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Editor: Will Hanlon & Charlie Lambert
Profession: Tampa Defense Attorneys

Category: Criminal Law

State v. C; Judge: Emmett Battles; Date: June 2007

FACTS: Our client was walking through a public park when he got into an argument with a group of men over a stolen cell phone. The argument escalated into a physical altercation. Our client was surrounded, and repeatedly struck with a large stick. He was knocked to the ground, and sustained multiple injuries including broken bones. In an effort to defend himself and escape, our client punched one of the men surrounding him in the mouth, knocking out a tooth. Unfortunately, the man our client hit was actually an innocent bystander who had come over to break up the fight. By the time police arrived our client had fled the scene to seek medical treatment. After speaking with all of the other men at the scene the officer made the decision to charge our client with Felony Battery.

DEFENSE: Self Defense, Mistake of Fact: Our client reasonably believed he was justified in using force to defend himself from his attackers. Due to the circumstances our client had reason to believe that the man that he punched was one of the men attacking him.

Many times, when investigating violent crimes, law enforcement officers are forced to rely exclusively on witness statements to decide who to arrest. Usually these situations boil down to one person's word versus another's. In this case law enforcement took statements from all of the other men involved, before ever speaking to our client. Ultimately, there were six people pointing the finger at our client.

From the moment we were retained, it was obvious that there was a lot more to the story than was contained in the police report. We worked closely with out client and a private investigator to uncover additional facts and evidence to support our side of the story.

Unfortunately, our client had a significant criminal history. Although he had not been arrested for a violent offense in many years, his prior record was used by the State to calculate the sentencing guidelines for his case. In Florida, sentencing guidelines for felony cases are calculated using the Criminal Punishment Code Scoresheet (FRCP 3.992). The State Attorney uses the scoresheet to calculate the minimum and maximum sentence allowed by law for each case. Due to his prior record, our client "scored" a minimum of 19 months prison.

RESULT: Through the use of our own private investigator, we were able to provide additional facts and evidence to the prosecutor supporting our defense. We were then able to negotiate client a "downward departure" plea agreement prior to trial, avoiding the mandatory prison sentence entirely.