{"id":529,"date":"2018-12-17T12:12:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T17:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearwatercriminallawyer.net\/?p=529"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:07:36","slug":"florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Explains Independent Act Doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Criminal cases involving multiple defendants can be complicated. When defendants conspire to commit a crime, what crime each defendant is charged with depends on the original intent of the defendants, and whether the crimes ultimately committed fell within the scope of the initial plan. Under Florida law, the independent act doctrine allows a co-conspirator to avoid conviction for a crime if it was not foreseeable under the original plan.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/florida\/first-district-court-of-appeal\/2018\/14-5700.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">case<\/a>\u00a0arising in a Florida Court of Appeals, the court explained when an instruction on the independent act doctrine is appropriate. \u00a0If you live in Clearwater and are facing criminal charges, you should consult an experienced Clearwater criminal defense attorney to discuss your case and what defenses you may be able to set forth.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Trial Testimony<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Reportedly, the defendant was charged with first-degree felony murder and armed burglary. During the trial, the state presented evidence the defendant and three other individuals went to the victim\u2019s apartment, with the intent to rob the victim. While he was in the victim\u2019s apartment, the defendant took the victim into a room and threatened to kill the victim\u2019s fianc\u00e9 if the victim did not tell the defendant where drugs where hidden. Additionally, the defendant hit the victim in the head with a gun. The defendant subsequently told the victim\u2019s fianc\u00e9 he was going to kidnap the victim for ransom. The victim was forced into the trunk of his car which was driven from the scene by one of the defendant\u2019s co-conspirators. The victim subsequently escaped from the trunk and was shot and killed by one of the defendant\u2019s co-conspirators.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/#more-529\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Criminal cases involving multiple defendants can be complicated. When defendants conspire to commit a crime, what crime each defendant is charged with depends on the original intent of the defendants, and whether the crimes ultimately committed fell within the scope of the initial plan. Under Florida law, the independent act doctrine allows a co-conspirator to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-armed-burglary","category-felony-murder"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Independent Act Doctrine that Can Change a Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your case can turn on one detail. A criminal charge case can hinge on independent act doctrine. See how this ruling defense. Get help and plan your next.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Independent Act Doctrine that Can Change a Case\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Your case can turn on one detail. A criminal charge case can hinge on independent act doctrine. See how this ruling defense. Get help and plan your next.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Independent Act Doctrine that Can Change a Case","description":"Your case can turn on one detail. A criminal charge case can hinge on independent act doctrine. See how this ruling defense. Get help and plan your next.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Independent Act Doctrine that Can Change a Case","twitter_description":"Your case can turn on one detail. A criminal charge case can hinge on independent act doctrine. See how this ruling defense. Get help and plan your next.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/03dc1d8f0e988aa69b0efe5d06eeb939"},"headline":"Florida Court Explains Independent Act Doctrine","datePublished":"2018-12-17T17:12:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T18:07:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/"},"wordCount":653,"articleSection":["Armed Burglary","Felony Murder"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-explains-independent-act-doctrine\/","name":"Independent Act Doctrine that Can Change a Case","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-12-17T17:12:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T18:07:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/03dc1d8f0e988aa69b0efe5d06eeb939"},"description":"Your case can turn on one detail. 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