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Avoiding Jail Or Prison

There are ways that you may be able to avoid jail or prison time, despite the fact that the sentencing guidelines may mandate prison in your case or the state may be seeking jail time.

In addition to diversion, drug court or the withholding of adjudication, your criminal defense attorney can pursue other avenues that may help you avoid jail or prison.

For certain crimes and certain clients, a sentence of incarceration may well be unavoidable due to a statute that requires mandatory jail time, due to sentencing guidelines for the charges or even due to an aggressive prosecutor. Our goal as experienced criminal defense attorneys in the Tampa Bay area is to help our clients obtain some alternative sentence (when conviction has already occurred or seems inevitable).

These alternative sentences may include a day reporting program (which is basically daily community service-type work in lieu of jail time), electronic monitoring, work release, house arrest, or residential (in-patient) drug or alcohol treatment.

In some situations (such as on-going investigations or large-scale, multiple defendant prosecutions), it may be possible for an attorney to negotiate a plea agreement with the prosecution in which the client agrees to assist the investigation or prosecution in some way in exchange for a dismissed charge, reduced charge and/or more lenient sentence. If you are considering any such agreement, it is advisable to contact a defense attorney as soon as possible to communicate with the government on your behalf.

Contact Us

If you have been charged with a crime in Hillsborough, Pinellas or surrounding Florida counties, contact us immediately. Call 813-521-8069 or fill out our contact form to have us call you. We can also discuss your case privately in either our Clearwater or Tampa office.