Florida Criminal Attorney Blog
Gainesville Police arrested a former University of Florida football player, Louis Morris Murphy Jr., Sunday morning for three misdemeanors. He was charged with possession of a drug without a valid prescription, failure to obey a police officer and resisting arrest without violence.
Murphy, currently a wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders, was taken into custody just after midnight.
A Gainesville police officer said he saw Murphy’s Cadillac Escalade blasting music and told him to pull over. Murphy allegedly continued driving to a city parking lot, exited the SUV with his passengers and walked away.
The officer flashed his lights and demanded Murphy to stop and identify himself. According to the Gainesville Sun, Murphy refused to show identification and insisted on finding out why he was stopped. After Murphy continuously failed to produce his ID, three officers had to place handcuffs on the 6-foot-2-inch, 180-pound NFL player because he refused to put his hands behind his back.
Officers said that Murphy consented to a search of his vehicle where an alleged non-labeled prescription bottle was found with 11 pills inside, later identified as Viagra. Murphy supposedly could not show a valid prescription for the bottle and claimed to have peeled the label off because he did not want his girlfriend to see it.
This is Murphy’s second arrest in Gainesville. He was arrested in 2006 for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. He accepted a plea deal and no jail time was served.
For the drug charge Murphy faces, a defense does exist. It is clearly identified in Florida Statute 893.13. If Murphy’s alleged statement to police about the prescription for Viagra being valid is true, a follow-up with his doctor could clear his charge of possession of a drug without a valid prescription. The statute says that a legitimate prescription for a medication that requires a prescription will undo a charge related to that medication. If Murphy lawfully obtained a prescription for Viagra, past or present, the drug charges could be dropped.
If Murphy’s claims prove false, he could be facing harsh consequences such as a two year driver’s license suspension, civil forfeiture and jail time.
If you have been arrested in Florida for possession of drugs with or without a valid prescription, contact the Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers at the Law Offices of Whittel & Melton, LLC online or call 1-866-608-5LAW (5529).