How to Look Up Laws on Florida's Online Statutes (for non-lawyers)

If you get a ticket or are charged with a crime you may, at your leisure, decide to look up what it is you are charged with and maybe even try to find out what the penalty could be. If you have done this you probably gave up in frustration. Don't feel bad - Lawyers often feel the same way.

As an example, I recently had a client charged with a traffic violation that carried with it a $1000 fine. At first blush you might think my client was charged with speeding in a school zone at the Holy Nun Academy or worse. That's a huge fine!

Unfortunately, for my client, all he did was have a screw come loose on his License Plate tag holder on his motorcycle. Yes, it is a $1000 fine for placing a tag on a motorcycle that makes it hard to read, but enough about that.

I wanted to find out where this fine amount was located in the statutes. There are several ways to access the online statutes. I like the senate's access because I know where the search feature is there (http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/ ). I started with the statute number for the infraction itself - section 316.2085(3), Florida Statutes. 

The license tag of a motorcycle or moped must be permanently affixed to the vehicle and remain clearly visible from the rear at all times. ...
 There was nothing about the fine amount in this section at all. Instead it referred to:
A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided in chapter 318.
Well, thanks for the specificity - an entire chapter? Anyhoo, I search for section 316.2085 in chapter 318 but lo and behold nothing comes up. How can this be?

Let me digress a bit. The online Florida Statutes has a great free search feature that can help you out a lot. I utilize it every time I do research there. Second, as a lawyer I know that the legislature has no rhyme or reason behind how they write these laws. SO the search feature is a must. There may be a method to the madness but the Florida Legislature is not sharing that information. I also know that they like to embed laws within laws and that knowledge helps me with my searches.

I decide to do a search for this particular statute (316.2085) in chapters 318, 320, 322, and back in 316 (the common chapters for all things relating to driving a motor vehicle in Florida). Doing that I find that there is a reference to it in section 316.1926 (additional offenses). This is very brief but it gives me a clue. Within this section is not only what I'm looking for but reference to the violation for exceeding the speed limit by 50 mph. This I know is a $1,000 fine citation.

Now I search chapter 318 for section 316.1926 and wallah! There it is! Chapter 318 references penalties for section 316.1926 not 316.2085. It is confusing. It often times has you scratching your head. But it can be negotiated with the help of the search feature that, thoughtfully, was included in this great reference. And, did I mention, it is free!

- is an Orlando attorney practicing criminal defense. He represents clients seeking criminal record expungements throughout the state of Florida and all traffic infractions/charges in Central Florida.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Handcuff Key, another obscure "Tag! Your Guilty" crime.

There is a Florida Statute that penalizes you for simply possessing a handcuff key. It is found in section 843.021, Florida Statutes, and is titled, "Unlawful possession of a concealed handcuff key." I'm writing this post because this is the kind of "slow creep" law that the government produces without anyone noticing. Yet year over year they add up making more and more unwitting individuals criminals. This law prohibits the following behavior: Any person who possesses a concealed handcuff key commits a felony of the third degree, punishable by a $5,000 fine and/or 5 years in prison. Notice that the "title" and the "prohibited behavior" of the law says that there an unlawful way to possess a handcuff key when you conceal it. At least that is what I take from it. Luckily, the creators of this crime have included some definitions that cannot be overlooked (but usually are - mainly by law enforcement). The first definition is the “In custo
Read more

Royalty Has It's Privileges

The saga of Drew Dyer seems to have come to an end. Drew was cited for careless driving, a civil infraction with a fine of $166 . According to the Sentinel, Drew ran a stop sign, lost control of his car, and ran it into the side of a house at a speed great enough to cause $20,000 worth of damage. Then, he and his friend(s), after making contact with the home owner but before police arrived, fled the scene. I am now working on the "Drew Dyer Motion to Dismiss." All future "Leaving the Accident Scene" cases will be asking the court to dismiss the case or reduce to careless driving. I like Buddy Dyer. I think he has been a good mayor for Orlando. Much better than Glenda Hood. I don't blame him for influencing the outcome of this case. I think any parent would. However, law enforcement failed miserably. They caved under pressure and that just upsets me. In order for the people to respect law enforcement they have to see integrity in their ranks. This will do not
Read more

Why You Need Car Insurance

I can remember as a kid going out to the closest "fly-by-night" insurance company and getting the bare minimum insurance coverage that would make my car legal.  Heck, I didn't have much money but I had a car and I wanted to drive it - and did I. For probably the first 4 years of my driving life I spent nearly 100% of my money on my car.  I had to make it sound better, run faster, jack it up, bigger tires, and on and on.  And this was on a Gremlin!  It was one of those weird, rare Gremlins that had a V8 sitting under the hood and for the first two gears (it was only a three speed) it was quite quick.  I, fortunately, decided my life was going no where and joined the Army before I could cause any damage on the road, and that was a very good thing.  Nearly thirty years later I look back and wonder how I ever made it out of my teen years.  There are lots of reasons for this bewilderment and the thing I want to focus on here is the fact that I was under-insured. Insurance
Read more