ORLANDO, Fla. — Potentially hundreds of Central Florida felony cases were thrown into uncertainty at the beginning of the month when Florida’s new permitless carry law took effect.
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The law allows adults without convicted felonies on their records to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
Up until the last day of June, police officers were making arrests for concealed carry violations, which carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Attorneys say their clients are being treated unfairly by the system, even though the new law wasn’t retroactive.
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“It would seem to be patently unfair that if somebody committed a crime on June 30th, and they do the same exact set of facts on July 1, that July 1 it’s not a crime at all,” attorney Eben Self said.
Self and defense attorney Roger Weeden said judges in Orange and Osceola counties have been internally discussing how to handle the motions to dismiss that attorneys are filing.
“The judges have been conferencing,” Weeden said. “Apparently, they want the chief judge of the criminal division to essentially handle these motions.”
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Representatives in State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office said they have communicated with officials in Tallahassee about how to interpret the law and how to navigate the cases.
They too confirmed some sort of deal may be hammered out by the circuit’s judges, chiefly around whether all the cases – with the same arguments for each -- should be handled at one time or separately.
“There exists the possibility that a future en banc hearing by the Ninth Circuit Court trial divisions in Orlando will result in a speedy legal resolution of the remaining cases,” a spokesman wrote, using language that described a hearing with all the circuit’s criminal judges present.
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Over in Brevard and Seminole counties, State Attorney Phil Archer’s office made it clear they plan to pursue prosecutions as normal, at least until a judge says otherwise.
“The duty of a State Attorney is to prosecute violations of Florida State Statues as they existed when the offense occurred,” a spokesman said, mentioning that many of the people who violated the law did so while committing other crimes. “However, our office has some latitude regarding the disposition of a criminal case, and depending on the specific circumstances, this may be an area where we can consider some alternative resolutions.”
Attorneys said they hoped for additional clarification within the next few weeks.
“We’re going to make the motions and we’re going to fight the fight until there’s an answer,” Self said.
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