In this episode of Come Back with a Warrant, South Florida criminal defense attorneys Monica Ishak and Brandon Dinetz take on the Florida Man — the internet's favorite criminal — and answer the real legal question behind the meme: is Florida actually crazier than everywhere else, or do we just get to see it all? The answer starts with Florida's public records laws. Between the Sunshine Law and Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, arrest reports, bodycam footage, and court records are available to anyone almost immediately — which is why a Florida arrest becomes a national headline overnight while the same story in another state never sees daylight.

Then it's on to the cases, including some Monica and Brandon have handled themselves. The man who threw a three-and-a-half-foot alligator through a Wendy's drive-thru window — charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful transportation of an alligator, and prosecuted by someone very close to this show. The woman charged under the Florida Manatee Act for riding a manatee ("I'm new here" is not a defense — ignorance of the law never is). The client who called in a panic over a giant alligator skull. DUIs on lawnmowers, horses, and golf carts, and why Florida's broad definition of a vehicle makes all of that possible. The client arrested for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer while holding a lawfully purchased, still-dripping flamethrower. Guns at the airport — one of the most common cases the hosts see — and how "I didn't know it was in that bag" can turn into a felon-in-possession charge. Plus the guy charged federally for flying a drone in restricted airspace during Super Bowl week, people caught pointing laser pointers at aircraft, the 911 calls over Burger King lemonade, and the man who shot down a Walmart delivery drone and learned you don't own the airspace above your house — even though police need a warrant to surveil it.

Along the way, the hosts dig into the legend that started it all — the bath salts cannibal case that turned out to be a myth — and land on a surprising fact: Florida's violent crime rate is actually below the national average. Florida Man isn't proof the state is more dangerous. He's proof the state is more transparent, more crowded, wilder in its wildlife, and never, ever boring.

Topics covered in this episode include: the Florida Man meme explained, Florida public records laws and the Sunshine Law, Chapter 119 records requests, fish and wildlife crimes in Florida, alligator and manatee protection laws, DUI on a lawnmower, horse, or golf cart, guns at the airport and felon in possession charges, drone laws and restricted airspace, laser pointer charges, misuse of 911, and real Florida case stories from two working criminal defense attorneys.

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In this episode of Come Back with a Warrant, criminal defense attorneys Monica Ishak and Brandon Dinetz break down Maternal Instinct, the Netflix documentary revisiting the Taylor Parker case — the Texas woman convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for killing a young mother and cutting her unborn baby from her womb.

It is one of the most disturbing cases Texas has ever prosecuted. Parker spent roughly ten months faking a pregnancy — a silicone belly, staged photo shoots, and a web of financial cons complete with fake inheritances, fake relatives, and fake emails — before the October 2020 murder. She was stopped by police on the side of a Texas highway with the newborn, who did not survive. Monica and Brandon walk through how prosecutors built the capital case, how the months-long fraud became the state's evidence of premeditation, and the chilling detail that the doctor's office could not legally out her fake pregnancy — so they warned the family without saying it.

From a criminal defense perspective, they explain why the entire death sentence hinged on whether the baby was briefly born alive — no live victim, no kidnapping; no kidnapping, no capital aggravator — plus the punishment phase, the mitigation case, and the appeal issues, including the argument that prosecutors fat-shamed her at sentencing. They cover why women are so rarely on death row (Parker is one of just a handful in Texas), where the case stands now — state appeals denied, the Supreme Court declined review, a federal habeas pending, no execution date — and some myth-busting: she never pled insanity, and that viral last meal story is false because Texas ended last meals in 2011.

Topics covered in this episode include: Maternal Instinct on Netflix and the Taylor Parker case, the Texas murder and fetal abduction, capital murder charges in Texas explained, the born-alive question that made it a death penalty case, the fake pregnancy and financial cons as premeditation evidence, HIPAA and how the doctor's office warned the family, the punishment phase and mitigation evidence, the fat-shaming appeal argument, why women are rarely sentenced to death, where Parker's appeals stand now, and the criminal defense perspective on defending the indefensible.

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In this episode of Come Back with a Warrant, Palm Beach County criminal defense attorneys Monica Ishak and Brandon Dinetz break down the case that hits closest to home in the show's history: the arrest of Mike Caruso, Palm Beach County's own Clerk of Courts — the office that holds every court file the hosts have ever touched. Caruso, a 67-year-old CPA and former Republican state representative appointed Clerk by Governor DeSantis, was arrested on child sex abuse charges and suspended by the Governor the same morning. The alleged victim is his young grandson, and everything in this episode comes straight from the arrest warrant affidavit the Governor's office attached to the executive order — because in Florida, that's public record.

Monica and Brandon are clear up front: these are allegations, Caruso has pleaded not guilty, he has hired excellent counsel, and he is presumed innocent. What makes the case legally fascinating is where the alleged conduct happened — beginning in Orange County and culminating aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship out of the Port of Miami, in international waters. That sets up a genuine jurisdictional puzzle: Florida's special maritime jurisdiction law for cruise ship crimes, the "continuing offense" theory the State actually chose instead, why the case landed in Orange County rather than Miami-Dade or federal court, and why the kidnapping count — which rests entirely on what allegedly happened on the ship — may be the most vulnerable charge in the case.

The hosts also dig into the evidence problems on both sides: why the cruise ship's CCTV footage was almost certainly recorded over before anyone asked for it, the recorded statements Caruso made to family and on a controlled call — and why talking that much is never the move — the Williams rule fight over prior allegations that were investigated and closed as unfounded, the no-bond detention motion, and the fact that Florida has no parole. And then the twist nobody could script: the State's motion notes this case could carry a death sentence under Florida's 2023 law making sexual abuse of a child under 12 a capital offense — a law Mike Caruso voted for as a state representative, and one that sits on a collision course with existing U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Plus the Marsy's Law controversy over the victim information released with the executive order, and who's running the Clerk's office now.

Topics covered in this episode include: the Mike Caruso arrest explained, the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts charges, jurisdiction for crimes on cruise ships, Florida's special maritime jurisdiction law, the continuing offense theory, kidnapping and lewd or lascivious molestation charges, life felonies in Florida, Williams rule evidence and prior bad acts, pretrial detention and no-bond motions, Florida's death penalty law for child sex crimes, Marsy's Law and victim privacy, and Florida public records law.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.