In Florida, there are two court systems in operation; the State System and the Federal System. These systems work separately when dealing with criminal and civil cases. The State Court System operates at the local level and features the Municipal Court and the Justice Court. The Municipal Court is a trial court that handles minor criminal cases (misdemeanors) that involve fines, ordinance violations, and civil disputes. The Justice Court, on the other hand, mostly handles civil cases but it also deals with criminal misdemeanors.
The two State Courts operate on three levels: constitutional, statutory, and statutory probate. The constitutional level deals with misdemeanors that involve fines that are more than $500 and shorter jail sentences. The criminal cases in this level have a maximum jurisdiction of $10,000. When the maximum jurisdiction is greater (up to $1,000,000), the case moves to the statutory level. Lastly, the statutory probate level deals exclusively with probate criminal cases.
The Federal Court System
It is divided into three levels; District Court, Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. The first two courts deal with criminal cases while the Supreme Court deals with civil cases.
1. The District Court
Under the Federal System, the District Court is considered the basic trial court in Florida for criminal cases. The court handles felony criminal cases that require criminal defense. So, the criminal cases are heard at this level and the verdict is also delivered. However, appeals for the felonies are handled at the next higher court (the Court of Appeal). The exceptions are appeals for capital sentencing that are taken to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
2. The Court of Appeal
This court is often referred to as the intermediate court since it’s what stands between the District Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal or the Supreme Court. Pieces of evidence are not offered at this level and the verdict is dependent on the records provided at the District Trial Court. The court was primarily formed to save the Supreme Court from case overload. This allows the Supreme Court to concentrate on civil matters and leave criminal issues to the Court of Appeal and the Court of Criminal Appeal.
3. Court of Criminal Appeal
This is considered the highest court for criminal cases, so the verdict offered is final. The court, alongside the Supreme Court, designs the ruling procedures for capital convictions. Other than handling death sentence appeals, the court handles bail denial cases. The court features one presiding criminal judge and eight other judges. All the 9 judges are elected to serve for 6 terms. Each judge is required to be 35-74 years old and possesses a Florida license.
According to Key West lawyers, the judge should also have an experience of not less than 10 years. In the event that an elected judge does not see his or her term through, the Governor with the support of the Senate, can appoint another judge to complete the term until the next election. Between 1995 and 2000, the Court of Criminal Appeal granted at least 8 new trials for capital cases while affirmed about 270 sentences.
To take your case to the right court and prepare your defense, it’s important to know how the court system in Florida works. This because all that matters is how you manage to convince the court. Thus, it’s advisable to consult the best experts in criminal defense in Florida such as Key West lawyers to help you build a strong argument.
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