May 14, 2008: The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the lower district court’s ruling that reversed the capital sexual battery conviction of Rodolfo Contreras, who was given a mandatory life sentence for allegedly abusing his daughter when she was 9 years old; at the time of his trial, the State violated his constitutional right of confrontation by not presenting the testimony of the alleged victim, but instead played a videotaped interview of her.

August 11, 2006: Michael Wallace was finally set free, and his original 20 year sentence was reduced to time-served, based on the success of two appeals handled by Valentin Rodriguez and the local public defender’s office. The first appeal helped define the parameters of the 10-20-Life law, and found that prosecutors had to properly prove the elements to trigger the law, which they had not done in Wallace’s case. His 20 year sentence was reduced to 10 years. Not giving up, there was a second appeal, which challenged the original jury instructions on the ground that a sentence could not be enhanced unless the jury was specifically asked to find that the enhancement applied. The amended 10 year sentence was then reduced to time served in August, 2006. (See Palm Beach Post article titled: Judge Sets Free Man Who Threw Molotov, published on August 11, 2006).

State v. Andrews: (affirming the right of a trial judge to grant a new trial when he disagreed with jury verdict on grounds of fairness), 820 So.2d 1016 (Fla. 4th DCA July 2002); 875 So.2d 686 (Fla. 4th DCA June 2004). As a result of the hard work on this case, Mr. Andrews not only significantly reduced his incarceration period, he was actually compensated by the City of West Palm Beach for the wrongful shooting by law enforcement officers as part of the criminal case. [Link to Opinion]

July 25, 2002: An appeals court ruled that a judge had the authority to sentence a youth as a youthful offender even if the youth was facing the mandatory sentencing provisions of 10-20-Life.