VIOLENT CRIMES

Violent crimes can range from low level misdemeanors, like a simple battery charge following a bar fight, to first degree murder, the most serious offense prosecuted in the State of Florida.  Though these two examples of violent crimes are a world apart with regard to potential maximum penalties (a year in jail for the former, life in prison or the death penalty for the latter,) they and other crimes of violence are similar in some significant ways.  Both offenses, along with other crimes of violence, for example, potentially implicate Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Law which gives individuals a right to defend themselves--with both deadly and non-deadly force--under certain circumstances.

The legal landscape surrounding the law of self-defense and defense-of-others in Florida is constantly evolving.  Florida law currently permits a defendant accused of violent crime to assert “stand your ground” immunity at a pretrial hearing.  If the court finds that the person so accused had a reasonable belief that their use of force was necessary to prevent another’s imminent use of unlawful force or, in a case involving use of deadly force, another’s imminent use of force likely to cause great bodily injury or death, a judge has the authority to declare that individual immune from prosecution.  See Fla. Stat. §§ 776.012 and 776.032.

At the Michael Hines Law Firm, we represent clients in Violent Crime cases that range from:

• Assault

• Battery

• Aggravated Battery

• Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Female

• Robbery

• Robbery by Sudden Snatching

• Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer

• Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer

• Aggravated Assault

• Homicide

• Manslaughter

• Aggravated Manslaughter

• Kidnapping

• Unlawful Imprisonment

• Child Abuse or

• Aggravated Child Abuse