Daniel Garza, a local trial attorney said, in some cases, a student who makes a threat won’t be able to get his or her record cleared.
“If it’s a certain type of charge, they can be direct filed, which means that they will be charged as an adult,” Garza said.
“With any charge that’s sealed or expunged, whether you are a juvenile or an adult, there are certain agencies that can still find it,” Garza said.
Garza, who is not involved in the case, said having the information ahead of time will help narrow down a large jury pool.
“You want to make sure that everybody’s rights are intact, but you also want to bring any challenges to any potential juror,” Garza said. “You want to be able to do it the right way and not do it at the last minute.”
“The defense is just gonna rely on … a judge maybe instead of introducing five or six or seven pictures of this or however many there are; maybe just one is enough,” said Attorney Daniel Garza, with Wilbur Law. “The jury doesn’t need to flip through a dozen pictures of the same thing, where all they’re seeing is blood in their face.”
WINK News asked defense attorney Sawyer Smith, who is not part of the lawsuit, to weigh in.
“The city is responsible for not only defending itself but also for providing legal counsel for their employees or former employees,” Smith said.
A defense attorney representing the owner of Bruno Total Home Performance said there is absolutely no evidence of forgery at the company.
Sawyer Smith allowed WINK News to ask a few questions of Louis Bruno while he was present.
Smith said anyone with an issue with the company is welcome to contact him directly, so they can look into the issue.
“If you’re causing a disruption, that could be used to kind of silence you,” said Daniel Garza, a criminal defense attorney at Wilbur Smith Attorneys at Law in Fort Myers.
Garza said while Meinecke’s stunt was protected under the first amendment, there are times when it is not.
“You can’t just walk into a school and start yelling things if you’re disrupting the normal process of a school,” Garza said.
“The ‘stand your ground’ and self defense, it’s becoming a little more prevalent these days,” he said. “It’s a valid defense.”
Garza says she can now put this behind her and start planning her future.
“Certainly, the general public is now more, well aware that that’s a valid defense. So yeah, you’ll get people asking if you, ‘Hey, if I saw this is how it happened or this is how it happened, that’s self defense right? That’s stand-your-ground?'” Garza said.
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