Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

While staying as a guest at a condominium complex, I was asked by my host-- to assist him in salvaging an artificial plant that he believed to be destined for the trash. I inquired as to whether this plant could belong to a resident of the building, and was assured that the rules set forth by the building association did not allow for personal effects to be placed within the common areas, in which the plant was located. The plant was located in an foyer next to the service elevator, as well as a staircase of the building, which led to the ground level trash facilities. This foyer is located at the end of a hallway and is seperated from the condominium units by a pair of doors. Seeing as the plant was too large to fit inside of the elevator, both of us believed that a resident left it there while moving out--preferring not to carry the heavy plant down the four flights of stairs to the trash facilities. While moving the plant to my host's condo unit, we accidentally dropped the plant, breaking the pot enclosing it. We cleaned up the shards of the broken pot, and placed the plant onto his balcony on the third level of the building, in plain sight. The next morning a police officer arrived at my host's condo unit, and informed both of us that the plant belonged to another resident. The officer asked both of us for identification, but did not arrest or give either of us a notice to appear. Both of us moved the plant back to it�s original location, wrote an apology letter to the owner, and purchased a replacement pot of similar quality.

I have a copy of the Condominium Association Resident Rule Handbook. The sections that are relevant to this circumstance are verbatim:

Section 1 General Rules:

4. No personal articles shall be allowed to stand on any portion of the common elements.

Section 4 Hallways:

3. Residences opening onto the interior hallways of the Beacon my not display any kind of "personal items" as this may present a fire hazard relative to safe evacuation procedures.

The police report states that the plant was located outside of the plant owner's condominium. The building manager, security personnel, and maintenance personnel of the building stated that they will verify that the plant was located in the elevator enclosure as I have stated.

Having been granted a public defender, I was told that the odds of winning this case was two out of three. Not wanting to risk a theft conviction, I opted to enter the Salvation Army Pre-Trial Intervention program, which would nominally result in my case not being prosecuted. To achieve this end, I am required to pay restitution to the owner of the plant, as well as for various court costs, and probationary supervision amounting to close to $800 as well as performing 30 community service hours.

My friend was denied entry into the program, and sought an attorney. After his attorney received both his and my accounts of the story, he concluded that the "victim" filed a false police report--in particular, falsely reporting the location of the plant. His attorney spoke with the state attorney, particularly of the fact that building maintenance and security would verify that the plant was not where the police report stated it to be, and that he would bring this up in court. This resulted in my friend's charge being changed to no prolesque (sp.)-- an arrangement that the charges will be dropped in a matter of two years pending he does not get into further criminal trouble.

I have been participating in the Pre-Trial program for several months already, and have paid almost half the required money to complete it. The conditions of my Pre-Trial agreement state that if I were to drop out of the program, I would be subject to trial--just as my friend was. I am looking to see what actions I must take to obtain the same arrangement, as I am not interested in participating further in the Pre-Trial program and paying more money for a charge that I believe to be illegitimate.

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