FEDERAL CHARGES STATE CHARGES FELONIES MURDER SEXUAL BATTERY SEXUAL OFFENCES ROBBERY GRAND THIEFT BURGLARY DRUG CHARGES MISDEMEANORS DWI PETIT THIEFT POSSION OF CANNABIS TRESPASSING DISORDERLY CONDUCT JUVENILE COMMUNITY CONTROL VIOLATIONS PROBATION VIOLATIONS ELDERLY ABUSE WHITE COLLAR CRIME DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MENTAL HEALTH EXTRADITION BOND HEARINGS RECORDS EXPUNGED /SEALED What Do I Do After I'm Arrested? Posting Bond: in most cases, you are entitled to a reasonable bond set by the court. Generally, this requires that you post a bond with the court. A bond is a binding agreement to pay money to the court in the event that you do not appear for your scheduled court dates. A bond is intended to ensure your appearance in the case. Your bond may either be a cash bond in smaller cases, or a security bond in larger cases. To post a surety bond you will need the assistance of a bondsman who will file a bond with the court on your behalf, guaranteeing your appearance at all scheduled court dates. The bond is a conditional release, therefore, if you are arrested for subsequent offenses while you are out on bond, your original bond may be revoked by the court without notice. If you cannot afford to post the bond that is set by the court, it may be necessary to request a bond reduction hearing with the court. Depending on the severity of the allegations made against you, the court may also impose other conditions of your pre-trial release, which could include many other restrictive conditions, such as electronic monitoring. Magistrate Court: Once you are arrested, you are entitled to a magistrate hearing within 24 hours if you are still in custody, for determination of whether probable cause exist for your arrest. Probable cause for an arrest are facts and circumstances, which would lead a reasonably prudent person to believe that a crime has been committed. if no probable cause is found for your arrest, you can be released on your own recognizance. In the majority of cases, probable cause is found by the magistrate judge and the bond amount is generally set by the Clerk of Courts, as a standard bond amount. If your arrest stems from an arrest warrant ( a court order by a judge commanding your arrest), the judge signing the arrest warrant will set the bond amount, which is typically higher than a standard amount bond for the same offense. Tracking Your Case: Within a day or two the probable cause affidavit, or initial arrest report, on your case will filter it's way to the Clerk's Office from the booking desk at the jail, and you will be assigned a case number and judge by random assignment. This information is computerized and is viewable online at the Broward County Clerk of Courts Online Search. You can track certain information about your case, including court dates and case status from this web site. Case Filing Decision: The State Attorney's Office will generally begin to review the case filing package on your case within two weeks after your arrest and make a filing decision within 21 days of your arrest, if you are in custody. If you are not in custody, the filing decision generally takes about 30 days, or longer. Once the State files what is known as an "Information" in your case , the Clerk's Office will post your charges into the Clerk's computer and you will be noticed with an Arraignment date. You may also have changes to your bond on the same date, assuming there are added charges, or changed charges, from the charges that you were originally arrested for by the police. This is common, because police do not always arrest you for the identical offenses that you are ultimately charged with by the State Attorney's Office. Pre-Filing Package: Before your charges are filed, you have an opportunity to provide the case filing Assistant State Attorney with additional materials, such as witness statements, documents, recordings, and papers for his or her consideration in determining what, if any, charges should be filed against you by the state of Florida. Oftentimes, supplemental materials filed by you will greatly reducing charges that are in the process of being filed against you. Therefore, the pre-filing package represents the first line of defense. If you do not file supplemental materials with the State Attorney's Office, the case filing Assistant State Attorney will rely, solely, upon the case filing package of materials received from the police department, and may accept all allegations and statements contained in the police package as true. this could result in more serious charges being filed against you in the criminal Information. Your defenses will rarely be set forth in the police reports used as the basis to arrest you. It is unfortunate indeed that more defendants do not utilize the pre-filinr package opportunity in an effort to have reduced charges filed. The Defense Case: After arraignment in your case, you can file a "notice of discovery", which is an official request for the state to file a discovery response listing witnesses, papers, and other specific evidence upon which the state will rely in attempting to prove it's case against you. You are entitled to take discovery depositions, at your expense, from all material state's witnesses in the preparation of your defense. The state will also provide you with copies of all relevant papers in your case, which may include witness statements, lab reports, photos, crime scene reports, and all other materials, You may also list defense witnesses and use defense exhibits in your case, provided that you give notice of these witnesses and materials to the state in advance. This is known as reciprocal discovery. As your case progresses and as your attorney prepares your defense, pretrial motions may be filed on a varity of legal issues. As a general rule, the harder your attorney works on your case the better your ultimate disposition in the case will be. Your attorney should examine the facts of your case and determine whether any or all of the charges filed against you can be dismissed and to file the appropriate defensive motions for dismissal. The results achieved in every case differ depending on a varity of factors, such as the nature to the charges, your prior arrests, the strength of the state's case, the strength of the defense case, the judge, and the Assistant State Attorney assigned to your case. The Prosecutor assigned to your case may change during the pendincy of your case, which is quite common. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Being fully prepared for all possibilities is the key to a successful defense. Final Disposition Of Your Case: At some point you will need to decide whether you want to resolve your case by agreement with the state, to "plead open" to the mercy of the court, or to proceed to trial. To resolve your case by agreement with the State Attorney's Office, your attorney and the Assistant State Attorney assigned to prosecute your case must come to a complete agreement regarding all to the terms of an agreement for all of your pending charges. The court can accept or reject the terms of the agreement, but cannot modify the terms without your advance consent. If you decide to "plead open" to the mercy of the court after consulting with your attorney , the judge will decide what sentence will be imposed, after considering your "Criminal Punishment Code Sheet", which lists your offenses in severity and assigns points for those offenses. If you decide to go to trial you and your attorney should have some legal defense and be otherwise fully prepared. The fact that the state's case against you is very weak is a defense in itself. Generally, if you do not have a defense that will present well in court, you should consider another option. There is nothing worse in your case than going to trial unprepared, with little or no defense. Sentencing Issues and The Criminal Punishment Code: The Criminal Punishment Code Score Sheet is like a report card that the judge reviews at the time of sentencing. The score sheet tabulates a specific number of points per offense scored at time of sentencing, set by Florida statute in consideration of the severity of the offense, or violation. If your total combined score is less than or equal to 44 points, the judge can impose a non-state prison sanction , which could mean county jail time of one year or less, house arrest, probation, a fine, payment of court costs, or even no punishment at all. If total points are greater than 44 points, the court will impose mandatory state prison time unless the court finds both a legal reason to downward depart, and is willing to downward depart from the minimum prison sentence set by the criminal punishment code. A downward sentence is a sentence below the minimum permissible sentence, based upon a legally permissible exception in sentencing laws. The judge does not have to grant a bonafide downward departure motion and it is completely in the court's discretion to disregard it under the law. Your attorney can assist you in deciding what coarse of action is best, depending on your charges and other factors unique to your case. No two cases are the same.

Andrew Stine 224 Datura Street, Suite 1111 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401