What is it about Florida? Some of the craziest stories come from Florida, most involving criminals (and their hilarious mugshots). And those enforcing the law in the great Sunshine State are not exempt from strange and downright unbelievable actions.
Judges sit at the top of the criminal justice hierarchy, and for judges in Florida, they hold the power of sentencing some of the most creative and stupid criminals known to man. And for those people, the oddity of their crimes is reflected in the oddity of their sentencing. Judges in Florida sentencing criminals to weird punishments is sadly more common than you'd think. These weird Florida sentences range from the practical to the absolutely absurd. So before you think of committing a crime, you might want to take a peek at these funny sentences by Florida judges before booking your ticket.
Bizarre Punishments That Have Been Handed Out By Florida Judges,
Traffic Criminals Are Required To Write 500 Words Reports On People Who Died In Accidents
Rather than simply punish those who have committed road traffic offenses, Judge Carmine Bravo wants to actually educate drivers with infractions. The Seminole County judge often asks defendants to write essays about people who have been killed in traffic accidents. These 500-word articles have to be researched, with the criminals visiting memorial spots, getting hold of accident reports, and finding out about crash victims. He hopes this teaches them more about road safety and gives them a better perspective of the consequences that dangerous driving can bring.
Woman Avoided Jail For Being “Too Sexy”
Former teacher Debra Lafave hit headlines in 2005 after she was accused of slept with a 14-year-old male student several times. Facing a possible 30 years in prison, she was let free on probation with a number of constraints. Part of the reason she avoided jail was because her lawyer argued she was too sexy to go to prison.
“To place an attractive young woman into that kind of hellhole is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions,” the lawyer said. “I am not sure that Debbie would be able to survive.”
Of course, other issues also played a part, including the fact the parents of the victim were willing to accept the plea bargain to ensure their child didn’t have to go through the trauma of giving evidence in court.
A Woman Accused Of Attacking A Police Officer Has To Stand Outside The Police Station
In 2010, Alexandra Espinosa-Amaya ended up in more trouble than she would ever have imagined. The 24-year-old was ejected from a nightclub in Orlando while celebrating her birthday, prompting police officers to respond when they saw bouncers struggle with her. This eventually led to Alexandra pushing over an officer. The judge at her trial took a novel approach with her punishment, sentencing her to anger management classes and having to parade outside of the police station where the officer was located for four hours while telling people what she had done.
Man Forced To Go On A Date With His Wife
Following reports a man in Fort Lauderdale had put his hands around the neck of his wife and raised his fists during an arguments, Broward County Judge John Hurley issued a rather weird punishment for the offender with the agreement of the victim. The man was to take his wife on a date to make up for his actions. This included a meal at Red Lobster and a night of bowling, two activities the man's his wife enjoyed doing. While domestic violence charities did speak up about the apparent leniency of this sentence, it was also noted he would have to attend marriage counseling.
Shoplifters Had To Tell People Publicly That They Were Shoplifters
Judge Peter T. Miller took a novel approach to punishing first-time shoplifters in Putnam County, FL. Instead of sending them to jail for 30 days as usual, he often forced these thieves to go to the store they stole from and march outside holding signs that explain what crime they committed. He believes it is a deterrent, as the community is small and the perpetrators cannot remain anonymous.
“You have to see them because this is also for the folks out there who obey the law,” Miller told a local news station. “They see that the punishment is something more than just a slap on the wrist. They can see this is what happens when you break the law. It’s maybe something they can point out to a child they’re raising.”
Teen Drivers With Bad Records Are Required To Create Scrapbooks And Get Good Grades
One court in Florida decided to take a new approached to educating young drivers after they realized fines weren't working. Rather than give them the ordinary sentence, Judge Louis H. Schiff had them create scrapbooks about road traffic accidents from newspaper clippings and had them raise their grade-point average. He then kept these scrapbooks for other defendants to go through while they are in court waiting for their own traffic infractions.
Teen Convicted Of Vehicular Homicide Had To Send A Weekly Postcard To His Victim’s Family
In 2009, then-19-year-old Andrew Gaudioso and his friend Thomas Towers, an Iraq war vet, were driving in the Tampa Bay area when they crashed. Gaudioso had drugs in his system at the time of the crash, and was held responsible for the crime. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter and expected to get a jail sentence. However, the parents of Towers petitioned for a different sentence, which the judge later granted. Rather than spend time behind bars, Gaudioso went on probation, was banned from driving, and would have to send a postcard to the family every week for 15 years as a way of reminding him of what he had done.
A Miami Teen Flipped Off A Judge And Got Sent To Jail
In 2013, an 18-year-old Miami woman was arrested for possession of Xanax - a crime typically worthy of jail time if it's a first offense. But Penelope Soto made matters worse for herself when she lashed out at Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomas for having her bond set at $10,000. She flipped off the judge before calling him an expletive. Not taking too kindly to this, he found her in contempt of court and jailed her for 30 days. Fortunately, the story had something of a happy ending as she came back to court the next day, apologized to the judge, and agreed to participate in a drug rehabilitation program, prompting him to immediately release her from custody and suspend her sentence.
One Judge Publicly Shamed Petty Criminals
One judge in Bradford County, FL, took a novel approach to punishing petty criminals by giving them really unique sentences. Most boiled down to some form of to public shaming where the perpetrator held a sign in a prominent public place telling everyone what they did. The technique has largely been used against those convicted of theft or DUI and is seen as a way of stopping people from reoffending, as well as cutting down on fines or prison time. Considering how small the area is and how concentrated the population is, law officials believe it is also preventing others from committing similar crimes as they don’t want to go through the embarrassment of everyone finding out what they did.
A Judge Jailed His Own Stenographer For Being Too Slow
While judges are often expected to come down hard on criminals, the same cannot be said for those working directly for them. In fact, most people would expect a court official to be understanding of the work their employees do. That wasn’t the case for Judge Charles Greene. After his typists failed to complete a report and transcript for a particular case, he found her in contempt of court and jailed her. Stenographer Ann Smith was released shortly afterwards but was then ordered to remain under house arrest until she had completed the work.