Legal Updates

HILLSBOROUGH STATE ATTORNEY An elected Florida prosecutor who says he was suspended by Governor DeSantis for political gain, and because he is a Democrat, is continuing his fight to regain his office. He is asking the state Supreme Court to reinstate him, citing a federal judge’s ruling that DeSantis violated state law and his First Amendment rights.

FLORIDA SPRINGS In a case dating back to 2019, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled that the state must do more to clean its springs. The case revolved around the Basin Management Action Plans. The Court ruled that the state must be more specific on how to reduce nitrate pollution.

RIFLE BUYING AGE While the Legislature considers reversing the current law prohibiting the sale of rifles and long guns to people under age 21, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2018 Florida law passed by the Legislature that created the probation. The law, passed in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is one of the only firearm restrictions approved by the Legislature in decades. 

GUARDIAN PLEA DEAL An Orlando state guardian, who was accused of causing the death of a chronically ill elderly man, reached a plea deal with prosecutors. She had faked do not resuscitate orders for the man and several other documented patients, which resulted in the man’s death after she had capped his feeding tube. She is due to be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and her state license has been permanently revoked.