It took your daughter four seconds to type it. A dark line in a group chat, meant to get a laugh. Within an hour, someone took a screenshot. By evening, the school had called, and a detective wanted to talk to her.
“It was a joke, Mom.” Maybe it was. In Florida, that explanation is where the legal analysis starts, not where it ends.
What the law actually says
Florida Statute 836.10 makes it a crime to send, post or transmit, or to arrange for someone else to send, a writing or other record that another person can see, when it contains a threat to kill or do bodily harm, to conduct a mass shooting or to commit an act of terrorism. The statute covers electronic records, including text, images, video and audio.
A violation is a second-degree felony. If a teenager is prosecuted as an adult, that level of offense carries up to 15 years in state prison under Florida Statute 775.082. Whether a case can move to adult court depends on age and other factors, explained in our article on Florida’s direct file law.
The statute is not limited to a letter mailed to a principal. A story post, a group chat message or a comment can all be examined. But a disturbing screenshot is not proof by itself. The State still has to prove what was communicated and who communicated it.
“Just a joke” needs context
Your child’s explanation is information for the lawyer. It is not a defense that wins automatically. Get the entire conversation, including what came before and after the message. Save dates, account names and the original content where you can lawfully do so.
A cropped screenshot can leave out the context that changes everything. The full conversation can also contain things your family needs to face honestly. Either way, the lawyer needs to see it all.
Do not ask classmates to say it was a joke. Do not post a public explanation, and do not demand that others delete screenshots. Each of those creates new evidence and can make things worse.
The First Amendment matters here
In Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66 (2023), the United States Supreme Court held that prosecuting a “true threat” requires proof of the speaker’s own state of mind, and that recklessness is enough to meet the constitutional requirement. That means the State must show more than words that frightened someone. It must address whether the speaker was aware of the threatening nature of the message and disregarded that risk.
Counterman did not decide every question under Florida’s statute. A lawyer has to apply the constitutional rule, the statute and the evidence together. Avoid both extremes. “Free speech” does not end every case, and a frightened reader does not prove every element.
Who actually posted it
An account with your child’s name on it does not settle who typed the message. Shared phones, a friend who knew the password, a hacked account or an impersonation can all be real issues. Tell the lawyer about them if they actually happened.
Never invent a hacking story. Investigators may already have device and account data you have not seen. An honest account of what you know, and what you do not, lets the lawyer find the real disputes. If the accusation comes from a repost rather than the original message, tell the lawyer that too. It can matter a great deal.
School discipline runs on its own track
Florida Statute 1006.13 addresses school safety, threat management and zero-tolerance policies, and it identifies certain threat and false-report offenses for mandatory expulsion provisions. Do not assume every threat accusation produces the same school result. The specific conduct, the rule cited and the required procedure all matter.
Ask the school for the written allegation, the policy it relies on and the hearing information, and get the governing version of the Miami-Dade Code of Student Conduct. A school safety finding does not prove a crime, and a decision by the prosecutor does not automatically resolve the school case. Our article on arrests at school explains how the two tracks interact.
When other charges come up
Sometimes the post is part of a larger conflict, with an argument or a fight in the hallway. Assault and battery are separate offenses with their own elements, explained on our assault and battery defense page. They should not be blended with the electronic threat statute just because everyone is talking about the same week.
The first conversation at home
Stay calm. If anyone is in real danger, call 911 and alert school safety staff. Getting legal advice never means ignoring a present risk.
Then protect your child. Do not let your child retell the story to different adults before a lawyer reviews the interview request. Do not make your child post an apology or message the people mentioned. If your child is struggling emotionally, involve the right professionals and tell the lawyer.
The attorneys who handle these cases
School threat cases move quickly, and early decisions shape what prosecutors and school officials do next. Stephen Millan, Esq. is a former Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge who presided over hundreds of criminal and juvenile cases, and a former Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney. Arthur Spiegel, Esq. is a former Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender in the juvenile and criminal divisions who has represented hundreds of juveniles in criminal cases, with more than 40 years of experience. Jorge E. Alonso, Esq. has defended the accused in Miami-Dade state and federal courts for more than 40 years, has tried more than 100 jury trials to verdict and has represented juvenile respondents in delinquency cases. Jonathan Ibáñez, Esq., a bilingual criminal defense trial lawyer and a native of South Florida, served as a volunteer Guardian ad Litem in Broward County, where he interviewed children and families and advocated for children in dependency proceedings. Albert Quirantes, Esq. is a criminal trial lawyer with 38 years of experience who has defended numerous juvenile cases in Miami-Dade County. Learn more on our attorneys page and our Miami juvenile defense page.
If a detective wants to interview your child, read our article on police questioning of children in Florida first. If the problem involves private images rather than threats, our article on teen sexting in Florida explains a very different statute.
For more information or help, schedule a free strategy session at the law offices of Albert Quirantes, Esq. Criminal DUI & Ticket Lawyers. Text or call 305-644-1800 now.
