Facts:
My client is a young man who used to live in Pinellas County. His parents were divorced and his mother remarried his football coach. He could not get over this and moved out of state with his girlfriend. His younger brother remained in Pinellas County.
One day, his brother called him and told him that he and the step-father had gotten in a fight. My client then sent threatening texts to his step-father and mother over the incident.
His mother and his step-father went to the police and then to the State Attorney over the situation. They were naive about what the repercussions would be once the case went to the court. The prosecutor said that she would handle it.
Six months later and completely out of the blue, my client was arrested on a warrant 1500 miles from Pinellas County and taken to court there. He was released and told that he had to drive directly to Florida and turn himself in. He did it. Once he arrived in Pinellas County, he was again arrested and released on bond with a GPS ankle monitor. He was charged with written threats to kill, a second degree felony. It was very serious.
The Case:
The case was clearly out of control and over the top for what he did. It was unnecessary and his parents simply did not understand what had started by getting the court system involved. I had my client get some mental health therapy to demonstrate that he was not a danger. His mother was adamant that she was worried about his future and that this charge would ruin a lot of chances that he would have for employment or even finding an apartment. I spoke to her and she agreed to drop the charges.
In the meantime, I did some research and found that all of the threats in the text messages were conditional. Such as- if I see you- if you do that again, etc. I found case law that said that conditional threats were not true threats.
I sent a detailed brief to the prosecutor and asked her to drop the case.
The Result:
It took some time, but the prosecutor agreed to drop all charges. My client was thrilled and now he and his family can work on repairing the issues they have had.
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