Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

If a person is accused of a crime and is a minor at the time of the incestance and is a minor at the time of interrogation and did not have a guardian or parent or legal repcentation at the time of questioning and the attorney hired to defend convened said defendant to take a plead and did so on advise of councel my question is does the defendant have legal grounds for an appeal if he took a plead based on being question as a minor without parent or legal rep at the time and if so any comments made during the questioning should be thrown out is this correct.


Asked on 9/01/11, 12:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Craig Epifanio Craig Epifanio, P.A.

The plea and the questioning are two totally different issues. The police are not required to contact your guardian when questioning you but it is a factor, if you were to throw out any confession you may have made. However, it may be possible to prove a case without any statement being given. If you pled then that is not a ground to appeal. That is, unless your attorney misadvised you. If you feel you took a plea based on misadvice then yes you could file an appeal and or a motion to withdraw your plea. If your plea is withdrawn, that basically means you are going to fight it and go to trial. If your case isn't that good but you don't like the sentence then there may or may not be a reason to withdraw your plea. You need to talk to an attorney that handles criminal appeals to get the proper answers and sit down with them to see what they advise.

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Answered on 9/06/11, 2:05 pm


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