Last week Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals issued an order in Santiago-Morales v Florida that acknowledged it was bound by the precedent decision in State v. Shelley, 176 So. 3d 914, 916 (Fla. 2015), which held that double-jeopardy principles prohibit separate convictions based upon the same conduct.

In other words; if you were charged with soliciting a minor over the internet and traveling to meet that minor, which arose out of the same course of conduct, the State cannot charge you with separate crimes, unless the two arose from separate criminal episodes.

Two reminders arise from this most recent appellate court decision: (1) if you are serving a sanction for separate charges arising under the same course of conduct, you should ask your attorney if you are entitled to relief, and (2) craigslist ads are police stings.

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