may be strip-searched in jail. The issue came before the Supreme Court by litigator Thomas Goldstein, who brought the case on behalf of Albert Florence.  Mr. Florence was arrested on an outstanding warrant for a traffic [...]

Two women who say they were taped by hidden cameras as they undressed at a southwestern Pennsylvania tanning salon have filed a federal lawsuit against the business and its owner, reports the Washington Post. The women were allegedly taped in various states of undress through a hole in the ceiling of the tanning salon. The two [...]

The 5-4 decision found that police had the authority to search text messages on a phone that was found  in the pocket of Gregory Diaz, arrested on suspicion of selling Ecstasy to an informant.  (Read the opinion) The Court analogized from cases which allowed for cops to search cigarette packs and clothing found on a [...]

According to Dallas Morning News a Texas man has now been declared innocent  after serving 30 years in an abduction, robbery and rape case.  He was cleared by DNA testing. “[W]ords won’t make up for what I lost,” said Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to sit in prison [...]

It’s a dirty little secret of the criminal justice system: People sometimes confess to crimes they didn’t commit. While it may seem counterintuitive, the complexities of human psychology–coupled with  police interrogation tactics– sometimes result in false confessions.  According to a recent study by Brandon Garrett, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, more than [...]