A directory of short previews. Open a guide for the full explanation. Each card also links to the service page for that charge or stage.
These guides explain arrests, bond, court dates, and common charges in plain language. If you were arrested or are under investigation in Miami-Dade, a Miami criminal defense lawyer can apply that information to your paperwork. The consultation is free.
Titles that sound alike answer different questions. What Happens After an Arrest is the overview of the stages. What Happens After an Arrest in Florida is the statewide rule. What Happens After an Arrest in Miami is the local checklist. The same split applies to bond and to drug charges: one page is the main guide, and the related page covers a narrower question.
This is general information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts.
Start with the overview, then use the Florida rules or the Miami checklist for the question you actually have.
The main overview of the stages after an arrest: booking, the right to remain silent, the holding period, bond court, and what not to say on a jail phone. Use this when you want the sequence rather than a statute or a Miami-only checklist. Statewide rules, including the first-appearance deadline and holds that vary by county, are in the Florida guide. The hour-by-hour Miami checklist is a separate article.
The rules that apply in every Florida county, not a second copy of the booking overview. It covers the first-appearance deadline under the criminal rules, how counties differ on jails and bond schedules, who files the charge, and the holds that can keep someone in custody after bond is set, including other-county warrants, probation, and immigration detainers. Miami steps are on the local article.
A local checklist for a Miami-Dade arrest: where you are taken, booking, the wait for first appearance, how release actually happens, and what to save before the next court date. Read this for Miami steps rather than statewide rules. The guide above is the general sequence of an arrest. The Florida guide covers the deadline and the holds that differ by county.
What you can refuse during a stop, a search, or questioning, and what you still have to provide in a traffic stop. It covers consent searches, phones, and the difference between being detained and being under arrest. Use it before you are booked. The arrest overview starts once you are in custody and moves through bond court.
How long a person can be held after arrest before a judge must see them, and which situations stretch that time, including weekends and additional holds. It is about the custody clock, not the later court dates. First appearance, preset bond, and the Miami courtroom schedule are covered on the bond and first-appearance guides.
What the judge does at the first hearing: the charges, counsel, and bond. It explains why some people can post a preset bond before that hearing and why others cannot. Bond-court logistics in Miami, including the building and the session times, are on the hearing-day guide. This page is the purpose of the hearing itself.
When counsel matters: during an investigation, after an arrest, and before a statement or a bond hearing. It separates those moments so you are not waiting for a formal charge that may already be taking shape. Later guides cover what happens at booking, first appearance, and arraignment once the case is underway.
The Miami bond-hearing guide is the release overview. The hearing-day guide is what happens in the courtroom.
The main guide to getting someone out after a Miami-Dade arrest: when the hearing is, how cash and a bondsman differ, and what conditions come with release. The courtroom schedule, how a person in custody appears, and what to bring are in the hearing-day guide. A later request to lower the amount is the bond-reduction guide.
The hearing itself at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building: which session to attend, how a person in custody appears, and what the judge decides in the room. It is the day-of checklist. Posting the bond, the difference between cash and a bondsman, and a later motion to lower the amount are covered on the other bond guides.
The difference between bail paid to the court and a surety bond through a bondsman, including the fee people in Florida usually pay. It also covers no-contact orders and travel limits that travel with the release. The Miami hearing schedule is a separate guide. Whether someone can post before first appearance depends on a preset amount.
Why some people leave within hours and others wait through the weekend. It covers citation release, release on recognizance, and the holds that block a same-day release even when a bond amount exists. The hearing-day guide explains the courtroom. The preset-bond guide explains leaving before the judge sees the person.
When a preset bond lets someone post and leave before seeing a judge, and when the charge has no preset amount so release waits for first appearance. It does not replace the hearing-day guide. If no preset amount exists, the judge sets bond at the first appearance, which is described on the Miami bond-hearing pages.
How a written motion asks a judge to lower bond or change conditions after first appearance. It explains what the motion includes and how that hearing differs from the first bond decision. The first amount, and how to post it, is the Miami bond-hearing guide. The courtroom schedule is the hearing-day guide.
These guides pick up after release: the level of the charge, arraignment, pretrial, and the path through a Florida criminal case.
The path from filing through arraignment, discovery, motions, plea or trial, and sentencing. It is the map of the case after the arrest. Booking, the first-appearance deadline, and bond are on the earlier guides. Misdemeanor and felony labels, arraignment, and felony pretrial settings each have their own page. Use it when you want the whole case in order.
How Florida divides misdemeanors and felonies, which court hears each, and why the label changes jail exposure, scoring, and collateral consequences. It is a classification guide, not a hearing guide. The sequence of court dates is on the court-process guide. Arrest and bond are covered before a case is filed.
What an arraignment is for: the formal charge is read and a plea is entered. It explains why that date is not the trial and what deadlines it starts. First appearance, where bond is set, happens earlier and is a different hearing. The rest of the path, including discovery and motions, is on the court-process guide.
What a felony pretrial setting is used for in Florida: discovery status, motions, and whether the case is heading toward a plea or a trial date. It assumes the case is already filed. Arraignment is the earlier date where the plea is entered. The full path from filing to sentencing is the court-process guide.
DUI guides split the criminal case, the Miami arrest timeline, license penalties, and whether a charge can be reduced.
How a Florida DUI case is built: the stop, testing, the criminal charge, and the separate license suspension. Later guides cover the Miami arrest timeline, penalty ranges, a first offense, and whether a charge can be reduced. This page is the structure of the case. It is not the penalty chart.
The Miami sequence after a DUI arrest, including the short window to challenge an administrative license suspension. It is the local timeline. Penalty charts, including how a high breath result or a prior changes exposure, are on the penalties guide. The first-offense page covers a case with no prior and no serious injury.
The penalty ranges Florida uses for DUI, including how a high breath result, a prior, or an injury changes exposure. It is a penalties guide, not the arrest timeline. The Miami sequence and the license-suspension window are on the arrest guide. A first offense with no aggravating facts has its own page.
What a first DUI typically involves when there is no prior and no serious injury, and which facts can still make that first case more serious. Repeat-offense and felony rules are on the penalties guide. The Miami arrest sequence, including the short license deadline, is a separate article. Nothing here promises a result.
The situations in which a DUI charge is reduced or dismissed, and the situations in which it is not. Outcomes depend on the stop, the test, and the record. Nothing on this page promises a result. Penalty ranges are on the penalties guide. The Miami timeline after the arrest is a separate article.
One guide compares the charges. The Florida page explains which statute turns on weight and which one turns on intent to sell.
The comparison guide: how weight separates possession from trafficking, what constructive possession means, and why drugs in a shared car or home are fought over knowledge and control. Whether the statute requires an intent to sell is a different question, answered on the Florida page. Trafficking minimums are on the penalties guide.
Florida trafficking is knowing possession of a statutory weight. The state does not have to prove you meant to sell. Possession with intent to sell is a different crime, and the state does have to prove intent for that charge. This page is about that difference. Shared-space fights and constructive possession are on the comparison guide.
The mandatory minimums and fine ranges that attach once a trafficking weight is charged, and why the lab weight matters. It assumes you already know trafficking is a weight crime and does not require proof of an intent to sell. That distinction is on the Florida comparison page. Cocaine below a trafficking weight has its own penalties guide.
How Florida treats cocaine possession below a trafficking weight, including felony exposure and what changes if the weight crosses into trafficking. Trafficking minimums are on the trafficking penalties guide. The difference between a weight crime and a charge that requires intent to sell is on the Florida comparison page. This page stays with cocaine possession.
When a drug charge is dismissed or reduced because of a search, the weight, or proof of knowledge, and when the state can still proceed. It is about motions and proof, not the penalty chart. How possession differs from trafficking, including constructive possession, is the comparison guide. Intent to sell is a separate statute.
Federal court uses a different prosecutor, a different detention statute, and the sentencing guidelines. These two guides cover that system.
How a federal case moves from investigation and grand jury to indictment, initial appearance, and the pretrial schedule in the Southern District of Florida. State first appearance is a different guide. The comparison of which government investigates and which court hears the case is the state-versus-federal page. Use this when the paperwork is already federal.
Which government investigates, which court hears the case, and how sentencing differs when the same conduct could be charged by the State Attorney or by the U.S. Attorney. It is a comparison, not an indictment timeline. The path from a federal grand jury to the pretrial schedule is the indictment-process guide.
Charge-specific and after-the-case guides that do not belong in the arrest, bond, or court-process groups.
How a Florida domestic-violence case proceeds, including no-contact conditions and the fact that the State Attorney, not the other person, decides whether the charge continues. A request to drop the case is a separate article. Bond conditions that include no contact are also covered on the bond guides. This page is the case itself.
Why a request from the other person does not, by itself, end the case, and what can still lead a prosecutor to reduce or dismiss. It assumes you already know the case is prosecuted by the state. How the case proceeds, including no-contact conditions, is the domestic-violence overview. This page is only the drop question.
How Florida grades theft by value and prior record, and what that grading does to the maximum sentence. It is a penalties guide. Whether a charge can be dropped because of value, intent, or proof problems is a separate article. Restitution and dismissal are not the same question. This page is the penalty range.
When a theft charge is dismissed or reduced because of value, intent, or proof problems, and when restitution alone does not end the case. Penalty degrees, including how value and prior record change the maximum, are on the grand-theft guide. Nothing on this page promises a dismissal. This page is the drop question.
What probation requires and what happens when a violation is alleged. A violation hearing is not a new criminal trial. Penalty ranges for a violation, including continuing probation or imposing a suspended sentence, are on the next guide. This page is the structure of supervision and the allegation. Use it before the penalty chart.
What a judge can do after finding a violation, from continuing probation to imposing the suspended sentence. It is the penalty side of a violation, not the explanation of probation itself. What the terms of probation require, and how a violation is alleged, is the probation overview. This page is the penalty range.
Who can ask a Florida court to seal or expunge a state record, and which outcomes and offenses are disqualified. This is a Florida remedy. It does not clear a federal conviction, and a federal case follows different rules. Eligibility depends on the disposition and on prior record, which this page explains.
Appeal and post-conviction representation is described on the practice pages. Those matters start from a judgment or a sentence, not from the arrest and bond guides above.
Direct appeals from a conviction or sentence in Florida state court or in federal court, including the Eleventh Circuit. This is the practice page for that work, not a process guide. It covers the representation after a judgment, including the record, the brief, and the court that hears the appeal. Arrest, bond, and trial guides are the sections above.
Motions and petitions after the direct appeal, when the question is a judgment that is already final. Eligibility and deadlines depend on the court that entered the judgment. This page is for that later stage. It is separate from the arrest, bond, and trial guides, and it is separate from a direct appeal of a conviction that is not yet final.
If you are facing criminal charges or are under investigation in Miami-Dade or South Florida, contact us for a free consultation. See our case results for representative outcomes.