ARRESTED? INVESTIGATED?
ARRESTADO? INVESTIGADO?
An assault or battery arrest can turn one tense moment into a criminal case that threatens your freedom, job, family, and reputation. You may be angry, embarrassed, or worried that the police heard only one side of the story.
What you do next matters. Don’t contact the alleged victim, post about the incident, delete messages, or explain yourself to law enforcement without legal advice.
A Miami assault and battery lawyer can preserve video, locate witnesses, challenge unlawful conditions, and start building your defense before evidence disappears. If your case began in Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Doral, Coral Gables, Homestead, North Miami, or another Miami-Dade municipality, local court procedure can shape the early strategy.
Answered around the clock. Free and confidential. English or Spanish.
The sooner the defense starts, the sooner your lawyer can preserve evidence, protect you from avoidable mistakes, and prepare for court.
For help from Albert Quirantes, Esq. Criminal DUI & Ticket Lawyers, call or text 305-644-1800 for a free strategy session.
Represented since 1987
English and Spanish
Florida treats assault and battery as different offenses. An assault doesn’t require physical contact, but a battery does.
Under Florida Statute § 784.011, assault means an intentional and unlawful threat by word or act to commit violence against another person. The accused must appear able to carry out the threat, and the act must create a well-founded fear that violence is about to happen.
Under Florida Statute § 784.03, battery occurs when someone intentionally touches or strikes another person against that person’s will, or intentionally causes bodily harm. A push, slap, grab, or other unwanted contact may support a battery charge even when there’s no visible injury.
The accusation becomes more serious when the State alleges a deadly weapon, severe injury, strangulation, a pregnant victim, a prior qualifying battery conviction, or a protected victim such as a law enforcement officer. The exact charge depends on the alleged conduct, injuries, relationship between the parties, criminal history, and evidence.
The possible sentence depends on the degree of the charge. Under Florida Statute § 775.082 and Florida Statute § 775.083, the ordinary statutory maximums include:
Those are maximum penalties, not predictions. Prior records, sentencing scores, weapon allegations, victim status, injuries, release status, and other facts can change the exposure or create enhanced penalties.
A domestic violence case can also bring a no-contact order, removal from the home, firearm restrictions, and conflict over children. Under Florida Statute § 741.281, a plea or finding of guilt for a qualifying domestic violence crime can require at least one year of probation and a batterers’ intervention program, subject to the statute’s terms.
If bodily harm was intentionally caused and the court adjudicates the person guilty of a qualifying domestic violence crime, Florida Statute § 741.283 provides minimum county-jail terms in specified circumstances. The minimum generally starts at 10 days for a first offense and can increase when the incident occurred in the presence of a qualifying child or when prior offenses exist.
An ordinary assault or battery charge doesn’t automatically suspend a Florida driver license. Still, a related driving offense, probation violation, or separate court order may affect driving privileges.
The collateral damage can last longer than the sentence. Employers, licensing boards, landlords, schools, and background-check companies may see the case, while a noncitizen may face immigration detention, inadmissibility, or removal issues depending on the charge, facts, plea, and sentence. Immigration advice should come before any plea, not afterward.
Our office handles a wide range of assault and battery cases in Miami-Dade, including:
1
Florida law permits force in defined circumstances when a person reasonably believes it’s necessary to defend against another person’s imminent unlawful force. We compare every statement, injury, video angle, and witness account against Florida Statute § 776.012.
When the facts support it, we may seek immunity from prosecution under Florida Statute § 776.032. That can involve a focused pretrial hearing rather than waiting for a jury trial.
2
Accidental contact isn’t the same as an intentional battery. Angry words alone also may not prove assault if there was no act showing an apparent ability to cause imminent violence or no well-founded fear that violence was about to occur.
3
The State must prove the touching or striking occurred against the other person’s will. The full context may matter in sports, consensual physical interaction, crowded venues, or a confrontation in which the evidence conflicts.
4
We seek 911 recordings, body-camera footage, surveillance video, phone records, text messages, photographs, medical records, dispatch logs, and witness statements. We compare them with the initial report and later testimony to expose contradictions, bias, missing evidence, or an account that changed over time.
5
The State must prove more than a basic assault or battery to sustain an aggravated charge. We can challenge whether an object legally and factually qualified as a deadly weapon, whether the injury met the charged level, whether the accused knew of a pregnancy, or whether a prior case legally supports felony treatment.
6
Poor lighting, intoxication, chaotic scenes, delayed reporting, and suggestive identification procedures can produce unreliable accusations. We test whether the prosecutor can prove identity and every element beyond a reasonable doubt, even if the complaining witness wants the case to continue.
1
After an arrest, law enforcement books the accused and submits reports to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Don’t discuss the facts on a recorded jail call, with another detainee, by text, or on social media.
2
A person who remains in custody generally appears before a judge within 24 hours under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130. The judge reviews probable cause, bond, release conditions, and any no-contact or stay-away order.
Defense counsel can present ties to Miami-Dade County, employment, family responsibilities, criminal history, safety plans, and other information relevant to release. A no-contact order remains in force unless the court changes it, even if the other person invites contact.
3
An arrest doesn’t automatically mean the prosecutor will file the same charge listed on the arrest form. The State Attorney may file a charge, change it, add charges, or decline prosecution after reviewing the evidence.
Early defense work can matter here. Counsel may preserve favorable video, provide documents, identify witnesses, and present legal or factual problems before the filing decision.
4
At arraignment, the court states the formal charge and takes a plea. Counsel often files a written not-guilty plea and may waive the client’s appearance when the rules and judge permit it.
5
The defense reviews reports, recordings, photographs, medical evidence, digital communications, and witness accounts. We investigate what happened before, during, and after the incident, including injuries or threats directed at you.
6
Depending on the facts, the defense may seek suppression of unlawfully obtained statements or evidence, self-defense immunity, modification of release conditions, exclusion of unfair evidence, or dismissal when the law and undisputed facts permit it. Each motion needs a factual and legal basis.
7
Some cases may qualify for diversion, a reduction, or another negotiated resolution. Eligibility and terms depend on the charge, injuries, criminal history, victim input, prosecutor, and Miami-Dade program rules.
You decide whether to accept a plea after counsel explains the evidence, defenses, sentencing exposure, record consequences, and immigration risks. The alleged victim doesn’t control that decision, and neither does the prosecutor alone.
8
If the case doesn’t resolve, the defense can take it to trial and require the State to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt. A case may also end through a dismissal, no-action filing decision, diversion, negotiated plea, or court ruling, depending on its facts.
Your goal is to protect your freedom, your record, and your future. You need a defense team that can act quickly, explain the risks plainly, and prepare the case for litigation from the start.
Albert Quirantes has practiced criminal defense for more than 35 years, represented more than 8,000 clients, and handled numerous jury trials. The firm has received more than 1,400 five-star Google reviews and serves clients in English and Spanish from its Miami office.
The attorney team includes former Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge and former prosecutor Stephen Millan, former prosecutor and former public defender Arthur Spiegel, bilingual attorney Jorge E. Alonso, and criminal defense trial lawyer Jonathan Ibañez, whose work includes legal technology and AI-based defenses. The team brings courtroom experience, prosecutorial insight, local knowledge, and modern evidence analysis to Miami-Dade assault and battery cases.
Albert Quirantes, Esq. Criminal DUI & Ticket Lawyers is located at 1815 NW 7th Street, Miami, FL 33125.
Assault usually involves an intentional threat that creates a well-founded fear of imminent violence. Battery involves intentional unwanted touching, striking, or bodily harm. You can face assault without touching anyone, and you can face battery without causing a visible injury.
Yes.
Florida’s basic battery law can apply to intentional touching or striking against another person’s will, even without a visible injury. Lack of injury may still matter when challenging the evidence, aggravated allegations, or sentencing position.
The alleged victim doesn’t have final authority to drop a criminal charge. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office decides whether to file or continue the case, although the person’s wishes and cooperation may affect that decision.
Don’t pressure anyone to change a statement or withdraw the case. That conduct can damage your defense or lead to new allegations.
Jail is legally possible for a first-degree misdemeanor battery, but it isn’t automatic in every case. The result depends on the evidence, injuries, record, relationship, release status, prosecutor, judge, defenses, and any negotiated resolution.
Possibly. The sequence matters, but the law looks at whether you reasonably believed force was necessary to defend against imminent unlawful force. Words, movement, prior threats, the parties’ size, available video, and the amount of force used can all matter.
No. Immunity may apply when the facts and law support justified force, but the court won’t dismiss a case merely because someone uses that phrase. Counsel must investigate the evidence and decide whether to seek a pretrial immunity ruling, present self-defense at trial, or pursue both as allowed.
Only the court can change the order. The other person’s consent doesn’t cancel it, and contact can lead to bond revocation or a new arrest. A lawyer can file a request and present a proposed safety plan, but the judge decides.
The underlying touching or harm may fall under the battery statute, but a qualifying family or household relationship can trigger added domestic violence procedures and consequences. Those may include a no-contact order, intervention programming, probation, firearm restrictions, and minimum jail provisions in certain cases.
It depends on the disposition, the exact offense, your complete record, and statutory exclusions. A dismissal or no-action result may support expungement in some cases, while an adjudication of guilt generally creates a major barrier. Get a case-specific eligibility review before relying on sealing or expungement.
Yes. Some assault or battery convictions can create serious immigration problems depending on the statutory subsection, factual record, relationship, sentence, and your status. Don’t enter a plea until criminal defense and immigration counsel have reviewed the proposed language and consequences.
The sooner the defense starts, the sooner your lawyer can preserve evidence, protect you from avoidable mistakes, and prepare for court.
For help from Albert Quirantes, Esq. Criminal DUI & Ticket Lawyers, call or text 305-644-1800 for a free strategy session.