Florida Violent Crimes Lawyer

A violent crime charge in Florida is prosecuted differently from almost any other charge. Prosecutors file it more aggressively, judges set higher bonds, the sentencing guidelines score it more heavily, and most violent offenses can never be sealed or expunged, even if adjudication is withheld. Many of these cases also turn on a single question the police rarely investigate carefully: who started it.

Goldman Wetzel defends people charged with assault, battery, robbery, domestic violence, homicide, and other violent offenses in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties, and in federal court in Tampa. Both of our attorneys work on every case, and one of us is a former prosecutor. We have tried violent felony cases to verdict.

Violent Crime Charges We Defend

We also defend stalking and aggravated stalking, arson, and resisting an officer with violence.

How Florida Classifies Violent Crimes

Florida’s violent offenses run from second-degree misdemeanors to capital felonies. The classification depends on the conduct, whether a weapon was used, the injury alleged, and who the alleged victim is.

Charge	Classification	Maximum sentence
Assault (a threat with the apparent ability to carry it out)	Second-degree misdemeanor	60 days in jail
Battery	First-degree misdemeanor	1 year in jail
Felony battery (great bodily harm, or a prior battery conviction)	Third-degree felony	5 years
Aggravated assault (with a deadly weapon or intent to commit a felony)	Third-degree felony	5 years
Battery on a law enforcement officer	Third-degree felony	5 years
Domestic battery by strangulation	Third-degree felony	5 years
Aggravated battery (great bodily harm, a deadly weapon, or a pregnant victim)	Second-degree felony	15 years
Robbery, no weapon	Second-degree felony	15 years
Robbery with a weapon	First-degree felony	30 years
Robbery, carjacking, or home-invasion robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon	First-degree felony	Life
Kidnapping	First-degree felony	Life
Child abuse	Third-degree felony	5 years
Aggravated child abuse	First-degree felony	30 years
Manslaughter	Second-degree felony	15 years
Aggravated manslaughter (of a child, an elderly person, or an officer)	First-degree felony	30 years
Second-degree murder	First-degree felony	Life
First-degree murder	Capital felony	Death or life without parole

Sentencing Rules That Change Everything

The maximums above are only part of the picture. Several Florida rules can turn a charge that sounds manageable into one with a long mandatory sentence:

• 10-20-Life. Under Fla. Stat. § 775.087, possessing a firearm during a listed felony such as aggravated battery, robbery, kidnapping, or burglary carries a 10-year mandatory minimum. Firing it is 20 years. Shooting someone is 25 years to life. The minimum applies even if the gun was never pointed at anyone.
• Victim injury points. Florida’s sentencing scoresheet adds points for any injury, and enough points make a prison sentence mandatory under the guidelines unless the judge finds a legal basis to go below them.
• Repeat offender designations. Prison releasee reoffender, habitual violent felony offender, and violent career criminal status each impose mandatory terms, up to life, for a person with prior qualifying convictions. These designations are decided by the prosecutor’s charging decision, which makes early negotiation important.
• Pretrial detention. Most violent offenses are “dangerous crimes” under Florida law, so the State can ask the court to hold you without bond, and bonds that are set tend to be high.
• No sealing or expungement. Aggravated assault, aggravated battery, robbery, kidnapping, homicide, arson, child abuse, stalking, domestic violence battery, and most other violent felonies can never be sealed or expunged, even with a withhold of adjudication. Avoiding a conviction is not enough; the charge itself has to be reduced or dismissed.

Self-Defense and Stand Your Ground

Florida law allows a person to use or threaten force, including deadly force, when they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or a forcible felony. There is no duty to retreat from a place where you have a right to be, and a person attacked in their home or vehicle is presumed to have a reasonable fear.

The procedural advantage is just as important as the rule. Under Fla. Stat. § 776.032, a person who acted in lawful self-defense is immune from prosecution, and the defense can demand a hearing before trial at which the State must disprove self-defense by clear and convincing evidence. A successful immunity motion ends the case. Our Stand Your Ground article explains how these hearings work.

Self-defense cases are won or lost on evidence gathered early: surveillance video before it is overwritten, photographs of your injuries, 911 recordings, and witnesses found before memories fade. That is the first thing we do.

How Goldman Wetzel Defends Violent Crime Cases

The other side of the story. Police often arrest the person who is still at the scene, the one without visible injuries, or the one the first caller named. We investigate what happened before the police arrived, who the aggressor was, and what the accuser has said to different people at different times.

The injury. The difference between a misdemeanor and a 15-year felony is often the phrase “great bodily harm,” and the difference between a five-year felony and a mandatory ten is whether an object counts as a deadly weapon. We obtain the medical records and, where needed, expert review, because the State’s description of an injury is often more serious than the records support.

The accuser. In many assault and domestic cases the only evidence is one person’s account. We examine motive, prior statements, intoxication, and the circumstances in which the report was made, and we depose the witnesses under oath before trial.

Identification and intent. Fights in crowds, bar incidents, and robbery cases frequently involve mistaken identification. Other cases involve conduct that was reckless or accidental, which is not the same as intentional.

Resolution. Where the evidence supports it, we move for Stand Your Ground immunity, to suppress unlawfully obtained statements and evidence, or to dismiss. Many cases resolve with the charge reduced to one that carries no mandatory minimum and can later be sealed. When a case should be tried, we try it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the alleged victim drop the charges?

No. Once a report is made, the State Attorney decides whether to file and whether to proceed, and prosecutors in Tampa Bay routinely go forward over a victim’s objection, especially in domestic cases. A victim’s reluctance matters, but it has to be handled correctly, and any contact with the victim while a no-contact order is in place is a separate crime.

Is a threat alone a crime?

Yes. Assault is a threat by word or act, with the apparent ability to carry it out, that puts someone in reasonable fear. With a weapon, it is aggravated assault, a felony. No touching is required.

Will I get a bond?

Usually, but not always. Violent felonies are “dangerous crimes,” so the State can seek pretrial detention, and bonds are set higher than for other charges. We address bond at first appearance when retained in time, and we can move to reduce a bond that was set without a lawyer present.

Can a violent crime charge be sealed or expunged?

Most cannot, even with a withhold of adjudication, which is why the goal in these cases is a reduced or dismissed charge rather than a lenient sentence on the original one. A dismissed charge can be expunged. Our expungement page lists the offenses that are excluded.

Is DUI manslaughter a violent crime?

It is a second-degree felony, or a first-degree felony if the driver left the scene, and it carries a four-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. It is prosecuted as a violent crime for sentencing purposes even though no intent to harm is alleged.

Related Pages

• St. Petersburg assault lawyer and St. Petersburg battery lawyer
• Domestic battery by strangulation
• St. Petersburg domestic violence lawyer
• Is pointing a gun at someone a crime?
• Voluntary and involuntary manslaughter
• Federal criminal defense
• Pinellas County • Clearwater • Clearwater assault • Bradenton assault

Speak With a Florida Violent Crimes Lawyer

If you or a family member has been arrested for or accused of a violent crime anywhere in Tampa Bay, contact Goldman Wetzel or call (727) 828-3900 for a confidential consultation. The earlier we are involved, the more we can do.