Kidnapping Charges Dropped in Pompano Beach
In July 2008, three young men attacked a 54-year-old man, James Cunningham, in Pompano Beach. The evidence of the attack was then posted on YouTube via the internet. Prosecutors recently dropped all kidnapping charges on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. The victim did not report the incident, but officials came across the video while they were searching for another assault video.
According to the Miami Herald, the video was titled, “Beating up a Crackhead.” The three suspects were Brandon Edwards of Fort Lauderdale, 19; William Sleight of Deerfield Beach, 19; and Bradley Wunderlich of Parkland, 22. An accomplice helped record the video with Sleight who is also 19-years-old, Nicholas Bakum.
The two suspects accused of recording the incident will receive one-year probation. Neither Sleight nor Edwards will receive a felony on their record, but they were both ordered to complete community service hours. Wunderlich had a separate charge for hyrdrocodone, and was sentenced one year behind bars with two years probation to follow his release, along with 200 community service hours. Edwards was convicted of the said charge and sentenced to one year in jail.
If these four suspects had been convicted of kidnapping, they could have received a maximum sentence of life in prison. According to the defense attorneys, the suspects were trying to remove a highly intoxicated man from the motel they were staying in, Blue Sky Motel. Cunningham did not recall the occurrence of the incident, and watching the video did not recreate any memories.
Edwards was previously convicted of beating a man, in 2009, and causing his death. Miami criminal lawyers can assist his or her client in every aspect of an upcoming trial. The attorneys will handle all of the necessary paperwork and documents, as well as inform you of when any trial and hearing may occur.
The purpose of criminal law is to protect the citizens and public. For example, Florida criminal law can rule the sort of violence that people put on others; it can control the way people drive, and even monitor the way people behave around others. The obvious breaches of criminal law are things like murder and rape.
When it comes down to prosecuting a criminal, it can be under a criminal or civil law. Criminal law involves more severe cases that may need to include the state, whereas civil law is held in a much smaller building. Contact a Miami criminal lawyer if you are ever in trouble with a Florida law.
