Alachua County Hunter Avoids Conviction
A Florida Wildlife Commission officer was patrolling near the area near the Alachua/Levy County line. The officer responded to a location off of State Road 45 after receiving information regarding some hunting activities in the area. Around 5:20p.m. the officer stated that he heard multiple gunshots coming from some private property. The officer then heard shots between 5:30p.m. and 5:45p.m. The officer traveled to an area where he believed the shots were coming from and continued to hear shots after the legal shooting hours. As the officer proceed into a field, he observed multiple male subjects wearing camo with shotguns walking back towards a parked truck. The officer made contact with the individuals and asked for their hunting licenses. While doing this the officer noticed that there were large amounts of corn throughout the field. Ultimately, the officer issued the hunter two criminal citations for Unlawful Baiting and Shooting after Hours.
The defendant hired Meldon Law. The attorney at Meldon Law reviewed the discovery in the case and meet with the prosecutor on the case regarding potential defenses that the hunter may have. The attorney was able to negotiate a resolution in which the hunter only had to pay a monetary fine and received a withhold of adjudication on one charge avoiding a conviction, while the second charge was dropped by the State.
DISCLAIMER: The results are specific to the facts and legal circumstances of each of the client’s cases and should not be used to form an expectation that the same results could be obtained for other clients in similar matters without reference to the specific factual and legal circumstances of each client’s case. (Date of Citation: November 24, 2019).
