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Extracted Text (OCR)
LAW OFFICES OF
GrraLup B. Lercourt, P.C.
Ms. Lanna Belohlavek |
June 5, 2006 |
Page 5
and Playgrounds Ban, Fox News, May 31, 2006, at
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197701,00.html.
Indeed, as you recognized during our meeting, many people who were advised by
competent counsel to plead guilty to offenses when registration was not required have now been
horrified to find themselves subjected to registration laws enacted or expanded after their guilty
pleas, without any recourse. See, Smith v. Doe, supra, 538 U.S. 84. Finally, although there is
some risk that even a plea to a misdemeanor charge could trigger registration in some
jurisdictions, our research suggests that this risk is considerably lower for a misdemeanor plea
than for a felony plea.
Tl, Aggravated Assault is Generally Considered A Violent Felony And Does Not Apply to
the Facts of This Case
Assault is generally considered an act of force. It “create[s] in the victims a well founded
fear of imminent violence.” Velasquez v, State, 654 So. 2d 1227, 1228 (Fla.2d DCA 1995). The
genetal public is certainly not aware of Florida’s unique nuanced definition. Indeed, as you will
agree, in common usage, aggravated assault, on its face sounds inherently violent. Thus, at the
very least, most people will consider an aggravated assault charge, even of the “intent to commit
a felony” variety, to be a violent crime. In this regard, undifferentiated aggravated assault is one
of only four crimes listed in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report “violent crime” category.’
More importantly, as noted, this crime clearly does not reflect what allegedly occutred
since there has been no suggestion that a threat of serous bodily harm was made or a deadly
weapon used, In addition, most pleas are “downward” — the defendant agrees to waive his right
to trial in return for the prosecution's offer of a downward departure in charging or sentencing.
Further, in the typical case a plea involves crimes that bear a close resemblance to the underlying
events. The facts herein, obviously do not support a charge of aggravated assault, thus a plea to
same would be inappropriate.
ee rer
. The UCR divides its statistics into three major categories: violent crimes, property crimes, and hate crimes.
“Violent critne is composed of four offenses: Rial a aeaar genre or pag gg har
aperavated assault.” ee _ Crime in the States, 2004,
ED RR Lh Oe a EE
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Extracted Information
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00030480.jpg |
| File Size | 778.5 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 89.3% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,511 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 21:41:25.505836 |