You’ve been arrested.  Now What?

First off, there are several ways to be placed under arrest in Florida.  The most common is being handcuffed, read Miranda Warnings, placed in the back of a patrol car, and booked into the county jail.  The second way an arrest is effectuated in Florida involves the officer writing a “Notice to Appear,” which is essentially a ticket informing you of the crime you’re charged with.  The last way you can be “placed under arrest” occurs when the State Attorney’s Office files a charge against you.  If the State Attorney’s Office files a Misdemeanor against you, you will receive a Notice of Arraignment in the mail.  If they file a Felony against you, odds are a Warrant will be issued for your arrest and you will ultimately be arrested.

Now that you’ve been arrested, you will be brought for what’s called a First Appearance.  This only takes place if you’ve actually been booked into jail, and you didn’t bond out immediately.  Every person arrested has a constitutional right to be brought in front of a judge at the First Appearance and told what crime you’ve been charged with and to have a bond set.

Importance of a criminal defense attorney at First Appearance: an attorney will argue several factors on your behalf in an attempt to have the court set a bond in which you may be able to post. 

What’s going on behind the scenes?  After the First Appearance, the case is referred to the State Attorney’s Office to conduct an investigation of their own.  At this point, the State Attorney’s Office is attempting to decide if the crime referred to them from the policing agency is properly charged. 

Importance of a criminal defense attorney at the Investigative Phase:  an attorney will be able to communicate with the Assistant State Attorney in charge of making the filing decision and be able to show weaknesses in the case and why the case should be charged as a lesser crime, or not at all.

Once the State Attorney’s Office makes a decision on the proper charge, they will file an “Information,” which is the formal charging document telling you what the State plans on convicting you of. 

After the Information is filed, an Arraignment date is set, usually at least a month and a half from the First Appearance date.  The Arraignment is the court appearance in which you’re going to be formally charged with the crime alleged in the Information.  At this stage, you enter one of three pleas:  not guilty (I didn’t do it!), guilty (I did it), nolo contendere (I’m pleading to this charge because it’s in my best interest). 

Importance of a criminal defense attorney at Arraignment:  an attorney will be able to waive your appearance at arraignment so that you will not have to be there.  They also may want to plea to the charge at arraignment and get the case over with for you.  A lot of times it’s beneficial to plea a case early, so the earlier you hire an attorney, the better.

Should you plead not guilty at the Arraignment, a Pretrial Conference (note: different circuits call these different names, i.e. “Dispo. Hearing”) will be set, usually a month and a half to two months from the Arraignment date.  This is a period in which the court is giving the State and defense time to exchange “discovery.” Discovery is the technical term for evidence each side has to present.

Now that the Pretrial Conference has rolled around, it’s going to be time to determine whether it’s time to plea to the charges, or take the case to trial. If there’s an understandable ground to do so, the courts will allow more than one Pretrial Conference.  It’s typical for the discovery process to take more than one Pretrial Conference, it’s therefore common for the courts to allow a number of Pretrial Conferences.

Importance of a criminal defense attorney at Pretrial Conferences: an attorney will have the opportunity to speak with the State Attorney’s Office beforehand and know what they’re seeking in terms of a sentence.  An attorney will also be able to make an argument to the court if they believe the State’s offer unreasonable.  An attorney will also know through the discovery process whether your case is one that has a chance of success at trial.

If you haven’t plead at one of your Pretrial Conferences and the court will not grant another continuance, it’s time for trial.  Trial typically consists of a “calendar call,” in which the State and Defense announce whether they’re ready for trial or not, jury selection, and the actual trial.  In some courts, these three appearances will occur on one day, while in others they’ll occur over the course of three days (assuming trial only lasts one day).  Once trial is complete, and a verdict is rendered, you will either be free to go, or sentenced.

Importance of a criminal defense attorney at trial:  an attorney has been trained in the rules of evidence and procedure.  They have studied how to cross-examine witnesses, how to make compelling arguments, and what belongs and doesn’t belong in jury instructions.  Odds are, you have not.  If you have not spent the money on a defense attorney yet, now is the time to do so.  DO NOT GO TO TRIAL WITHOUT AN ATTORNEY. 

Do not forget your liberties are in jeopardy every time you’re charged with a crime.  Help ease your stress and hire a criminal defense attorney to look out for your best-interests.

This article was written by Paul J. Knudsen, Esq.  Paul is a Partner at Dyer Knudsen, Attorney’s at Law, a Tampa based firm practicing in the areas of Criminal Defense, Estate Planning, Family Law, Personal Injury, Foreclosure Defense, and Bankruptcy.