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Four years ago a Fort Pierce man was arrested after his permitted gun became exposed. As Matt Galka tells us, the case has made it’s way to Florida’s highest court…and could have implications on how Floridians are allowed to carry guns in the future.

When Dale Norman was arrested in Fort Pierce he had just received his concealed carry license. He argued that he didn’t know his gun was exposed – but he was still hit with a misdemeanor and a fine.

His lawyers have taken the case all the way to the Florida Supreme Court.  They say the state’s open carry ban is unconstitutional.

Quite frankly, the legislature at this point has deprived citizens of their substantive right to bear arms,” said Florida Carry attorney Eric Friday.

Friday said the scrutiny wouldn’t apply to any other constitutional right.

“This court would never stand for the idea of a training class, a fee, and a 90 or 180 day wait in order for a person to get a license to carry a camera and be a photojournalist. This court would not stand for that type of restriction of the first amendment.’

But Chief Justice Jorge Labarga said the 2nd Amendment is different.

“Yea, but I don’t think journalist’s cameras kill people,” he told Friday.

The state’s argument: the legislature has the final say on how someone can carry a weapons in Florida.

“The legislature has determined that it has an important Government interest in firearm safety, to curb and prevent the use of firearms and crime,” said Assistant Attorney General Heidi Bettendorf.

Earlier this year the Florida legislature failed to pass a law that would have authorized open carry throughout the state of Florida.

 

Did Florida Lawmakers pull a fast one and expand gambling with few people noticing in a 2009 law?  As Mike Vasilinda tells us, that’s the argument being made before the states highest court.

Voters in six counties have approved slot machines, but the state has steadfastly refused to issue licenses.

The battle is playing out over this horse track in rural Gadsden County, where voters approved slots by a two to one margin in early 2012.

“The Supreme Court of Florida is now in session.”

Marc Dunbar, an advocates for slots, says lawmakers intended to give local communities the right to decided if they wanted gambling by imposing a two part requirement.

“First you have to get a county commission to authorize a referendum, that’s what that language means. Second, you have to pass the referendum.”

But, the state’s lawyer, Jonathan Williams, told justices the argument just wasn’t logical.

“This would have been a very very significant expansion of slot machines under Florida law, and there is nary a mention in the legislative record of this kind of change” says Williams.

If the court sides with the slot machine advocates, it will likely mean the Seminole Tribe will end up paying less to the state.

And attorney Dunbar says that’s exactly the kind of revenue and policy decisions lawmakers wanted to make;

“If you look at what the compact said, the legislature reserved to itself an entire year to evaluate the consequence of gaming expansion from when the first coin drops, so they can come back and make the policy call to take it away or affirm it” Dunbar said afterward.

A friend of the court brief says only voters statewide gambling with s state wide referendum, just as they did when the lottery was allowed in 1986.

Right now Florida receives about 130 million a year from Seminole tribe Slot machines. Advocates say the state would get much more from the six counties where voters have approved slot machine referendums.

Florida Courts have already said a parents right supersedes those of grandparents when it comes to visitation, but a unique case at the start Supreme Court could change that for some grandparents. A set of Colorado grandparents won the right to spend three weeks a year with the children of their deceased son, but the mother moved to Central Florida. Now the case before the court is whether the state should enforce the Colorado Court order or State Law. Jamie B. Moses, the lawyer for the mother, says Florida law should prevail.

“The Florida Constitution affords parents the right to privacy and complete autonomy in child rearing.  And the Colorado visitation order violates that. Period” says Moses.

But the grandparents attorney,  Andrew Windle, says not honoring the Colorado court order could make the Sunshine state a haven for fleeing parents.

“And this, hopefully, will prevent Florida from becoming a safe harbor for parents who don’t want to honor grandparents visitation rights. To do otherwise would turn many of our policy decisions into swiss cheese. and allow Floria to harbor people who want to contravene  law implemented by other states that was appropriately applied to them in a fair and just proceeding” says Windle.

The court asked tough questions of both sides. It’s ruling is expected later this year.

Stand Your ground was on trial today in an appeals court in the State Capitol.  Michael Dunn, who sentenced to life in prison for the murder of the Jacksonville teen, asked the court to throw out the conviction because the trial wasn’t moved, a juror was excluded improperly, and because his stand your ground claim should have been given more credence. Dunn’s lawyer, Terry Roberts, says unfortunately the case has become symbolic for bigger causes.

“I think what gets lost in this case is that a lot of people choose sides and it becomes hard, human, to make Michael Dunn or Jordan Davis the symbol of something bigger, where neither person asked to be the symbol or a martyr or a stand in for other cases” says Roberts.

The Attorney general’s office  told the court the jury properly considered the evidence and found Dunn guilty. Victim Jordan Davis’s mom, Lucia McBath, says reliving the case while it’s being appealed dredges up feelings of hurt and anger.

“I know it is Michael Dunn’s right to appeal his conviction, so it prolongs things.  You know it’s the never ending story. It goes on and on. Even though we have rdesolution, it’s challenged so its hard to deal with the fact that Michael Dunn is taking all of his charges and throwing them at the wall and trying to see whatever sticks” says the slain teens mother.

To prove Stand Your ground, a defendant must prove they were in reasonable fear of their life, which Dunn did not do to the jury’s satisfaction.

Dozens of South Florida truckers honked horns and blocked intersections in the state Capitol this afternoon. The drivers are unhappy with their pay, the high cost of insurance, and the amount of money brokers who book independent operators are taking off the top. One trucker  Javier Figero Leon, was arrested when he refused to move his truck out of an intersection. The arrest was caught by the drivers wife on her cell phone.

“Get our of the truck” was the message from a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper.

Daniel Garcia was one of the drivers protesting.

“We came from Miami, all the way to Tallahassee to try and take care. People don;’t want to pay anything,  The people steal the money from us. If we don’t do nothing. we got a couple people who go to jail, this make no sense” says Garcia.

We have not yet confirmed what charges the driver will face. The protest continued at a truck stop on Interstate Ten.

34 Florida  counties remain under a state of emergency tonight as Colin makes landfall. As Mike Vasilinda tells us State Emergency planners say Floridians should not be complacent about the tropical system.

A flash flood alert was in place for much of the panhandle.

Steady rain fell most of the day.

”our latest advisory on Colin” was how a conference call with the National Hurricane Center began.

Governor Rick Scott cancelled a meeting with Donald Trump. The meeting was cancelled to plan strategy for winning Florida, but the Governor could stay closer to home.

“I just declared a state of emergency for 34 counties that look like they’ll get the brunt of Tropical Storm Colin” Scott told reporters.

The 34 counties run from Sarasota to the mid panhandle, as well as inland and Atlantic coastal counties. More could be added. While not a monster storm, Brian Koon, the state’s emergency director, says people should use it as a learning experience.

“If this story were a little bit slower, the rainfall would be higher. If this storm were a little bit stronger, the storm surge would be higher. You change a couple of minor things, this storm could be much worse. The next storm could be much worse, so we want people to use this as a reminder” says Koon.

Even the Emergency operations center hasn’t bee activated to its highest level because Colin isn’t expected too cause that much damage. Still the national guard has been put on alert.

We asked the Governor how he’d characterize this storm.

“I think we’ve got to take it seriously. Let’s think about what we’re going through. there could be a lot or rain. We could have tornadoes., lightening, We could have hail, we could have flooding” Scott said.

The state of emergency allows the lifting of tolls, weighty limits on highways, and opens the state to disaster assistance if damage mounts.

Scott also told us the meeting with Donald Trump that was cancelled has not yet been rescheduled.

 

An arrest warrant has been issued for at least one more person in the suspected murder for hire of an FSU Law Professor, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, a newly released document shows police fear more suspected co-defendants may try to flee the country.

The probable cause for the arrest of suspected him man Sigfredo Garcia lists a bitter divorce between the law professor and his wife,  Wendi Adelson,  as the motive for the crime. At the bottom of it say police,  was a desperate desire of the Adelson family to relocate the children to South Florida, which the law professor opposed.

Now this document, filed to keep investigative information secret, says police are worried about suspected co defendants leaving the country.

The document says suspected co-defendants have the financial means to flee the country and to not return, and in fact, have already been discovered talking about leaving.

The document appears to have been filed after suspected hit man Garcia was under arrest. Another suspect for whom a warrant has been issued, Luis Rivera, has been in federal custody for months. Family members of the ex wife mentioned in the probable cause include brother Charles. He was having a relationship with the mother of two children fathered by the suspected hit man. The ex-wife’s mother Donna was also mentioned in the probable cause. On Thursday, police said it was too early to consider family members suspects.

“I don’t think we’re at that point yet, but we are going to investigate every lead that we have, though” said Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo.

“I mean, We knew them”

One neighbor told us they appreciate increased police presence in the neighborhood, but:

“it sounds like a made for TV movie” neighbor Justin Menendez told us.

But shockingly true.

The ex wife has not been mentioned as a possible suspect. She worked at the FSU law school before the divorce. She now works for a federal judge in Miami.

 

Environmentalists are asking a judge to speed up a ruling in a law suite over voter approved money for conservation. Three of every four voters approved spending existing tax revenues from real estate transactions on land and water conservation. But lawmakers have diverted at least of third of the money to other projects. Now Alisa Coe of earth Justice is asking the court to speed up its ruling.

 

“Instead of spending the money on land buying programs and restoration, they ended up spending it on existing salaries and operating expenses. It was essentially a slap in the face to the people they are supposed to be representing” says Coe

At stake is about 750 million dollars in funding.

The surprise release of a probable cause document in the murder of an FSU law professor has law enforcement telling us more about the case than they would have liked.  As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the documents tie the murderer to the slain professors ex-wife’s family.

Suspect Sigfredo Garcia was transported from South Florida to the state Capitol late Wednesday afternoon. He entered a not guilty plea at a Thursday first appearance.

“You have been charged with murder in the first degree” he was told by a judge.”

Minutes before the plea, a judge unsealed the probable cause affidavit leading to Garcia’s arrest. It shows Garcia and another man shadowing the professor in June and the day before his July murder. Cameras on two city buses picked up the silver Prius used in the crime before and after the murder on this busy street leading to the upscale neighborhood.

This probable cause affidavit says that security cameras  in this health club saw the Prius follow the law professor into this parking lot, wait an hour, then follow him out, just minutes before the murder.

The probable cause also ties the ex-wife’s brother to the mother of the key suspects children. Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo was asked about the relationship.

“It appears to be a very personal one” he said.

“Romantic?”

“It appears to be a very personal relationship.”

Police say they have not yet talked to the ex-wife or her brother.

“We’re not on speaking terms” De Leo told Reporters.

And as to whether the ex-wife or her brother are being watched, he responded:

“I’m not going to go into those details.”

“Do you consider Charles Adelson, Wendi Adelson suspects?”

“I don’t think we’re to that point yet. But we’re going to investigate every lead that we have, though.”

A second arrest is imminent. Suspect Luis Rivera is currently in federal custody on unrelated charges.

Police say they have combed through hundreds of thousands of lines of computer code, cell phone records, bus footage and much more. A witness who helped the suspects rent a hotel room is considered a key to placing the suspects in the Capitol at the time of the murder.

Think you’re pretty healthy? Well how about your city overall? As Matt Galka tells us, a new nationwide survey didn’t give high marks for fitness to many of the state’s most populous places.

At Big Hits Performance, fitness is the name of the game. Former NFL first round pick and Florida State standout Ernie Sims opened the gym to try and better people’s lives.

“Being healthy, it’s a mindset that helps them in life and in general,” he said.

His client today was a little camera shy. But says she already has seen improvements in just a couple months.

Elite athletes like Sims don’t need to be told the benefits of exercise. Apparently it’s the rest of us that need some motivation.  A new study from American Fitness Index surveyed the 50 largest metro areas in the country…and not one Florida city cracked the top half for fittest cities.

“I will say that it’s kind of disappointing because health and fitness is extremely important, and you can tell the way this industry is growing. But sadly enough, the way the report came out, there is no Florida city that is really *that* healthy,” said Sims.

Sims says you don’t have to be an NFL player to start improving…just get moving.

Obesity is expected to cost Florida $34 billion dollars in the next 20 years by contributing to various health conditions…but we can all help to change that.

Tampa ranked just outside the top 25 in the survey coming in at 26. Jacksonville and Miami were 31 and 32. And Orlando was close to the bottom at 43. The American Fitness Index report used factors like smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption, and activity level. It also took into account how many parks and playgrounds a city has, as well as how schools implement physical education. Washington, DC was number 1.

The decision to not charge the arresting officer on scene when Panhandle woman Barbara Dawson died late last year after being removed from a hospital is angering the family’s attorneys. They spoke to our Matt Galka.

Late last year – 57 year old Barbara Dawson went to the Calhoun Liberty Hospital in Florida’s panhandle to get help…but later died after being forcibly removed.

The strange incident grabbed national headlines.  Dawson had been a frequent visitor but refused to leave after being discharged.

Dashcams caught some of the scene. Her oxygen tank was disconnected and she collapsed in the parking lot before later dying.

14^th judicial circuit state attorney said last week arresting officer John Tadlock acted appropriately and there wouldn’t be charges

Now the attorney’s for Dawson’s family say that the decision was the wrong one.

“Without question we have evidence that this lady feared for her life,” said Daryl Parks.

Attorney Daryl Parks says Dawson’s family maintains the woman was not treated appropriately.

“To die with an officer’s hands on you, while you’re asking for help, is still the case. Whether the FDLE cleared him or not, there’s still a situation where the person was asking for help. Law enforcement came, and she was in their custody and care while she was going through this medical emergency,” he said.

Parks says that there are still plans to sue both the hospital and the police department.

It was determined that Dawson died from a blood clot in her lungs.  The incident led to a state investigation that saw three hospital employees fired as well as a fine to be levied.