Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

i was given a VOP for a misdeameanor back in April of 2010. It was for violation of domestic injunction/contract. I just went to court and the original charge was basically dismissed, and they got me for technical violations of not paying court fees, and not completing a mental health evaluation on time. They sentenced me with another 10 Months of probation. my question is can i Appeal this sentence? how exactly does an appeal work? can they give me a worse sentence than the one that i got now, i was under the assumption that they would basically say yes and give me another sentence, or no and i stay with the sentence i have now. I just want to know if i should appeal it becuase, the original charge was basically dropped, and they got me on these other violations, but if i would have been arrested in april when the warrant was issued i wouldnt have been able to pay the court fees or do the evaluation, i just see that they took the system and kinda screwed me. Any thoughts on what i should do? or what i could ask?


Asked on 12/09/10, 8:22 am

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

You might be able to appeal this. A court could give you up to the maximum on a VOP, which in your case is one year jail. The court can't give you more probation than the statute allows which is one year. So an additional 10 months might be an illegal sentence. (however, the court can toll any time period from the date they filed the affidavit of violation to the date you admitted the VOP. As far as how to appeal, you need to talk to an attorney that spent 7 years of postgraduate education to become a lawyer so that a proper appeal is filed and followed by the rules. In other words, talk to an attorney immediately.

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Answered on 12/14/10, 9:01 am


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