Florida Lawyer

May 14, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Murder trial for Aventura developer begins Monday

Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the murder trial of Adam Kaufman, 39, an Aventura developer accused of strangling his wife.

Miami-Dade prosecutors will tell the 12-person jury that Kaufman strangled Eleonora Kaufman, 33, in the bathroom of their Aventura house, then lied by claiming she fell and hit her neck on a bathroom magazine holder.

Eleonora Kaufman’s death remained unclassified for months until Dr. Bruce A. Hyma, Miami-Dade’s chief medical examiner, ruled she died from mechanical asphyxiation.

Arrested in 2009, Kaufman is charged with second-degree murder and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/14/2798309/murder-trial-for-aventura-developer.html#storylink=cpy

May 10, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Woman indicted in Key Largo bludgeoning death of husband

Denise Bozarth, accused of bludgeoning her husband to death aboard a Key Largo houseboat in 2007, has been formally indicted by a grand jury on a count of premeditated murder.

Bozarth, 39, remains in custody in the Monroe County jail with no bond allowed. She was arrested in March after an investigation lasting nearly five years.

Assistant State Attorney Theresa Hunnewell presented evidence to the grand jury in a one-day session last Friday at the Plantation Key courthouse.

The body of Edward Bozarth, 62, was discovered in July 2007, stuffed into a canvas sack concealed inside the engine compartment of his boat, named Screw U 2, docked at Gilbert’s Marina.

Edward Bozarth had been killed by “blunt force trauma to the head” about a week before the grim discovery, the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded.

The couple had been married for nine years and had two children.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/10/2792582/woman-indicted-in-key-largo-bludgeoning.html#storylink=cpy

May 9, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Tundidor jury verdict: Guilty on all accounts

Jurors in the first-degree murder trial of a Plantation man accused of the brutal home invasion murder of his landlord two years ago returned guilty verdicts on all 10 felony charges against him early Wednesday.

Randy W. Tundidor, 45, now must enter the second phase of his trial, likely to begin in September when jurors will decide whether he will be sentenced to Death Row or life in prison for the murder of Joseph Morrissey, a Nova Southeastern University professor and researcher who rented a town house to Tundidor.

Morrissey was stabbed to death and then his house was set on fire while his wife and young child remained inside.

Linda Morrissey, the victim’s widow, did not express emotion after a court clerk read aloud the jury’s verdict.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/09/2790845/tundidor-jury-verdict-guilty-on.html#storylink=cpy

May 8, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Jurors will deliberate Tuesday in NSU professor’s murder trial

Jurors will begin deliberations Tuesday in the first-degree murder trial of a Plantation man accused of the brutal home-invasion murder of his landlord two years ago.

Broward County prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered closing arguments Monday in the two-week-old trial of Randy W. Tundidor, 45, who is charged with stabbing to death Joseph Morrissey, a Nova Southeastern University professor and researcher who rented a townhouse to Tundidor and his family.

Tundidor faces the death penalty if jurors find him guilty. He also is charged with two counts of attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and arson

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/07/2788571/jurors-will-deliberate-tuesday.html#storylink=cpy

May 7, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Con man posed as doctor, lawyer and rabbi, Broward authorities say

He’s on probation for practicing law without a license. He’s charged with carrying a foreign diplomat’s passport. He got a badge from a Broward hospital identifying him as a doctor and clergyman. His second wife believed he was a rabbi.

But David Vyner only has one true profession: con artist, according to the Broward sheriff’s detective who spent months piecing together the Armenian immigrant’s life in South Florida.

“One day he becomes a lawyer. One day he becomes a doctor. One day he becomes a rabbi,” said Detective John Calabro. “He has delusions of grandeur.”

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-david-vyner-arrest-20120506,0,2506526.story

May 7, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Jury selection on Monday for murder trial of Aventura developer

Jury selection gets under way Monday in the trial of Aventura developer Adam Kaufman, who is accused of murdering his wife five years ago.

The case has attracted national attention. CBS’ 48 Hours, NBC’s Dateline and Court TV are all in a Miami courtroom to cover the trial.

The case began on November 2007 when police said a hysterical Kaufman called 911 and said that he had awakened after a night of sleep to find his wife, Lina, in the bathroom, unconscious, her neck draped over a bar on a magazine rack.

More than a year and a half later, Aventura police charged Kaufman with murder.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/06/2786851/national-media-in-miami-courtroom.html#storylink=cpy

May 4, 2012in Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Book: Goodman juror conducted drinking experiment night before guilty verdict

One of the jurors in John Goodman’s DUI-manslaughter trial who wrote a book about his experiences makes a startling revelation: He conducted an experiment the night before the Wellington polo mogul was convicted by drinking three vodkas to see how they would affect him.

Juror Dennis DeMartin of Delray Beach, who provided a copy of his book to the Sun Sentinel on Thursday, wrote that the experiment helped convince him that Goodman was guilty. The revelation comes as Goodman’s defense attorneys are seeking to have the conviction thrown out based on jury misconduct.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-john-goodman-alleged-jury-misconduct-20120503,0,3999824.story

May 3, 2012in Federal Law, Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Coconut Grove man, once accused in slaying of teacher, beats felonies again

A Coconut Grove man who beat five separate murder trials — four of them for the 1996 robbery-slaying of a Miami school teacher — prevailed again at trial on Wednesday.

Then he went on the lam.

Alphonso Gainer, accused of leading police on a dangerous high-speed car chase through Coconut Grove in December 2010, was acquitted of felonies charges. He was, however, convicted of one misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.

But Gainer never heard the verdict. As jurors deliberated, Gainer — who was free on bail —left the courthouse and vanished.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2780093/coconut-grove-once-accused-in.html#storylink=cpy

May 1, 2012in Federal Law, Florida Criminal Law, Florida Lawyer

Feds bust three ex-NFL players on ID-theft and tax-related fraud charges

Three former National Football League players have been arrested by the FBI on federal charges in connection with an alleged scheme to steal people’s identities and file false tax returns in others’ names, according to authorities.

The three ex-NFL players charged with defrauding the federal government and ID theft are: William Joseph, a University of Miami defensive tackle drafted in the first round by the New York Giants in 2003; Michael Bennett, a University of Wisconsin running back also drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Vikings in 2001; and Louis Gachelin, a Syracuse University defensive tackle who was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2004.

Joseph and Gachelin are Miami natives; Bennett was born in Milwaukee. All three were questioned after their arrests Monday by FBI agents at the bureau’s North Miami Beach regional office. They were then transferred to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami for court appearances Tuesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Dube, according to the clerk’s office. Details of the alleged scheme are expected to be disclosed in a criminal complaint to be released later Tuesday.

FBI spokesman Mike Leverock declined to comment.

As part of a related investigation, the FBI also arrested about a half-dozen other defendants Monday.

Authorities say the latest tax-related fraud case, while unique because of the ex-NFL defendants, is yet another indication of escalating identity-theft crimes in South Florida.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/30/2777317/feds-bust-three-ex-nfl-players.html#storylink=cpy

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Melmer Law, LLC

Mark P. Melmer, Esq. served as a prosecutor here in Miami-Dade County, handling thousands of cases at both the misdemeanor and felony level. For the last 10 years Mark has devoted his practice to family law and domestic violence issues. This experience and insight makes him a formidable advocate.