Disclaimer: This article is in response to questions frequently asked of Mr. Cobb and is an unedited dictation transcript. Just like talk to text on your smartphone, there may be misspelled words or sentence fragments.

The number one thing that sets this firm apart in handling these cases is real simple; board certified specialist. A person can have a variety of ratings from different lawyer rating services that will charge you to give you these accolades, but those “lawyer ratings” are nothing but marketing spam. The Florida Bar regulates over 100,000 lawyers and has a certification program for specializing in 28 different areas of law. What matters, is that your lawyer is either a Bar certified specialist or not. You are going to pay good money to have an attorney represent you on any particular legal issue, so you should be looking for a criminal law specialist. That’s one thing that sets us apart: no other criminal defense lawyer in a three county area is certified by the Bar, and almost 90% of the people who took the test statewide last year, failed.

Also, though it does not normally apply to MIP cases, we are the world leaders in SPECT (Single-photon emission computed tomography) brain imaging for sentencing mitigation. When people with high IQs are running into trouble with the law on a regular basis, or have other behavioral problems, we send them to a clinic for forensic brain imaging so we can solve the legal problem and the behavioral problem at the same time. The treatment plans created for our clients by the best specialists in psychology and psychiatry are used in negotiations and sentencing, and with dramatic results.

We’ve sent more people for brain imaging studies than any criminal defense law firm in the world, and we have yet to have anybody come back with a perfectly healthy, normal range set of brain images. In fact they’re usually highly abnormal and quite often, particularly with young men, they have undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries and they explain “under the radar” behavior problems. In my view, these people need scientifically sound treatment plans instead of counterproductive jail and prison sentences.

You’ll find this person that’s incredibly smart. They get really good grades but then their family is sitting and scratching their heads wondering why are getting into trouble and doing dysfunctional things. Well, we’ve found out that it’s because they have a medical problem in their brain. No one’s bothered to take a picture of it. If it was a broken arm, the doctor would be negligent if the doctor didn’t, and sure enough many people self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs or engage in other behaviors that are dysfunctional.

The time to solve those kinds of behavioral problems is the very first arrest, in my opinion. Our goal is two-fold. First, we want to help our clients with their legal problems. But just helping with the legal problem is short sighted. As a profession, we must do more to truly help people with these medical problems. In Okaloosa County, almost a third of the jail inmates have severe mental illnesses and I am quite certain that an even greater percentage have the types of mental health problems that aren’t obvious.

Choosing An Attorney To Handle A MIP Case

The number one question a person can ask to avoid red flag attorneys is very simple, and it’s one question: Are you certified as a specialist by the Florida Bar? The answer is either yes, or the long story of an excuse as to why that particular lawyer is not.

I can legally handle a personal injury case with $30 million on the line in damages. The reality is, I’m not a specialist in civil law. I would not even hire myself to handle that kind of a case. I would look for a specialist. Just ask, “Are you certified by the Florida Bar of Specialist?” That’s the one question you need to ask before you even consider scheduling an appointment.

Additional Information Regarding Minor In Possession Of Alcohol Charges

Okaloosa County has started a very aggressive policy regarding minor in possession of alcohol for this year. Previously, the highly aggressive law enforcement has been confined to the neighboring county, Walton County. However, not only did Okaloosa County appropriate over a hundred thousand dollars to really crack down on spring breakers this year. They also ran a poll in the local online newspaper, the Northwest Florida Daily News, and when I looked at it this morning, 81 % of the tax payers who participated in that poll, favored the spending of that money to arrest spring breakers.

I find that interesting because if you look at political maps, you find that when it comes to spending taxes, Okaloosa County is the most conservative county in the state. Yet 81 % of the people who responded to the poll in the newspaper favored tax money being spent for the arrest of spring breakers. This is very important because it tells you what kind of a mindset, in terms of the legal system exists in this area. Many people coming from jurisdictions that are not nearly as hard, especially if they come from places where for example, marijuana is legal, are just absolutely stunned by how harsh Florida criminal law can be.

People are truly angered when they find out about how manipulative the system can be with regards setting these young people up so that their driver’s license is suspended and they may not find out about it until they’re pulled over later. Using techniques of deception so that young people are fooled into giving themselves a criminal history. I have a real problem with how MIP is enforced in this area of Florida. It’s overaggressive, it’s dangerous and the young people charged are not being treated properly.

Disclaimer: This article is in response to questions frequently asked of Mr. Cobb and is an unedited dictation transcript. Just like talk to text on your smartphone, there may be misspelled words or sentence fragments.

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