Re: Florida DUI
Hello: I just read your question and the two responses. They don't answer your question. One of them just wants you to call his office...yet he's in south Fla. I'm a bit surprised one answer asked YOU if you were in an accident!?! Sorry about that.
I practice here in Jax. I used to be an assistant State Attorney and have handled defense cases for twenty years. I cannot give you a definite legal opinion on this without researching the Florida Statutes and our Florida rules of Criminal Procedure. This is a complicated question. If you are inclined, you can review Fla. Statutes on-line (Google Florida Statutes for a site).
I had a client who was in an accident and left the scene...only to be awakened a couple of hours later by the police. They took him to have a blood draw. They did not file the case for quite a while, but they were within the law when it was filed. I've had a couple of others where the facts were like yours, an accident, a blood draw and we had to wait. I try to keep in touch with whoever the Detective is. I try to get an agreement with him or her such that if the State is going to file the case, they will call me and my client and I will come to the sheriff's office and be booked AND RELEASED on ROR (released on own recognizance).
As for the State's time limits, that I would need to research. I can GUESS that if the charge is a misdemeanor, they MAY be bound by the SPEEDY TRIAL rule, which for misdemeanors is 90 days. If the charge is a felony (DUI with serious injury). The speedy trial rule is 180 days. Basically, speedy trial rules mean the State has to bring the case to trial before the time expires or the Defense can file a motion to dismiss. We usually waive speedy trial so we have more time to work on our cases and aggravate the State so they give us better deals to get us out of their hair!
The best thing to do is to find out the name of the detective assigned to the case and keep in touch with him or her. As an aside, the longer they wait, it may help your case. Evidence can get stale, witnesses may move or disappear and if it went to a jury trial, your attorney can argue the State had doubts about the case. It simply may just prejudice the case because the incident happened so long before the trial.
'Hope this helps. If my office can be of any assistance, please give us a call. Good luck. Tom Rosenblum
