I’m still amazed at how often a lawyer will tell me that acceptance of a plea will negate any double Jeopardy challenge.

Doing a simple Google search for:

double Jeopardy
plea
Florida

… tells me otherwise. A Double Jeopardy challenge can be raised at any time.

Answers such as these speak volumes about that particular firm and has me continuing to look elsewhere. Ahhhh, what a wonderful legal system we area part of.

Florida

Is this federal or only a Florida ruling? My conviction was in Michigan.

Well in my case I was charged with 3 crimes all from the same 2 minute encounter. I molested my cousin whom was 15 at the time. I touched her breast and rubbed her Vag. The state charged me with Lewd & Lascivious Assault for touching the breasts, Lewd & Lascivious Assault for touching her Vag, and Sexual Assault – Non-Violent -no force or weapon was used for the whole encounter. My paid attorney said they would never convict me on all of them. But what the state does is charge you multiple times for the same acts then after 6 months of hearings only agree to drop the charges if you agree to plead guilty to one of them or threaten you with a 21 year sentence if you go to trial and get convicted on all of them. Its not right, I never intended to go to trial and always planned on pleading guilty. My public defender said he could of plead this down to one charge of indecent assault. But I didn’t believe him and went with a crooked paid attorney that got me a ten year sentence. Three in and 7 years on probation for pleading guilty to the one lewd charge of touching her Vag. 20 years later and I am still paying the price with the register for life in Florida. I dont even live in Florida since 2001. My NJ attorney says he can get me off of the yearly NJ registration, but Florida will never remove me from theirs no matter what Jersey says. So why bother to ever try and get off it. The Florida registry has got me kicked of a Carnival Cruise line and now Airbnb.

You might want to call the lawyer that represented you in your underlying case to see if you even have an issue to appeal or seek other relief under. You can try the PD’s office or your local legal aid office, but that’s more of a longshot. It’s unfair, but sometimes saving up is the only option.

Thats great news FAC. Actually exciting news. I have a question?
What about if you wanted to apeal
But you have no money to hire a criminal defense attorney. What can a person do ?

If you have a case similar to Lee’s, in which you were convicted of multiple crimes arising from the same course of conduct, you might want to consult with your criminal defense attorney to see if you are eligible for relief.

question : since the charges are now considered illegal because they were all for the same act what does that mean potentially ?