10-Year Anniversary for my Crimcourts Blog

10 years ago I posted my first blog on here. 1,322 posts later we’re still going strong. Not as strong as I used to- I post much less frequently nowadays between keeping busy with the job and growing kids that have gotten involved in all kinds of activity. Thanks to everyone that has sent me post ideas over the years, I wish I could have written a post for all of them. WordPress tells me I’ve had over 285,000 page views and over 180,000 unique visitors, which is kind of crazy.

I thought the anniversary might be a good time for a little trip down memory lane.

My all time most viewed post was a legal update: “”Important Changes to Florida’s DUI Laws: Legistlative Update 2013“

Some of the more popular subjects over the years were Zimmerman, Amanda Knox, NFL Cheerleaders, and Ashley Toye (of the Cash Feenz cases). Also, the Sievers case got a lot of attention, though it didn’t seem to have the national appeal that drove up numbers on the others.

One of my favorite subjects was the shark trial, where a man claimed self-defense for taking a shark: “The Shark Trial Recap“

Self-defense has been one of the more interesting repeat topics we’ve discussed on crimcourts, probably in part due to timing. I started writing this not too long after the Stand Your Ground Law has been enacted, and the Florida courts have been a trying ground for that policy. Also, being Florida, we’ve seen self-defense claimed for Bears, the aforementioned shark, and even an iguana.

Sometimes I like to think it would be fun to do videos, but I really don’t have the time. I don’t have as much time as I’d like to spend on the blog, as it has been fun, but I’ll keep posting whenever I can find time so follow me here and on Twitter.

Fort Myers Featured on “Deadly Sins” Episode this Saturday

Deadly Sins came to Fort Myers to do stories on a couple of our more dramatic murder cases from the last few years. Deadly Sins investigates, and re-enacts, parts of the gruesome murder cases of Fred Cooper and Dustin Jaye/Billy Retherford. (Cooper and Jaye were convicted, Retherford was killed trying to get away from cops.)

Dustin Jaye

Deadly Sins will be broadcast on the Investigation Discovery network Saturday night, 4/25, at 9:00 p.m., and features comments from many local individuals, including yours truly. Well, I was interviewed, based on our Crimcourts coverage of the Dustin Jaye trial, and hope that something I said will end up making it onto the show. Set your DVR now, local Xfinity has it on channel 111. The episode is titled, “Sunshine State of Delirium – – Fred DeWitt Cooper and Dustin Jaye//Billy Ray Retherford” Be sure to check it out.

UPDATE: Here’s the follow-up post on the cases: http://wp.me/p2xg12-MN