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Being Arrested is Different from Being Formally Charged

By M. James Jenkins, Esq.

In Pensacola, as elsewhere in Florida, once a law enforcement agency arrests a person the paperwork is then forwarded to the State Attorney's Office (prosecutor's office) to determine what formal charges should actually be filed. An arrest by the police is not a "formal charge," it is merely an arrest based upon probable cause determined by the individual police officer. Formal charges are decided by and formally filed by the prosecutor's office. Florida Prosecutors' Offices, including Pensacola and the First Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Milton, Ft. Walton, Shalimar, Crestview and Destin, often file criminal charges without having the time to conduct a thorough investigation of the facts of a case. This is not uncommon; most prosecutors offices throughout Florida have a tremendous volume of cases and don't have unlimited investigatory resources...continue to full post

Full post as published by Florida Criminal Law Blog on April 19, 2008 (boomark / email).