Polk Law Blog

Court Reverses Child Pornography Conviction

Kemp Brinson — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:30:12 +0000

The Second District Court of Appeals has reversed the conviction of Lakeland’s Danny Lynn Parker, who was convicted of possession of child pornography. The Ledger has a good write-up. The photos at issue were of adults engaged in sexual conduct with photographs of the heads of minors attached to their bodies. The opinion is fairly [...]

Defending Grady Judd’s Honor

Kemp Brinson — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:06:34 +0000

In this installment, we’re going to hear from someone who thinks it’s OK to chat up children online and arrange to have sex with them. It’s been pretty quiet around here lately. One of the disadvantages of doing this as a hobby is that when things get busy, it is tough to keep up. I [...]

Supervisor of Elections Asks to be Removed from Lawsuit

Kemp Brinson — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:07:06 +0000

Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards has filed a motion to dismiss seeking to be removed as a party to the pending county commissioner term limit/salary cap lawsuit. Ms. Edwards’s Motion to Dismiss does not address the merits of the argument. Instead, she simply alleges that she has not begun qualifying candidates for the [...]

Tea Party Group Asks to Intervene in Term Limit, Salary Cap Lawsuit

Kemp Brinson — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:11:09 +0000

John Hall and the “Lakeland Tea Party and 912 Project” have filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Sam Killebrew to overturn the salary caps and term limits of Polk County Commissioners. Document: Motion to Intervene and Motion to Dismiss The Motion has two functions. First, it asks the court to allow Mr. [...]

Who Will Defend the County Charter?

Kemp Brinson — Wed, 25 May 2011 12:05:02 +0000

Earlier this month, Polk County and the Clerk of Court filed their answers in Killebrew v. Edwards, a case challenging the constitutionality of two provisions in the Polk County charter. One of those provisions sets term limits for county commissioners. The other caps commissioner salaries. Documents: Answer of Polk County Answer of Clerk of Court [...]

Prosecutor’s Integrity Results in New Trial for Convicted Arsonist

Kemp Brinson — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:01:32 +0000

A Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy’s comments at a trial resulted in the Second District Court of Appeals ordering a new trial in a Polk County arson case. The comments were voluntarily brought to the trial court’s attention by the prosecution. According to the opinion, defendant Ascour Natan was convicted of aggravated stalking and arson in [...]

Details of County Commissioner Term Limit/Salary Cap Lawsuit

Kemp Brinson — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:43:03 +0000

The Complaint filed by Polk businessman Sam Killebrew has been released by the Clerk of Court. The Document Complaint, Killebrew v. Edwards The Basics There is only one plaintiff, Sam Killbrew, who is filing suit in his individual capacity as a voter. He seeks to have the term limit and salary cap provisions for county [...]

Sam Killebrew Files Lawsuit Against Lori Edward[s]

Kemp Brinson — Wed, 04 May 2011 03:28:30 +0000

UPDATE: Much of what appears below is incorrect because it was based on erroneous information indexed by the Clerk of Court before the Complaint was made available. See my next post for more details. Based on Clerk of Court records, it appears that Polk business leader Sam Killebrew has filed a lawsuit against “Lori [...]

Legal Documents in Case Against Atheists of Florida Officer

Kemp Brinson — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:00:57 +0000

Earlier this month, I wrote about my thoughts concerning the arrest of EllenBeth Wachs, the legal affairs coordinator for the Atheists of Florida, Inc. She has been charged with holding herself out as qualified to practice law. Yesterday, my post was quoted in an op-ed by Glenn Marston in The Ledger, who was critical of [...]

Expanded Legal Analysis of County Charter Issues

Kemp Brinson — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:02:22 +0000

A lot has happened in a very short amount of time on the legal issues involving the Polk County charter provisions that limit commissioners to two terms and that reduce their salary to about half what state law requires. In my initial post, which was quoted in a Ledger editorial, I disagreed with the conclusion of [...]