Ginzberg Law
Providing Legal Services to Floridians.
The Criminal Justice Process 
Posting A 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 insure your
appearance in the case. Your bond may be either a cash bond in smaller
cases, or a surety 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 a subsequent
offense while you are out of jail 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 upon 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.
To get further information about posting a bond, Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail now.
Court Appearance
Once you are arrested, you are entitled to a hearing within 24 hours if you are
still in custody, for a determination of whether probable cause exists for your
arrest. Probable cause for an arrest is the 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 case, probable cause is found by the
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 that a standard bond amount for the
same arrest.
Contact The Law offices of David P. Ginzberg to
get the help you deserve. Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail.
Tracking Your Case
Within a day or two, the probable cause affidavit, or initial arrest
report, on your case will filter its way to the Clerk's Office from the booking
desk at the jail and you will be assigned a case number and a judge by random
assignment. In most locales, this information is computerized and is
viewable online by searching the County Clerk of Courts Website. There you
can track certain information about your case, including dates and case status.
To get help with preparing a proper defense for your case, contact a
lawyer now at
The Law offices of David P. Ginzberg. Call Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142
or send an e-mail now.
Case Filing Decision
The State Attorney's Office will generally begin to review the case
filing package on your case within 2 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 a 'Information' in your case, the Clerks
Office will post your charges into the Clerk's computer system 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 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.
Retain a competent
lawyer can ensure that you are properly defended. Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail.
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. Often times, supplemental materials filed by you or your attorney
will result in greatly reduced 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 filed by 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-filing package opportunity in an
effort to have reduced charges filed.
The Law Offices of David P. Ginzberg utilizes all possible avenues of
defense such as the pre-filing package previously described. Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail.
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 also will provide you with
copies of all relevant papers in your case, which may include witness
statements, lab reports, photos, crime scene reports, police 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 variety 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 your any or all of the charges filed against you can be
dismissed and to file the appropriate defense motions for dismissal. The
results achieved in every case differ depending on a variety of factors, such as
the nature of 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 pendency 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.
You can be certain that The Law Offices of David P. Ginzberg will
diligently prepare your defense to encompass all possible variables presented by
the state prosecuting attorneys. Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail.
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 of 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 Score 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 is
very weak against you 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.
The Law Offices of David P. Ginzberg can properly advise you and prepare
the proper course of action to take that best fits the circumstances for your
defense. Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail.
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 the time of sentencing, set by
Florida statute in consideration of the severity of the offense, or violation.
If your total combined score is less that 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 form the
minimum prison sentence set by the criminal punishment code. A downward
departure 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 bona fide 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 course of action is best, depending on your charges
and other factors unique to your case. No two cases are the same.
The Law Offices of David P. Ginzberg can properly advise you regarding
the circumstances unique to your case. Call us 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142 or
send an e-mail.
Hiring The Right Attorney
Consulting with an attorney on your case give you a chance to to
interview the attorney to determine if he or she is the right attorney to
represent you in your case. You should feel comfortable with the attorney
that you hire and confident that he or she will work diligently in preparing the
best defense possible for you. You will know when you have found the right
attorney for your case. Make sure that you ask a lot of questions during
your consultation and during the pendency of your case. Your attorney
cannot prepare a proper defense for you without your assistance. You are
the most valuable asset in the defense.
Upon your first visit to The Law Offices of David P. Ginzberg, we provide you with a
comprehensive consultation with one of our attorneys ABSOLUTELY FREE, or if you prefer,
you can get answers fast over the phone. This service costs you nothing, yet allows you to obtain
straight-forward answers to your questions to help put your mind at ease. We will advise you exactly what you should or shouldn't
do next. Get the help you deserve now.
Call us today, 24/7 Toll-Free: 1-800-611-0142
or send an e-mail now.
(This article is for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as
constituting legal advise. You should consult with an attorney to
determine the best course of action to take on your case.)
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