Tips On Hiring A Tampa Defense Attorney

Non-violent offenders in Florida have a second chance; due to current pending legislation that states mandatory sentencing for non-violent offenders is too harsh and leaves jails and prisons too crowded. When you add the expense of incarceration, a trial, and the cost of supplying a jury, it is understandable the public trend to decrease sentencing for drug offenses. The public, instead, wants the judges to have compassion and intervene through the offering of treatment and rehabilitation. Judges would like to have more leeway in deciding the sentences and punishment of the obvious non-violent offender caught up in the throes of addiction.

This issue has been at the top of prosecutor's minds as they have increased the plea bargaining process to the point there are very few felony cases completing the trial process. Current statistics state that 1 in 40 felony cases in Florida today are becoming trial issues, as opposed to 1 in 12 cases in the 1970s. The end result is that prosecutors are using the plea bargaining option to convince an accused criminal to "take a plea" instead of enduring the trial process. The leverage for the prosecution is the threat to add additional and more severe charges to the case, leaving open the door to Florida's harsh 10-20-life law that imposes aggressive penalties for repeat offenders.

Persons new to the legal system and charged with a crime should now, more than ever, consider legal representation through a Tampa Defense Attorney. A good defense attorney will know what is bluff and blarney and what the law really says about inexperience offenders that have stumbled into the criminal justice system in Florida. Non-violent offenders like drug offenders often have the option of drug court, if they have a knowledgeable attorney to guide them through the criminal justice system.

No matter the innocence of a client, attending court without a knowledgeable Tampa Defense Attorney is like playing Russian Roulette. Current trends in jury trials are handing out sentencing that is 2, 5 or even 10 times longer than the option that plea bargaining would bring. An experienced attorney will inform the client of the possible charges that could be additional to the current charge the client is facing. Those possible charges, once in a courtroom, could be converted into hard time and a mandatory sentence of twenty years in prison, when sometimes a plea bargain of 12 months incarceration and mandatory drug treatment would have been the lesser option. A client who has never been accused in the Florida criminal courts would be unaware of the seriousness of the sentencing and the consequences of refusing the plea, without the help of an experienced Tampa Defense Attorney.

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