Computer Simulates Hit-run At Trial March 16, 1993|By TREVOR JENSEN, Staff Writer Computer animation made its debut in criminal court on Monday as jurors watched a technically precise video showing how Nicole Rae Walker, 6, was struck and killed by a pickup truck. It was the first time computer animation was used in a Florida criminal trial and one of only a handful of times it has been used nationally, although the technique is common in civil cases. Nicole was killed and two of her [...]

"Another brilliant move by the Florida legislature" BROWARD (CBS Miami) – Starting Monday, if you have to pay a traffic ticket, file a lawsuit or just check on court records you can expect to wait longer and have fewer hours in the day to accomplish your work. Broward Clerk of Courts Howard Forman said it’s because of the upshot of major budget cuts to the Clerk of Courts Office. “It’s gonna hurt,” said Forman.  Forman said the state legislators cut the [...]

A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., based attorney, Kenneth Padowitz, first used animation technology as the prosecutor in a 1993 trial involving a hit-and-run driver who ran into five children, killing one of them. The eventual guilty verdict was challenged by the defense, but a Florida appellate court sided with Padowitz. It was the first appellate decision in the U.S. upholding computer animation as evidence in a criminal trial. First Forensic Computer Animation entered into evidence by Trial Lawyer Ken Padowitz, March 8, 1993 [...]

Legal Action Should doctors be allowed to help patients end their lives?  That's the question being presented in a mock trial to a group of students in the Honors Pre-Law Program at American Heritage School in Plantation.  Former Broward County prosecutor Ken Padowitz, director of the program, is setting up a portable courtroom for the trial in which students play the roles of judge, prosecutor, witnesses, jury and defense attorney. In the case before the future lawyers, a doctor has been [...]

She hired Padowitz months later because she was tired of the delays and wanted a top attorney outside Collier County.   "Something Smells to High Holy Hell" - Ken Padowitz NAPLES, Sep 6, 2008 - A letter contending three innocent men were arrested on armed robbery and beating charges in a crime involving a high-ranking Collier sheriff's official's son — who is Sheriff Don Hunter's godson — has resulted in the prosecutor dropping charges against two of the men. The charges were dropped [...]

Lake Worth Teacher Acquitted In Scuffle February 11, 2005|By Jon Burstein Staff Writer -  Sun-Sentinel -   A first-grade teacher wept Thursday night after a jury needed just 33 minutes to acquit her of charges that she drove a short distance with a Broward sheriff's deputy's hand wedged in her car window. As the verdict was read, a sobbing Lisa Leo buried her face in her attorney's shoulder while her family and friends celebrated in the courtroom's front row with hugs and [...]

Shooting Ruled A Murder Children Watched Mother's Slaying July 26, 1995|By TREVOR JENSEN Staff Writer "I'm going to the gas chamber," Peter Samuels predicted after he fired a fatal shot at point-blank range into his estranged wife's head two years ago. There is no gas chamber in Florida. But Samuels' prediction that the slaying would lead to his death could come true after a jury found him guilty on Tuesday of first-degree murder. Jurors will reconvene on Sept. 18 to make [...]

VIDEO AND STORY CLICK HERE HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Child neglect charges have been dropped against the mother of a baby who was found buried in her Hallandale Beach backyard. Brittany Sierra was arrested in January 2013 after it was discovered her son, Dontrell Melvin, had been missing since 2011.Prosecutors said Sierra was initially charged with child neglect, because the state only had knowledge of one phone call she made to police to find her son. It was later revealed that Sierrra had made four [...]

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