Notable cases:
Federal Court
Mr. Viacava was able to obtain for his client one of the largest federal sentencing guideline court-ordered departures in the history of the Middle District of Florida. As a result, his client received a probationary sentence, rather than the congressionally mandated guideline sentence of 35 years in a federal prison.
Mr. Viacava saved a federally indicted client more than 19 years in prison by finding a mistake in the pre-sentence investigation report, which is a major factor in determining a defendant’s sentence in federal court. Mr. Viacava had taken over representation from another local lawyer, who had missed that critical detail.
State Court
Mr. Viacava filed the first motions to dismiss the crime of sexual battery on a child, based on the denial of his client’s right to due process of law.
He successfully argued that the document that charged his clients with a crime should be thrown out, because of the inability of the alleged victim to testify to a specific and narrow date range for when the inappropriate touching actually was to have taken place.
In effect, this switched the burden of proof to the defense, which is improper. Case dismissed. Mr. Viacava has had 4 serious cases dismissed this way, and has caused very favorable plea bargains in several others.
Mr. Viacava was one of the first attorneys in this area to routinely request DUI videos and driver license hearing transcripts from local jails and police stations, to be used as exculpatory evidence to show his client was innocent of DUI because it completely contradicted the arresting officers’ reports and pretrial and trial testimony. His client was later treated much more favorably after that evidence came to light.
Mr. Viacava regularly reviews, analyzes, and attacks DUI protocols, applicable case law, and motion and trial practice strategies, including cross examination techniques, so he can gain every possible advantage for his client.
