When the State Attorney’s Office receives a formal complaint from a law enforcement agency, an assistant state attorney who is assigned to the case, will review the reports and may interview witnesses. This review of the case will determine if there is sufficient evidence to pursue criminal prosecution, and if so, the attorney will file the formal charging document, called an “Information” with the court. 

If there is not sufficient evidence to file criminal charges, the attorney will generate a document indicating no charges will be filed, commonly referred to as a No Information Notice. 

If an Information is filed and the defendant has not yet been arrested, an order for the defendant to appear in court or an order for the arrest of the defendant will be issued (warrant/capias). 

At arraignment, the defendant will be formally advised of the charges filed by the State, and the maximum penalty by law for those charges. The defendant is also informed of the right to an attorney. 

At felony arraignment, the defendant may not necessarily appear if the proper legal documents have been filed. When you hire our office, we file a Notice of Appearance to let the Court know we are the attorney of record, then within that same document we Waive the Arraignment and Enter a Not Guilty plea. Your appearance will not be required, once this document is filed in your case. 

Due to the serious nature of felony charges, a judge rarely accepts a “guilty” or “no contest” plea at arraignment. Therefore, a Not Guilty plea must be entered. 

After formal charges have been filed and a Demand for Discovery is filed, the State is required to turn over all evidence related to your case. This includes such items as body worn camera footage, surveillance footage, 911 calls, witness statements, arrest affidavits, photographs, and witness lists. 

After your attorney reviews the discovery (evidence in the case) they will decide if depositions should be scheduled, and whether any pre trial motions will be filed. 

A deposition is an interview taken under oath of any or all witnesses in a case by the defendant’s attorney after formal charges have been filed. In most cases, an assistant state attorney will also be present during the deposition which may be recorded by either a court reporter, Zoom recording, video recording, or by a tape recorder which will later be produced into a written transcript. Your attorney will subpoena witnesses for a certain date, time and place and, if a witness fails to appear they may be held in contempt of court. 

Case Management, Pre-Trial Conferences, Plea Hearings, Motion Hearings, and Docket Sounding are all types of pre-trial proceedings. 

There are motions that can sometimes be filed, based on your attorney’s review of the facts in your particular case. Motions can be to suppress (or keep out) evidence, or to dismiss the facts in your case. 

These hearings once set, will require your appearance in person. 

Your attorney will appear on your behalf at this hearing IF there is a valid waiver on file such that your appearance is excused. Please VERIFY that you have a valid waiver on file. If you do not verify, you should appear in court for Pre Trial Conference. 

At Pre Trial Conference or Docket Sounding, your attorney will let the Judge know whether you will need a continuance, a plea date, or for your case to be set for Jury Trial. 

Continuances are where your attorney lets the court know that more time is needed. Some common reasons more time to go through the discovery (evidence), set depositions, etc. 

Plea Date is where the case is set for you to come in and plea to the charges. This is because you are accepting the State’s Offer. 

Docket Sounding is the last effort of the judge and the attorneys involved to schedule specific days and times for trials just prior to the beginning of the trial docket. 

Trial Case Management is a calendared date when the prosecutor, defense attorney and the judge select a trial date for a case. Generally, details of the case are not discussed other than the trial period in which the case is to be tried. Your appearance as the Defendant is REQUIRED and cannot be waived. 

A jury is selected by your attorney and the State Attorney. 

The trial begins with an “opening statement” from the assistant state attorney, then your attorney. The opening statement outlines the facts that each party expects to establish during the trial. The prosecutor presents the state’s case first by calling and questioning witnesses on “direct examination.” 

After direct examination of each witness, your attorney is permitted to question the witness by “cross examination.” 

After the state’s presentation, the defense is entitled to present its case by direct examination followed by cross examination of each witness by the assistant state attorney. Finally, each attorney presents a closing argument which offers a summation of the facts presented during the trial. 

The judge then instructs the jury on the law, defines the issues and instructs the jury to reach a fair verdict based on the evidence. The jury’s deliberations are in private and, in order to convict, their verdict must be unanimous. 

The Jury then comes back after deliberations with the verdict. 

The scoresheet in Florida determines sentencing guidelines. These guidelines provide a range of recommended sentences for all felony cases. The court must sentence according to these guidelines unless the court states a clear and convincing reason why it chooses to sentence outside the guidelines, often called a downward departure. 

At sentencing, the court may order a defendant to pay restitution for the damage or loss caused by a crime. If the defendant is sentenced to jail or prison, the restitution may not be paid until after the defendant’s release if the incarceration is followed by probation. If ordered as a condition of probation or community control, the appropriate probation officer will supervise the payment of restitution. 

Violations of Probation are very different from arrests. When you are out of jail on Probation, the State considers that you have been given grace by the State, thus any arrest will usually result in you being held without a bond. If you have previously been convicted in your life of certain criminal offenses, the court may not be able to issue a bond at all. 

Violations of Probation are not short matters, typically. For a violation, the Judge will set you for arraignment, where you will be advised of the alleged violations of probation and the maximum penalty by law for violating. You will be asked to enter a plea. 

Almost 100% of the time, at VOP Arraignment you will enter a Denial. Similar to saying Not Guilty at a regular arraignment. 

It may take some time, but we will look into the violation and make sure that there is merit. We will speak to you about whether you have any defenses, and speak with your probation officer. After doing some research into your violation, we will reach out to the State Attorney in your case to attempt to resolve your violation of probation. 

There are multiple ways to resolve a VOP: Admit the violation and be restated on your probation, Admit the violation and modify the terms of your probation, Admit the violation and be sentenced to a period of incarceration, or a withdrawal/dismissal of the Violation by the State Attorney’s Office. 

If the basis for the Violation is that you are arrested for a new offense—these matters are more difficult because they involve another State Attorney who will look into the case and they have 90 days to do so with a Misdemeanor, and 175 days for an allegation of a Felony. Usually, State Attorneys do not like to resolve cases until they know what is going on with the new offense that the Probationer was arrested for—so please be patient and know that we working on getting it resolved as soon as possible, and totally understand how hard it is being stuck.