Many confession cases are decided before trial, at a hearing where the defense asks one question: where is the crime? As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I bring a former police academy instructor’s view of how interrogations are run, and I spent years in the Major Crimes Unit defending homicide, sex crime, and child abuse cases built on statements. I am also the former Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys. Our attorneys use the corpus delicti rule to test whether the State has a case without the client’s own words.

What is the corpus delicti rule in Florida?

The corpus delicti rule requires the State to prove that a crime occurred, using evidence other than the defendant’s statements, before a confession can be admitted. “Corpus delicti” is Latin for “the body of the crime.” Florida courts have applied the rule for well over a century.

The leading case is State v. Allen, 335 So. 2d 823 (Fla. 1976). Tommy Allen confessed that he was driving the car when his passenger, Curtis Black, was thrown out and killed. The Florida Supreme Court explained the purpose of the rule in one line: “no person be convicted out of derangement, mistake or official fabrication.” The State’s burden is to bring forth “substantial evidence” tending to show the commission of the crime. That proof can be circumstantial, and it does not need to be overwhelming, but it “must at least show the existence of each element of the crime.”

In Allen’s case, the Court found enough independent proof. Witnesses saw Allen get into the driver’s side minutes before the crash, and the position of Black’s body suggested he was the passenger. The confession came in.

Does the rule apply to admissions as well as full confessions?

Yes. A partial admission is treated the same as a full confession. In Burks v. State, 613 So. 2d 441 (Fla. 1993), a truck driver charged with DUI manslaughter under section 316.193, Florida Statutes, told police he was the driver. The Florida Supreme Court held that the State cannot use an admission to fill in a missing element: “The corpus delicti cannot be proven solely by a confession or admission.” Burks’s conviction stood only because other evidence, including his supervisor asking whether Burks could drive the truck away, independently put him behind the wheel.

What must the State prove before your confession comes in?

The State must show two things with independent evidence: that a harm of the type charged occurred, and that it was caused by someone’s criminal conduct. It does not have to prove who did it first. Allen held that the defendant’s identity is not a required predicate for admitting a confession.

Why do false confessions make this rule matter?

People confess to crimes they did not commit, and the numbers prove it. In 2024, the National Registry of Exonerations recorded 147 exonerations in the United States, and 22 of them (15%) involved false confessions, according to its 2024 Annual Report. Three of the 147 were Florida cases.

Legal scholarship explains how this happens. In The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-DNA World, 82 N.C. L. Rev. 891 (2004), Steven Drizin and Richard Leo studied proven false confessions and the interrogation pressures behind them. Their work is a large part of why courts and defense lawyers treat an uncorroborated confession with caution. The corpus delicti rule is the evidentiary safeguard that keeps a statement like that from standing alone. Our firm also challenges how a statement was obtained, which is a separate fight covered in our guide to fighting a false confession and in our discussion of coerced confessions and forensic psychology.

How is a corpus delicti challenge different from a motion to suppress?

A motion to suppress attacks how police got the statement; a corpus delicti objection attacks whether the State has proof of a crime apart from the statement. The two work together. A confession taken in violation of Miranda, or one that was coerced, can be suppressed even if the crime is well documented. A voluntary, properly warned confession can still be kept out if the State cannot show the crime occurred.

The issue also survives into trial. If the judge admits the confession at a pretrial hearing, our attorneys can renew the objection when the State rests and move for a judgment of acquittal if the independent evidence never filled the gap. Losing one round does not end the issue.

What is Florida’s confession-without-corpus exception in sex crimes?

Section 92.565 lets the State use a confession in certain sex abuse cases without proving the corpus delicti, but only after a judge finds the confession trustworthy. The factors the statute lists point to cases where an alleged victim, such as a very young child or a person who was asleep or incapacitated, cannot describe each element of the offense.

Under section 92.565, Florida Statutes, the exception covers charges including sexual battery under section 794.011, lewd or lascivious offenses under section 800.04, incest, child abuse or neglect involving sexual abuse, offenses under section 827.071, certain human trafficking and computer-solicitation offenses, “any other crime involving sexual abuse of another,” and attempts, solicitations, and conspiracies to commit them. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer page explains how these charges are defended from investigation through trial.

The statute sets out a specific sequence:

1. The hearing happens outside the presence of the jury.
2. The judge must first find that the State is unable to show the existence of each element of the crime. Relevant factors include whether the alleged victim was physically helpless, mentally incapacitated, physically incapacitated due to age or infirmity, or under 12 years old.
3. The State must then prove by a preponderance of the evidence that there is sufficient corroborating evidence that tends to establish the trustworthiness of the statement.
4. Hearsay is admissible at the hearing, and the court may consider all relevant corroborating evidence, including the defendant’s own statements.
5. The judge must make specific findings of fact on the record.

The statute also applies only to a “memorialized” confession or admission. Whether a statement was preserved, and how, is often the first question our attorneys ask.

Has section 92.565 survived court challenges?

Yes, so far. In State v. Dionne, 814 So. 2d 1087 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002), a man charged with sexual battery on a sleeping victim moved to suppress his confession because the State could not independently prove the crime. The trial court applied the old rule and suppressed it. The Fifth District reversed, holding that section 92.565 is a procedural rule of evidence that “merely changes the predicate” for admitting a confession. It does not lower the State’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, so it could be applied to offenses committed before it took effect.

The practical lesson from Dionne: in a covered case, the fight moves from “is there a body of the crime?” to “is this confession trustworthy?” That hearing is often where the case is won or lost.

How do our attorneys challenge trustworthiness under section 92.565?

We attack the corroboration, the recording, and the conditions of the interrogation. The statute asks whether independent evidence tends to establish that the statement is true, so we look for facts in the confession that police supplied, facts that do not match the physical evidence, and details the accused could have learned from the accusation itself.

• Contamination: Did the detective reveal key facts before the client repeated them?
• Fit with the evidence: Do the medical findings, timeline, and scene match what the statement says?
• Recording gaps: Is the full interview recorded, or only the final admission?
• Vulnerability: Age, intellectual disability, intoxication, fatigue, and mental illness all bear on reliability.
• Child hearsay overlap: When the accusation comes through a child’s out-of-court statements, we also contest those statements, as explained in our child hearsay guide.

What happens if a confession is the State’s only evidence?

If the State has nothing but the confession and no statutory exception applies, the confession should not be admitted, and without it there is no case. In practice, prosecutors usually have something: a report, an injury, a missing item, a witness. The question is whether that independent evidence shows each element. A charge with a missing element, such as no proof that property was taken without consent, is where the rule does the most work.

Why should you call a lawyer before you are charged?

The strongest corpus delicti defense is a statement that was never made. If detectives want to “clear things up,” you may already be a suspect; our post on the signs you are being investigated covers the warning signs. Our firm offers representation before charges are filed, which can include speaking with detectives for you and presenting information to prosecutors before a filing decision. In Hillsborough County, felony charging decisions are made by the State Attorney’s Office for the 13th Judicial Circuit, and early contact with that office can shape what gets filed.

Frequently asked questions

Can I be convicted in Florida if my confession is the only evidence?

Generally no. Florida requires independent evidence that a crime occurred before a confession can be admitted, unless a statutory exception like section 92.565 applies and a judge finds the statement trustworthy. The Brancato Law Firm reviews the State’s evidence element by element to find what is missing before any trial date is set.

Does the State have to prove I am the person who committed the crime before using my confession?

No. Under State v. Allen, the State must independently show that a crime occurred, but it does not have to independently prove the defendant’s identity before the confession comes in. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm still hold the State to proof beyond a reasonable doubt on identity at trial.

What is a section 92.565 hearing?

It is a hearing outside the jury’s presence where a judge decides whether the State can use a memorialized confession in a covered sex abuse case without proving the corpus delicti. The Brancato Law Firm prepares for these hearings by comparing every detail of the statement against the medical, digital, and witness evidence, and our sex crimes defense attorneys treat that hearing as a trial before the trial.

Does corpus delicti apply in DUI manslaughter cases?

Yes. Burks v. State was a DUI manslaughter case, and the Florida Supreme Court held that the State could not use the defendant’s admission that he was driving to supply a missing element. At The Brancato Law Firm, we examine crash scene evidence, witness timelines, and vehicle data in fatal crash cases to test whether driving can be shown without the statement.

Is corpus delicti the same as a false confession defense?

No. Corpus delicti asks whether there is independent proof of a crime; a false confession defense asks whether the statement is reliable or voluntary. The Brancato Law Firm often raises both, and our team works with forensic psychologists when interrogation tactics are at issue, as described in our guide to fighting a false confession.

Should I talk to detectives to explain my side?

Not without a lawyer. A statement made to “explain” can become the admission that fills a gap in the State’s evidence. The Brancato Law Firm can speak with detectives for you through our pre-file advocacy work.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our stage-by-stage guide to the Florida criminal case process.

Talk to our attorneys about your statement

If detectives have your statement, the next step is finding out what the State can prove without it. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 before your first court date; call us at any hour. Our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking criminal defense clients in Tampa. For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

A judge will strike a sexual predator designation only when the court file itself shows the person did not qualify, so the case is won or lost on a close reading of the judgment, the plea, and the statute in effect on the offense date. I learned to read sex crime files that way in the Major Crimes Unit, handling sex crime, homicide, and child abuse prosecutions, and I have spent more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms since. As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I have seen clients carry the predator label for years because no one checked whether it applied. Our attorneys review the record, file the motion, and present the legal error to the prosecutor and the court.

What is a sexual predator designation in Florida?

A sexual predator designation is a written finding by the sentencing court that a person meets the criteria of the Florida Sexual Predators Act, section 775.21, Florida Statutes. For an offense committed on or after October 1, 1993, the statute says a qualifying offender “shall be designated” a sexual predator, and the sentencing court must make a written finding at sentencing. The clerk sends the order to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) within 48 hours.

The designation is not part of the sentence. Florida courts treat it as a regulatory status that follows from the conviction. In Alvarez v. State, 345 So. 3d 378 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022), the defendant argued that the trial court could not enter a predator finding after sentencing while his appeal was pending. The Third District disagreed, holding that the designation is “neither a sentence nor a punishment but simply a status resulting from the conviction of certain crimes,” so the late finding did not violate double jeopardy or due process.

The registry is large. As of October 2024, FDLE’s registry listed 86,207 sexual offenders and predators, including 16,246 sexual predators, according to the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability in its Sex Offender Registration and Monitoring Triennial Review (Report 24-11, December 2024). Only 30,907 of the people on the registry, or 36%, lived in Florida communities; the rest were confined or living outside the state. In Hillsborough County, 1,999 registrants lived in the community in 2024, the same report found.

Who qualifies as a sexual predator under Florida law?

A person convicted in Florida qualifies as a sexual predator in one of two main ways: a single conviction for a capital, life, or first-degree felony version of certain sex offenses, or a felony conviction for a listed sex offense combined with a prior qualifying conviction. The table below summarizes section 775.21(4)(a).

The gap between the first and second rows is where most mistakes happen. A first-time conviction for a second- or third-degree felony, such as a second-degree lewd or lascivious offense or unlawful sexual activity with certain minors under section 794.05, generally does not make someone a sexual predator. Those convictions usually lead to sexual offender registration instead. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team checks the degree of the offense, the offense date, and the prior record against the version of the statute that applied.

What is the difference between a sexual predator and a sexual offender in Florida?

A sexual predator is designated by court order under section 775.21 and registers for life with mandatory community notification, while a sexual offender registers under section 943.0435, Florida Statutes and, in some cases, can petition for removal after 25 years. Both carry heavy reporting duties, and a failure to register is generally a third-degree felony for either.

Residence limits depend on the offense, not the label. Under section 775.215, Florida Statutes, a person convicted of sexual battery, lewd or lascivious offenses, sexual performance by a child, or certain related offenses against a victim under 16, even with adjudication withheld, may not live within 1,000 feet of a school, child care facility, park, or playground. For offenses on or after July 1, 2026, and for covered people who change their permanent residence on or after that date, public swimming pools were added to that list. For the full registration rules, see our guide to sex offender registration in Florida.

Research has questioned what those restrictions achieve. In The Impact of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions: 1,000 Feet From Danger or One Step From Absurd?, 49 Int’l J. Offender Therapy & Comp. Criminology 168 (2005), Jill Levenson and Leo Cotter surveyed 135 sex offenders in outpatient treatment in Florida. A majority reported that the restrictions increased their isolation, forced moves, and created financial and emotional stress, and most did not believe the restrictions would reduce their chances of reoffending.

How do wrongful sexual predator designations happen?

Wrongful designations usually happen at a plea or sentencing hearing where no one compares the conviction to the statute. A form is checked, the court signs the order, and every agency after that enforces what the paper says.

1. The offense does not qualify. The conviction is a second- or third-degree felony with no qualifying prior, but the predator box is checked anyway.
2. The prior does not count. The statute requires a separate earlier conviction that was separately sentenced. Two counts sentenced on the same day are not a prior.
3. A plea negotiation overreaches. The designation is added to a plea form without analysis of whether it applies.
4. No one downstream checks. FDLE registers the person as the order directs, and probation officers supervise the terms of the judgment. Neither agency decides whether the designation was legally correct.

That last point is why these errors last. In our firm’s experience in Hillsborough County cases, a probation officer or registration deputy who suspects a mistake has no authority to fix it; only a court order changes the designation. Until a lawyer files the right motion, the label stays on the registry.

How do you remove a sexual predator designation in Florida?

You remove a wrongful sexual predator designation by filing a motion in the sentencing court showing, from the court record, that the person did not meet the statutory criteria. The Florida Supreme Court approved that route in Saintelien v. State, 990 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 2008). Saintelien had pleaded to two counts of attempted sexual battery on a child under 12 and argued that the designation went beyond his plea deal. The court held that a defendant may challenge a sexual predator designation with a rule 3.800(a) motion to correct an illegal sentence, but only “where it is apparent from the face of the record that the defendant did not meet the criteria.” Because Saintelien did meet the criteria, his motion failed.

Two things decide most of these motions. The first is the record: the judgment, the charging document, the plea form, the sentencing transcript, and certified copies of any prior conviction. If the error shows on those papers, rule 3.800(a) can be filed at any time. The second is the plea. In Kingry v. State, 28 So. 3d 173 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010), a defendant claimed he did not qualify, but the record showed he had agreed to the designation as part of his plea bargain. The First District held that because the designation is a status rather than a sentence, a defendant who accepted the benefits of the bargain could not later escape it. The Second District repeated that point in Contreras-Garcia v. State, 95 So. 3d 993 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), noting that a defendant may agree to the designation as part of a plea even if the conviction does not qualify under the statute.

The Romeo and Juliet law covers sexual predators as well as sexual offenders. Section 943.04354 applies only to convictions under the lewd or lascivious, sexual performance by a child, or section 847.0135(5) statutes, and only when the person has no other conviction under the listed sex offense statutes. Our posts on Romeo and Juliet registry removal and on court errors in registry removal cases go deeper.

What results has our firm obtained in sexual predator designation cases?

Our firm has removed wrongful sexual predator designations for clients who lived under them for years. These results come from our firm’s published case reports.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. These cases also show a pattern our attorneys see often: when the legal error is laid out clearly, prosecutors in the 13th Judicial Circuit will agree to correct it, which can make a contested hearing unnecessary.

Can you avoid a sexual predator designation before sentencing?

Yes, and that is the best time to deal with it. Once a qualifying conviction exists, the statute makes the designation mandatory, so prevention happens in the charging decision and the plea. A defense lawyer can work to keep the case out of the first-degree felony range, negotiate a plea to an offense that does not qualify, and make sure the plea form and judgment say exactly what was agreed.

If you are under investigation and not yet charged, our firm’s representation before charges are filed can address the charge itself, which controls whether the designation is even possible. Our post on withheld adjudication and sex offender registration explains how a withhold of adjudication affects registration.

Frequently asked questions

Is a sexual predator designation part of my sentence in Florida?

No. Florida courts treat the designation as a regulatory status that results from the conviction, not as a sentence or punishment, as the Third District held in Alvarez v. State. The Brancato Law Firm uses that distinction when it reviews a client’s file, because it controls which motion can be filed and whether a plea agreement blocks relief.

Can a court add a sexual predator designation after sentencing?

Yes, a court can enter a predator finding after sentencing when the person meets the statutory criteria, as happened in Alvarez. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm review whether a late designation actually rests on a qualifying conviction and prior record, because a late order is still subject to the same legal criteria.

Will FDLE remove the designation if I show them it is wrong?

No. FDLE registers people according to the court’s order and does not decide whether the designation was legally correct, so the fix has to come from the sentencing court. The Brancato Law Firm files the motion in the court that entered the designation and, where the error is clear, asks the State Attorney’s Office to agree to the correction.

Can a second-degree lewd or lascivious conviction make me a sexual predator?

Not by itself. Under section 775.21(4)(a), a second-degree felony on the listed statutes qualifies only when the person also has a separate prior conviction for a listed sex offense. Our sex crimes defense attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm check the degree of each conviction and the dates and sentencing of any prior before advising whether a designation can be challenged.

Does the Romeo and Juliet law apply to sexual predators?

Yes. Section 943.04354 allows a sexual predator or sexual offender to seek removal of the registration requirement if the conviction was for one of the listed offenses, the victim was 13 to 17, the person was no more than 4 years older, and registration rests solely on that conviction. The Brancato Law Firm prepares these motions with the proof of age and consent the statute and federal law require.

I was removed from the registry in another state. Do I have to register in Florida?

Possibly. Florida applies its own criteria to out-of-state convictions, so a person who no longer registers elsewhere can still be required to register here. Before moving, read our post on moving to Florida after registry removal in another state, and talk with our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm about how FDLE is likely to classify your conviction.

Have your designation reviewed by our attorneys

Pull together your judgment and plea paperwork and call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. at (813) 727-7159; every year under a wrongful predator label means more notifications, more registration deadlines, and more felony exposure for a missed report. Our firm was founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, and our attorneys review the court record to tell you whether the designation can be challenged. Call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

Most adult sexual battery trials are not about whether sex happened. They are about whether it was consensual, and the jury decides that from texts, timelines, witnesses, and the two people’s accounts. I learned how those trials are won in the Major Crimes Unit, defending sex crimes and homicide cases, and I have tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict since. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and our attorneys build consent defenses the way juries actually evaluate them: from the evidence of what happened before, during, and after the encounter.

Is consent a defense to sexual battery in Florida?

Yes, for adults. Under section 794.011, Florida Statutes, sexual battery on a person 18 or older requires proof that the act was “without that person’s consent.” When the defense is consent, the State carries the burden of proving lack of consent beyond a reasonable doubt; the accused does not have to prove consent. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team builds that reasonable doubt from the evidence.

The statute defines consent as “intelligent, knowing, and voluntary consent” that “does not include coerced submission,” and it adds that consent shall not be construed to mean “the failure by the alleged victim to offer physical resistance.” In plain English: silence or no struggle is not proof of consent, but it is not proof of non-consent either. The jury looks at the whole picture.

Is believing the other person consented a defense in Florida?

No, not by itself. In Statler v. State, 349 So. 3d 873 (Fla. 2022), an Alachua County man convicted of sexual battery argued the State should have to prove he knew or should have known the woman did not consent. The Florida Supreme Court disagreed. It held that sexual battery is a general intent crime: the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant did not in fact consent, but not what the accused knew about her state of mind.

The same opinion explains why consent defenses still work. The Court said consent is an objective question decided from “what the complainant said and did,” so the jury asks whether the evidence proves the accused “did not have a willing partner.” That is where our attorneys focus: on the words, messages, and conduct a reasonable person would read as agreement.

When is consent not a defense?

Consent is legally impossible or irrelevant in several situations, and a consent defense will not work in them.

For age-based charges, see our posts on the age of consent in Florida and on why not knowing someone’s age is not a defense. The degrees and penalties for each form of the offense are set out in our guide to what sexual battery is in Florida.

What happens when alcohol is involved?

Alcohol is present in a large share of these cases. Antonia Abbey’s review in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Supplement No. 14, 2002) found that at least half of sexual assaults among college students involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, the alleged victim, or both. Drinking does not by itself erase consent under Florida law, but heavy intoxication is often the center of the State’s case.

Florida’s statute treats voluntary and involuntary intoxication differently. In Amelio v. State, 253 So. 3d 1150 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018), a Broward County jury heard an instruction on “mental incapacity” even though the woman had voluntarily drunk at several bars and nothing showed a substance was given to her without her consent. The Fourth District reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial, holding that the statutory definition of mental incapacity covers involuntary intoxication, not voluntary drinking.

Heavy voluntary intoxication can still support a conviction on other grounds. In Fogarty v. State, 403 So. 3d 1026 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024), a Bay County case, neither the defendant nor the woman remembered sex, but the defendant admitted carrying her to a couch after she passed out, and DNA was found later. The First District held a jury could infer she was too drunk to give “intelligent, knowing, and voluntary consent” and was unconscious, and it affirmed. Together the two cases show where the fight is: the defense contests whether the State has proof of incapacity or helplessness at the moment of the act, not just proof of drinking.

How often are these cases reported and prosecuted?

The Bureau of Justice Statistics report Criminal Victimization, 2023 estimated 481,020 rape or sexual assault victimizations nationwide in 2023 and found that 46.0% were reported to police. Locally, the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research Circuit 13 profile reports 155 new prison commitments for sexual or lewd behavior from the 13th Judicial Circuit in 2025. Our attorneys treat every sexual battery accusation as a case that can end in prison and lifetime registration, because many do.

What evidence supports a consent defense?

A consent defense is built from evidence, not from the accused’s word alone. These are the sources our attorneys collect first:

• Messages before and after the encounter. Texts, dating-app chats, and social media messages often show planning, mutual interest, or a friendly tone afterward.
• Timeline evidence. Ride-share receipts, door cameras, bar tabs, and phone location data show how much time passed and how each person was acting.
• Witnesses. Friends, bartenders, and roommates can describe the alleged victim’s condition and conduct, which bears on capacity.
• Forensic findings. A SANE exam that shows no injury does not prove consent, but it can rebut a claim of force.
• Motive and prior statements. Changed accounts and reasons to fabricate are proper subjects of cross-examination, within the limits of Florida’s rape shield law.

Consent defenses do win at trial. In one sexual battery case, Rocky Brancato persuaded a jury that an encounter between a man and a woman in a van in Ybor City was consensual; the defense showed the two were interrupted and that the woman was embarrassed, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty of sexual battery. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

What should you do if you are accused?

Do not contact the accuser and do not agree to a recorded “controlled call,” which detectives often arrange through the accuser before an arrest. Do not delete messages; deleted messages look like consciousness of guilt and they are often the best consent evidence. Call a lawyer who offers representation before charges are filed, because many sexual battery cases are investigated for weeks before a warrant issues.

Frequently asked questions

Can you consent to sex while drunk in Florida?

Yes, a person who has been drinking can still consent, because Florida’s definition of mental incapacity covers substances given without the person’s consent, as the court held in Amelio v. State. The Brancato Law Firm focuses these cases on whether the State can prove the person was helpless or unable to give intelligent, knowing, and voluntary consent at the time.

Is an honest belief in consent a defense to sexual battery in Florida?

No. Under Statler v. State, the State does not have to prove the accused knew there was no consent, so a belief alone is not a defense. The Brancato Law Firm instead puts the complainant’s own words and conduct in front of the jury, because that evidence decides whether the State has proved lack of consent.

Is a lack of resistance proof of consent in Florida?

No. Section 794.011(1)(a) states that consent shall not be construed to mean the alleged victim’s failure to physically resist. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build consent defenses from affirmative evidence such as messages, conduct, and timeline records rather than from the absence of a struggle.

Can a sexual battery charge be dropped if the accuser recants in Florida?

A recantation does not automatically end the case, because the State Attorney’s Office decides whether to prosecute and can proceed with other evidence. The Brancato Law Firm presents recantations and supporting evidence to prosecutors through pre-file advocacy or a motion to dismiss when the facts support it.

Can my past relationship with the accuser be used to show consent?

Sometimes. Florida’s rape shield law generally bars evidence of the accuser’s sexual history, but it allows evidence of prior consensual activity with the accused when it is relevant to consent. The Brancato Law Firm litigates that evidence before trial so the jury can hear it; our sex crimes defense practice handles these motions regularly.

Is consent a defense if the other person was 16 or 17?

No, if the accused was 24 or older, because section 794.05 does not require proof of non-consent. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm explain the age bands in our post on unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Talk to a Tampa sexual battery defense attorney

Messages get deleted, cameras overwrite footage, and witnesses forget within weeks, so the first move is to lock down the evidence of consent. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159, and call us at any hour if a detective has contacted you. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers facing criminal charges. For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

A prosecutor in an underage sex case does not have to prove the accused knew the other person’s age. The State proves the act and the birth date, and the case is largely made. That is why the defense has to start somewhere else. As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I defended these cases in the Major Crimes Unit, which handled sex crimes and child abuse, and I have spent more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms. Our attorneys focus on what still moves a case when mistake of age is off the table: the charge, the evidence of the act, the ages, and the facts a prosecutor weighs before filing.

Is “I didn’t know their age” a defense to a sex crime in Florida?

No. Section 794.021, Florida Statutes, provides that when a crime in chapter 794 depends on the alleged victim being under a certain age, “ignorance of the age is no defense,” and neither is the minor’s misrepresentation of age or the accused’s good-faith belief that the person was older. Section 800.04(3), Florida Statutes, applies the same rule to lewd or lascivious offenses involving a person under 16. Florida law treats these as strict liability offenses as to age.

A fake ID, an adult dating profile, a bar wristband, or a direct statement such as “I’m 19” does not change the legal result at trial. The jury will be instructed that the defendant’s belief about age is not a defense.

What have Florida courts said about mistake of age?

Florida courts have enforced the rule as written. In Hodge v. State, 866 So. 2d 1270 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004), a man convicted of sexual activity with a 17-year-old under section 794.05 asked the judge to instruct the jury that the State had to prove he knew she was underage. The Fourth District held the offense is strict liability, that he “could not defend on his lack of criminal intent or mistake of age,” and affirmed.

Two years later, in Feliciano v. State, 937 So. 2d 818 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006), a 26-year-old convicted under the same statute argued that punishing him without proof he knew the girl’s age violated due process. The First District rejected the challenge, holding that Florida has long treated statutory rape as a strict liability crime and that the Legislature “left no doubt” about it. The takeaway is plain: a constitutional attack on section 794.021 is not a realistic defense in a Florida trial court.

Not everyone agrees the rule is wise. Professor Catherine L. Carpenter argued in “On Statutory Rape, Strict Liability, and the Public Welfare Offense Model,” 53 American University Law Review 313 (2003), that courts should allow a reasonable mistake-of-age defense. That debate has not changed Florida law, but it explains why prosecutors and judges sometimes treat a well-documented, reasonable mistake as a reason for leniency.

How common are these cases, and who are the accused?

Most statutory rape cases involve people who know each other. An Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention study of 2000 FBI NIBRS data (Troup-Leasure and Snyder, published 2005) found that 29% of statutory rape offenders were boyfriends or girlfriends and 62% were acquaintances. Those are exactly the relationships where a person may honestly misjudge an age, and exactly the cases where section 794.021 removes that argument.

The stakes are high in our circuit. The Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research Circuit 13 profile reports 155 new prison commitments for sexual or lewd behavior from the 13th Judicial Circuit in 2025, a 23.9% increase over 2024. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team uses every tool before trial because a conviction in these cases so often means prison and registration.

If mistake of age is not a defense, how do our attorneys fight these charges?

We challenge the elements the State still has to prove and we work the charging decision. Mistake of age removes one argument; it does not relieve the State of proving every other element beyond a reasonable doubt.

1. Proof the act happened. Many cases rest on one person’s account. We test it against phone records, location data, messages, and prior statements.
2. Proof of age. The State must prove the actual age with competent evidence, and the exact age decides which statute applies and which degree of felony.
3. The right statute. A 23-year-old with a 17-year-old does not violate section 794.05 at all, because that statute starts at age 24. Our post on the unlawful sexual activity with a minor statute explains the age bands.
4. Suppression issues. Statements taken without proper warnings and phone searches without a valid warrant or consent can be challenged with a motion to suppress.
5. Pre-file advocacy. Before charges are filed, we can present the prosecutor with evidence of the circumstances, including the minor’s own representations.

Evidence of a minor’s misrepresentation does not win at trial, but it can change outcomes before trial. In one case, Rocky Brancato uncovered the complainant’s extensive online presence showing that she consistently misrepresented her age and had given different accounts of her story; when that evidence was presented to the prosecution, the charges were dismissed. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

How is this different from Florida’s age of consent?

The age of consent sets who can legally agree to sex; section 794.021 says what happens when someone gets that age wrong. Florida’s general age of consent is 18, with exceptions for 16- and 17-year-olds whose partner is under 24. Our guide to the age of consent in Florida walks through those age bands, and our post on the consent defense in Florida sex crimes cases explains why a minor’s agreement is never a defense under section 800.04(2).

Does the rule work differently in online sting cases?

Yes. Online solicitation and traveling to meet a minor under section 847.0135, Florida Statutes, cover contact with “a child or another person believed by the person to be a child.” In a sting, the “minor” is usually an adult detective, so the case turns on what the accused believed. Evidence that the accused thought he was talking to an adult can be a real defense in those cases, along with the way the sting was run. That is the opposite of the rule for in-person offenses.

What should you do if you are under investigation?

Do not contact the alleged victim, the family, or the detective, and do not explain what you believed about the person’s age. Those explanations admit the act, which is often the harder element for the State to prove. Call a lawyer who offers representation before charges are filed, preserve your phone and accounts without deleting anything, and let counsel decide what, if anything, goes to the State Attorney’s Office.

Frequently asked questions

What if the minor showed me a fake ID in Florida?

A fake ID is not a defense at trial under section 794.021, which expressly rejects a minor’s misrepresentation of age as a defense. The Brancato Law Firm can still use that evidence with prosecutors when it is documented and credible, which can affect the charge or the plea offer.

Can a reasonable belief that someone was 18 reduce my sentence in Florida?

It can be part of the mitigation picture, but it does not create a legal defense. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm present the circumstances, the age gap, and the client’s background through our sex crimes defense practice when arguing for a lower sentence or a downward departure.

Is mistake of age a defense to lewd or lascivious battery in Florida?

No. Section 800.04(3) bars the defendant’s ignorance of the alleged victim’s age, the alleged victim’s misrepresentation, and a bona fide belief about age as defenses. The Brancato Law Firm focuses these defenses on whether the act occurred and whether the State can prove the specific elements charged.

Can statutory rape charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes. Charges can be dropped when the evidence of the act is weak, the ages do not fit the statute charged, or the complainant’s account changes. Before a case is filed, The Brancato Law Firm presents evidence to the State Attorney’s Office through pre-file advocacy in an effort to stop the charge.

Does Florida have a close-in-age exception?

Florida has no general close-in-age defense, but age gaps matter in two ways: section 794.05 applies only to accused persons 24 or older with a 16- or 17-year-old, and section 943.04354 allows some young people to seek removal from registration. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm explain both in our guide to registry removal.

Talk to a Tampa sex crimes defense attorney

What you say in the first days of an investigation can decide whether a mistaken belief about age ever gets heard by a prosecutor. Our attorneys will review the evidence, the ages, and the statute before anyone speaks to the detective. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159; you can call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for criminal defense in Spanish and Haitian Creole in Tampa. For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

If your son or daughter has been charged with a sex offense in juvenile court, the question that keeps you up at night is usually the registry. The answer is often no, but it turns on details most families never hear about until disposition. I’m the founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I spent years in the Major Crimes Unit handling sex crimes and child abuse cases before leading the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office as its former Chief Operations Officer, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys. Our attorneys defend juvenile sex cases with one goal set from day one: keep the case off the list of offenses that trigger registration.

When does a juvenile have to register as a sex offender in Florida?

A juvenile must register only when three things are true: the child was 14 or older when the offense happened, the court adjudicated the child delinquent (rather than withholding adjudication or diverting the case), and the offense is one of the qualifying offenses in section 943.0435(1)(h)1.d., Florida Statutes. If any one of those is missing, Florida law does not require juvenile registration. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team starts every juvenile case by mapping the charge against that statute.

The judge must also make written findings. For every qualifying offense the court records the child’s age at the time of the offense. For lewd or lascivious offenses, the court must also record the alleged victim’s age and whether the conduct involved sexual activity, force or coercion, or unclothed genitals. Those written findings, not the label on the charge, decide registration.

Do the judge’s written findings really decide registration?

Yes. Florida appellate courts reverse registration orders when the findings do not match the statute. In M.B. v. State, 159 So. 3d 960 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015), a 14-year-old was adjudicated delinquent of four counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of children under 12, and the trial court ordered him to register anyway. The trial judge had expressly found that the touching was over clothing. The Fifth District reversed, holding that registration for that offense requires a finding of unclothed genitals, and the State conceded the error.

The same findings can be made later, which is the trap families miss. In D.S. v. State, 267 So. 3d 414 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019), a 15-year-old from Indian River County was on juvenile probation for lewd or lascivious molestation. After he violated probation, a second judge found that the molestation involved unclothed genitals and imposed registration. The Fourth District affirmed, holding that nothing in the statute limits those findings to the original disposition judge. The lesson for parents: a probation violation can reopen the registration question, so compliance with juvenile probation protects more than just the probation itself.

How many juvenile cases does the 13th Judicial Circuit handle?

The 13th Judicial Circuit, which covers Hillsborough County, had 2,472 juvenile delinquency complaints filed in fiscal year 2024-25, according to the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research Circuit 13 profile. The same report shows that 43 juveniles in the circuit were direct filed to adult court that year. Direct filing matters for registration: a teenager prosecuted as an adult faces a criminal conviction rather than a juvenile adjudication, and adult sex offense convictions carry broader registration rules.

Research also cuts against the idea that most teenagers who commit a sex offense will do it again. A meta-analysis by Michael Caldwell, “Quantifying the Decline in Juvenile Sexual Recidivism Rates,” published in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law in 2016, pooled 106 studies covering 33,783 youths and found a weighted average sexual recidivism rate of 2.75% in studies conducted from 2000 to 2015. Our attorneys use findings like these, together with a credible treatment provider, when we argue for a disposition that avoids adjudication on a qualifying offense.

What should parents do first after a juvenile sex charge?

Parents should stop all contact with investigators and call a defense lawyer before the child gives any statement. Many juvenile sex cases begin with a Child Protection Team interview, a school report, or a detective’s call to the home, before any charge is filed. Our representation before charges are filed focuses on that window, when the State has not yet chosen which statute to charge.

1. Do not let your child talk to police or school investigators without a lawyer. Statements often supply the “force” or “unclothed” facts that turn a non-registrable charge into a registrable one.
2. Save the digital record. Phones, messages, and social media accounts can show ages, timelines, and context. Do not delete anything.
3. Ask about the exact statute subsection. The difference between section 800.04(5)(c)1. and 800.04(5)(c)2. can decide registration.
4. Choose a treatment evaluator with your lawyer. A credible provider helps at disposition, but an evaluation done without counsel can create admissions.
5. Plan for disposition early. Withheld adjudication, diversion, or a plea to a non-qualifying offense all avoid juvenile registration, and each has to be negotiated before the disposition hearing.

Can a juvenile avoid registration through the Romeo and Juliet law?

Sometimes. Section 943.04354, Florida Statutes, lets a person convicted or adjudicated delinquent of a lewd or lascivious offense under section 800.04 move the court to remove the registration requirement if the alleged victim was 13 to 17 and the accused was not more than 4 years older. The person cannot have any other conviction or adjudication for sexual battery or the other listed offenses, and the State Attorney and FDLE must get notice at least 21 days before the hearing.

The court can rule on the motion at sentencing or disposition. That timing matters: if the motion is denied, the statute does not allow a second motion. Our attorneys build the record for that hearing, including the ages and the nature of the relationship, before the child ever enters a plea. Sexual battery adjudications under section 794.011 do not qualify for this relief.

What does a registered juvenile have to do?

A juvenile who must register faces the same core duties as an adult registrant, plus reporting to the Department of Juvenile Justice. A child on DJJ supervision who is not committed must register with DJJ within 3 business days after adjudication and disposition under section 985.4815, Florida Statutes, and must also register with the sheriff under section 943.0435. Our guide to what sex offender registration in Florida requires covers the 48-hour reporting deadlines, the driver license step, and re-registration in detail.

Families should treat every deadline as a criminal deadline. A missed address update or re-registration is a new felony under section 943.0435(9), and a teenager who moves between parents’ homes is especially at risk of missing one. The Brancato Law Firm helps families build a written compliance calendar the day registration is ordered.

How long does juvenile sex offender registration last in Florida?

Registration under section 943.0435 lasts for life unless the person qualifies for removal. The statute lists three exits: a full pardon or an adjudication set aside in postconviction proceedings, the Romeo and Juliet motion, or a petition after 25 years.

The 25-year petition excludes people whose registration rests on an adult conviction for sexual battery and several other offenses, but the statute words that exclusion in terms of adult convictions. How that applies to a juvenile adjudication is a question for counsel when the time comes. Our posts on getting off the Florida sex offender registry, whether a withhold of adjudication avoids the registry, and moving to Florida after registry removal in another state explain each path.

Frequently asked questions

Does a juvenile have to register for lewd or lascivious molestation over clothing?

No. Florida’s juvenile registration rule for lewd or lascivious molestation under section 800.04(5)(c)1. applies only when the court finds the molestation involved unclothed genitals, as the court held in M.B. v. State. The Brancato Law Firm contests that finding at disposition because it alone can decide whether a child registers.

Is a 13-year-old ever required to register as a sex offender in Florida?

No, not through a juvenile adjudication. Section 943.0435 requires juvenile registration only when the child was 14 or older at the time of the offense. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm still treat these cases seriously because DCF involvement, school discipline, and treatment orders can follow a younger child.

Can a juvenile sex case in Hillsborough County be moved to adult court?

Yes. Prosecutors can direct file some teenagers in adult court, and 43 juveniles in the 13th Judicial Circuit were direct filed in fiscal year 2024-25. The Brancato Law Firm works to keep a child’s case in juvenile court, where a defense team experienced in sex crimes can pursue outcomes that do not carry adult registration rules.

Can juvenile sex offense charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes. Charges can be dropped or reduced when the evidence does not support the statute charged, the statement was improperly obtained, or the facts fit a non-registrable offense. Before a petition is filed, The Brancato Law Firm presents the State Attorney’s Office with evidence through pre-file advocacy to change the charging decision.

Does a juvenile sex offender registration show up on the public registry?

Yes. A juvenile who meets the registration criteria is listed with FDLE like any other registrant, which is why preventing a qualifying adjudication matters so much. The Brancato Law Firm explains the public consequences to families before any plea so the decision is an informed one.

What happens if my child violates juvenile probation in a sex case?

A violation can lead to a new disposition, and the judge at that hearing can make the findings that trigger registration, as happened in D.S. v. State. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm defend probation violations with that risk in mind and push for alternatives to a new adjudication.

Talk to a Tampa juvenile sex crimes defense attorney

The disposition hearing is where registration is decided, and the work to prepare for it begins weeks earlier. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 before your child speaks with investigators or enters a plea. You can call us at any hour, and our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients. For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

If your child is facing a sex charge in Hillsborough County juvenile court, the first question is usually whether the case can end without registration. I’m the founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I handled sex crimes and child abuse cases in the Major Crimes Unit during more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms. Our attorneys negotiate Rehabilitation Plans when they are available and work with therapists, probation officers, and the court to help children complete them.

What is a Rehabilitation Plan?

A Rehabilitation Plan is an agreement between the defense, the State, and the court in a juvenile sex case. The child enters a plea of guilty or no contest, but the plea is held in abeyance, meaning the court does not act on it, while the child completes treatment and follows strict conditions.

This all-or-nothing structure is why the plea terms, the treatment provider, and the conditions need careful attention from the start. Our Tampa sex crimes defense attorney page explains how our firm approaches sex charges at every stage.

How long does a Rehabilitation Plan last?

Most Rehabilitation Plans last 9 to 12 months in practice, but they have no fixed end date. A plan ends only when treatment is complete and the supervising therapist confirms progress, so the therapist’s evaluation carries great weight. Florida law lets the juvenile court keep jurisdiction over a juvenile sexual offender placed in a community-based treatment program until age 21, specifically so the child can finish the program, under section 985.0301, Florida Statutes.

What conditions come with a Rehabilitation Plan?

The conditions vary with the case, but they usually include:

• Active participation in sex-offender-specific counseling and treatment
• No contact with the alleged victim or other vulnerable people
• Restrictions on internet use, pornography, and social media
• Random device checks by probation officers
• Community service or restitution in some cases
• Curfews and school or work requirements

Every plan is tailored to the child and the allegations. Treatment research gives families a reason for hope: a 2010 meta-analysis of 63 studies covering 11,219 juveniles who committed sexual offenses found a weighted mean sexual recidivism rate of 7 percent over an average follow-up of 59 months, according to the U.S. Department of Justice SMART Office’s Sex Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative. The same report states that most juveniles do not go on to commit future sexual offenses.

How does a Rehabilitation Plan help avoid sex offender registration?

A Rehabilitation Plan helps because registration for juveniles depends on an adjudication of delinquency, and a completed plan ends in dismissal instead. Under section 943.0435, Florida Statutes, a juvenile must register as a sexual offender if adjudicated delinquent for certain offenses committed when he or she was 14 or older, and the court must make a written finding of the child’s age at the time of the offense.

Registration brings lasting restrictions on housing, work, school, and family life. Completing the plan avoids the adjudication, so registration is avoided. If the plan is violated and the child is adjudicated on a qualifying offense, registration can still apply. Our post on sexual offender and predator designation explains what registration involves.

Can the record be expunged after a Rehabilitation Plan?

Sometimes. Like other diversion outcomes, a completed plan can open the door to juvenile expungement, which removes the record from public view. Some sex offenses are not eligible for expunction under Florida law even after a successful plan, so eligibility depends on the offense and must be reviewed before applying. Our post on juvenile expungement in Florida walks through the process.

Why does experienced counsel matter in a Rehabilitation Plan case?

Experienced counsel matters because a Rehabilitation Plan is treatment-focused, open-ended, and closely monitored, and one violation can lead to sentencing. Availability depends on the charge, the child’s age, and the facts, and the plan is negotiated with the State Attorney’s Office in the 13th Judicial Circuit. Our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorneys practice two blocks from the courthouse and know how these plans are structured locally.

When a child is under investigation and has not yet been charged, our attorneys can step in early through representation before charges are filed, before statements are made or a petition is filed.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a Hillsborough County Rehabilitation Plan usually take?

Most plans last 9 to 12 months, but they stay open until treatment is complete. The Brancato Law Firm stays in contact with the treating therapist so the court has the progress reports it needs to close the plan.

Who decides when a Rehabilitation Plan ends?

The court ends the plan, and it usually will not do so without the treating therapist’s recommendation. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm present that recommendation to the court and ask for dismissal once treatment is done.

What happens if my child violates a Rehabilitation Plan?

The court can enter the plea held in abeyance, adjudicate the child delinquent, and impose a sentence. The Brancato Law Firm defends violation allegations and works to keep the plan in place when a violation is minor, as described on our Tampa sex crimes lawyer page.

Does a Rehabilitation Plan guarantee my child will not have to register?

No. Registration is avoided only if the plan is completed, and a violation followed by an adjudication on a qualifying offense can still require registration under section 943.0435. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm review the registration rules for the specific charge before any plea is entered.

Is every juvenile eligible for a Rehabilitation Plan?

No. Eligibility depends on the charges, the child’s age, and the circumstances, and the State must agree. The Brancato Law Firm builds the case for a plan with treatment evaluations and school and family records, and our juvenile expungement guide covers what can happen to the record afterward.

Talk to our attorneys about a Rehabilitation Plan

What your family does in the first weeks after a juvenile sex charge often decides whether a Rehabilitation Plan is still on the table. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 at any hour for a confidential consultation; our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

In a sexual battery case that comes down to one person’s word against another’s, some of the most important rulings happen before a jury is seated, when the judge decides what the jury will be allowed to hear about the accuser. I learned how those cases are built as a Major Crimes Unit attorney handling sex crime and child abuse cases. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I have tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict. Our attorneys prepare rape shield motions early because the evidence the statute allows must be proven to the judge before trial, in writing and with witnesses ready.

What does Florida’s rape shield law say?

Florida’s rape shield law says that “specific instances of prior consensual sexual activity between the victim and any person other than the offender may not be admitted into evidence” in prosecutions for sexual battery, lewd and lascivious offenses, and human trafficking. That rule appears in section 794.022(2), Florida Statutes, and it covers cases charged under section 787.06, section 800.04, and section 794.011, Florida’s sexual battery statute.

The same statute contains other rules that shape every sex crime trial. The accuser’s testimony “need not be corroborated,” so a case can go to a jury on testimony alone. Reputation evidence about the accuser’s sexual conduct, and evidence offered to show that the accuser’s manner of dress “incited the sexual battery,” may never be admitted. And a defendant’s use of a condom, or an accuser’s request that one be used, is not by itself relevant to whether a crime happened or whether there was consent. At The Brancato Law Firm, we walk clients through these rules at the first meeting so they understand which arguments are available and which are off the table.

Why does the rape shield law matter in Florida sex crime cases?

The rape shield law matters because many Florida sex crime cases rest almost entirely on the accuser’s credibility, and the statute decides which credibility evidence the jury hears. The number of these prosecutions is substantial. In 2025, Florida recorded 1,933 arrest events for rape, including 74 in Hillsborough County, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrest data published on the Florida Department of Health’s FLHealthCHARTS. That statewide figure is about 41 percent lower than the 3,288 rape arrest events recorded in 2006 in the same data series. Each of those arrests can lead to a prosecution in which section 794.022 controls the evidence.

Legal scholars disagree about where the line should sit. Law professor Michelle J. Anderson argued in a 2002 analysis of rape shield laws that the exceptions in most state statutes weaken the protection the laws promise accusers. For a person accused in Florida, the practical lesson runs the other way: the exceptions are real, but they are narrow, and a judge will apply them only when the defense proves the specific facts. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build each exception on documents and witnesses, not on general claims about the accuser.

What are the exceptions to Florida’s rape shield law?

Florida’s rape shield law has two written exceptions in the statute and one constitutional exception created by the courts. Each one requires the defense to show the judge, outside the jury’s presence, exactly why the evidence matters to the case.

Exception 1: Proof the defendant was not the source of semen, pregnancy, injury, or disease

Evidence of the accuser’s activity with someone else is admissible if it may prove that the defendant “was not the source of the semen, pregnancy, injury, or disease.” In Audano v. State, 641 So. 2d 1356 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), a Second District case, a nurse testified that a child’s physical findings showed intercourse that could have happened at any time in the prior three years. The defense was barred from showing that someone else had abused the child during that period. The court held the exclusion was error, explaining that when the State offers medical evidence of intercourse, the defendant is entitled to show prior intercourse with someone else, and it reversed for a new trial. Our post on how to challenge SANE exam evidence explains how this exception works with the medical file.

Exception 2: A pattern of conduct so similar that it is relevant to consent

When consent is the defense, the statute allows evidence of “a pattern of conduct or behavior” by the accuser “so similar to the conduct or behavior in the case that it is relevant to the issue of consent.” Courts read this narrowly. In Carlyle v. State, 945 So. 2d 540 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006), the defense argued that an accuser’s past prostitution showed a pattern, and the Second District called the argument that “prostitution is prostitution” insufficient. A pattern means repetitive conduct that closely resembles the defendant’s version of the encounter. Our attorneys look for specific, repeated, documented conduct before we rely on this exception.

Exception 3: The defendant’s right to a full and fair defense

The rape shield rule gives way when applying it would deny the accused a fair trial. In Lewis v. State, 591 So. 2d 922 (Fla. 1991), a stepfather argued that his stepdaughter invented the accusation to keep a scheduled gynecological exam from revealing her sexual relationship with her boyfriend. The trial court kept that evidence out. The Florida Supreme Court held that when the rule “interferes with confrontation rights, or otherwise precludes a defendant from presenting a full and fair defense, the rule must give way to the defendant’s constitutional rights,” and it sent the case back.

The Second District applied Lewis a year later in Dixon v. State, 605 So. 2d 960 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992). The prosecutor asked jurors how a five-year-old could describe sexual acts unless the accusation were true, while the defense had been barred from calling a witness who said he had seen the child engage in sexual play weeks earlier. The court held that the testimony was relevant and “critical” to the fabrication defense, and it reversed. Motive to fabricate and the source of a child’s sexual knowledge are two of the most common ways our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm raise this exception.

What evidence is not covered by the rape shield law?

The rape shield law does not cover prior sexual activity between the accuser and the defendant, or accusations of nonconsensual acts by other people. Florida appellate courts have said the statute “only relates to consensual sexual activity with a person other than the accused,” a phrase from Gomez v. State, 245 So. 3d 950 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018) that the First District repeated in Thorne v. State, 271 So. 3d 177 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019). That evidence is still subject to the ordinary rules of relevance, and the judge can exclude it if its value is outweighed by unfair prejudice.

• Prior relationship with the defendant. Gomez held that “the statute does not prohibit admission of sexual incidents between the victim and offender.” A prior relationship can matter to consent and to motive.
• Accusations against other people. In Thorne, the accuser named three other men in an advocacy center interview but did not name the defendant. The First District held the rape shield law did not apply and that excluding the evidence was error, though it found the error harmless on that record.
• Another person as the attacker. In Vincent v. State, 368 So. 3d 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023), the trial court used the rape shield law to stop the defense from suggesting someone else raped the accuser. The Fourth District agreed that was error, but affirmed because DNA proved the defendant fathered the child.
• Prior false accusations. A prior accusation that was false is not “consensual sexual activity,” so the statute does not bar it. Gomez explained that admissibility turns on relevance, such as similarity to the current accusation. Our post on whether prior accusations can be used against you covers the other side of that issue.

What did the Second District decide in Johnson v. State in 2026?

In Johnson v. State, No. 2D2024-0982 (Fla. 2d DCA Sept. 25, 2026), the Second District Court of Appeal reversed two sexual battery convictions because the jury was not allowed to hear that, during a 2013 Department of Children and Families investigation, the accuser described sexual abuse by her stepfather while denying any sexual abuse by the defendant, her stepuncle. The trial judge in Sarasota County let the defense mention “abuse” in general terms but barred any reference to its sexual nature. The jury convicted on two counts and acquitted on three.

The Second District held that the sexual nature of the earlier allegation was “necessary to adequately draw a comparison” with the abuse she did not report against the defendant during the same interview, and that it supported the defense theory that the later accusation was fabricated. Because the case was “he said, she said,” the error was not harmless, and the court ordered a new trial on the two counts. The lesson for defendants is that a statement an accuser made years earlier to DCF or a Child Protection Team can be powerful evidence, and the defense should fight to present it in full rather than accept a watered-down version. Johnson binds trial judges in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, which sit in the Second District.

How does the in camera hearing work?

An in camera hearing is a private hearing, outside the jury’s presence, where the judge decides whether evidence of the accuser’s sexual history fits an exception before anyone mentions it at trial. The statute requires that the evidence be “first established to the court in a proceeding in camera,” so the defense carries the burden of showing the judge exactly what the evidence is and why it matters.

In our experience in Hillsborough County courtrooms, the defense that wins an in camera hearing is the one that arrives with the specific witnesses and documents, not a general argument about the accuser. Judges in the 13th Judicial Circuit rule on the record in front of them, and a vague proffer usually means the evidence stays out and the issue is weaker on appeal. Our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorneys prepare these motions alongside depositions so the proffer is complete.

What should you do if you are accused of a sex crime in Florida?

If you are accused of a sex crime in Florida, do not speak with investigators, do not contact the accuser, and preserve every message and record that shows your relationship and the accuser’s statements. The evidence that supports a rape shield exception, such as prior messages, earlier reports, or medical records, can disappear if no one asks for it early. If you think you are under investigation but have not been charged, our representation before charges are filed can address the case before the State decides what to file. For the charges themselves, see our guide to what sexual battery is in Florida, and for cases involving children, our guide to child hearsay in sex cases.

Frequently asked questions about Florida’s rape shield law

Can my lawyer ask about the accuser’s past relationships at trial?

Usually not about specific sexual activity with other people, unless the judge first finds an exception applies at an in camera hearing. The Brancato Law Firm files those motions before trial so the judge rules on a full record rather than an objection in front of the jury, as our Tampa sex crimes defense lawyers do in every contested case.

Does the rape shield law apply to a prior relationship between me and the accuser?

No. The statute covers only activity with people other than the defendant, so a prior relationship between the accuser and the accused is judged by ordinary relevance rules. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm use that history when it bears on consent or on a motive to accuse.

Can the defense show the accuser made a false accusation before?

It can, if the earlier accusation is relevant, such as being similar to the current one or showing a motive. A prior false accusation is not consensual sexual activity, so section 794.022 does not bar it, and The Brancato Law Firm investigates earlier reports to DCF, police, and schools to find them. The leading appellate discussion is in Gomez.

Does the rape shield law apply in child sex abuse cases?

Yes. The statute applies to prosecutions under section 800.04, which covers lewd and lascivious offenses against children, as well as sexual battery. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm often rely on Dixon and Audano in child cases, where the source of a child’s knowledge or injury is the central question; our guide to Florida’s age of consent explains the underlying charges.

Can the prosecutor bring up my sexual history?

The rape shield statute protects the accuser, not the defendant. Evidence of a defendant’s other sexual conduct is governed by the Williams rule and related statutes instead, and The Brancato Law Firm challenges that evidence through pretrial motions to exclude or limit it.

Can sexual battery charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes. Prosecutors can drop or reduce charges when the evidence, including evidence a rape shield ruling lets in, undermines the accuser’s account. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm present that evidence to the State Attorney’s Office early when it gives the client the best chance at a dismissal.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our guide to each stage of a Florida criminal case.

Talk to a Tampa sex crimes defense attorney

Rape shield issues are decided before trial, so the time to prepare them is now, not the week before jury selection. Our attorneys will review the discovery, identify the evidence an exception may allow, and prepare the motion and witnesses the judge will expect. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 at any hour; we defend clients in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties from an office two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers facing criminal charges.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

A Florida judge may let a jury hear what a child told a parent, a teacher, or an interviewer only after finding, on the record, that the statement is reliable enough to stand in for live testimony. I have argued that question many times since my years as a Major Crimes Unit attorney handling sex crime and child abuse cases. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I have tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict. Our attorneys treat the child hearsay hearing as the trial before the trial, because it often decides whether the State has a case at all.

What is child hearsay under Florida law?

Child hearsay is an out-of-court statement by a child, offered to prove that what the child said is true, that Florida allows into evidence under a special exception. Under section 90.803(23), Florida Statutes, the exception covers statements by a child victim “with a physical, mental, emotional, or developmental age of 17 or less” describing child abuse or neglect, sexual abuse, or any unlawful sexual act, contact, intrusion, or penetration. Ordinary hearsay is excluded because the person who made the statement cannot be cross-examined; this exception lets the State use the child’s earlier words anyway, if strict conditions are met.

In practice, child hearsay includes what a child told a parent at bedtime, a teacher at school, a deputy at the scene, and a Child Protection Team interviewer on video. Prosecutors often present several of these statements in a row, so the jury hears the same accusation repeated by three or four adults before the child ever takes the stand. At The Brancato Law Firm, our first step is to list every statement the State intends to use and trace each one back to the first conversation.

When can a child’s statement be used as evidence in Florida?

A child’s out-of-court statement can be used as evidence in Florida only when three requirements are met. The statute also says the statement is inadmissible if “the source of information or the method or circumstances by which the statement is reported indicates a lack of trustworthiness.”

1. Reliability. The judge must find, “in a hearing conducted outside the presence of the jury,” that “the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient safeguards of reliability.”
2. Testimony or corroboration. The child must either testify, or be unavailable as a witness with “other corroborative evidence of the abuse or offense.” Unavailability can include a finding that testifying would cause the child “a substantial likelihood of severe emotional or mental harm.”
3. Notice and findings. The State must notify the defense “no later than 10 days before trial,” with a written statement of what the child said, when, and the circumstances, and the court “shall make specific findings of fact, on the record.”

In State v. Townsend, 635 So. 2d 949 (Fla. 1994), the Florida Supreme Court set the order a trial judge must follow. The judge first decides whether the statement itself is reliable “without regard to corroborating evidence,” and only then asks whether corroboration exists. Corroboration cannot be used to prop up an unreliable statement. Our attorneys hold judges to that order, because prosecutors often argue reliability by pointing to other evidence.

What factors decide whether child hearsay is reliable?

Reliability is decided on the totality of the circumstances, and Townsend lists factors beyond the statute that judges still apply today. Each factor is a line of attack for the defense.

Research supports these concerns. In a review published in Psychological Bulletin in 1993, researchers Stephen Ceci and Maggie Bruck found reliable age differences in children’s suggestibility, while also finding that even very young children can recall much that is forensically relevant (National Criminal Justice Reference Service abstract). That is why the questions asked before a formal interview matter as much as the interview itself. The Brancato Law Firm often works with forensic psychologists who can explain to the judge how suggestive questioning affects a young child’s account.

How many Florida child abuse cases involve sexual abuse?

Sexual abuse is a significant share of Florida’s child maltreatment cases. In 2023, Florida had 22,842 child victims of abuse or neglect, and 13.6 percent of victims experienced sexual abuse, according to the Child Welfare League of America’s 2025 Florida fact sheet. Many of those cases begin with a child’s statement to an adult, which is why section 90.803(23) comes up in so many sex crime and child abuse prosecutions.

Can child hearsay be used if the child does not testify?

Child hearsay can be used when the child does not testify only if the child is legally unavailable and there is corroborating evidence, and even then, a statement given to police or a Child Protection Team may be barred by the Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses. In State v. Contreras, 979 So. 2d 896 (Fla. 2008), a Child Protection Team coordinator videotaped a child’s interview while a detective in another room fed her questions. The Florida Supreme Court held that the interview was “indistinguishable from an ordinary police interrogation,” so the statement was testimonial. Because the defendant never had a real chance to cross-examine the child, and discovery depositions taken without him present did not count, admitting the video violated his confrontation rights. The Court reversed the capital sexual battery conviction, where the video was the only evidence of penetration.

The lesson is that statements to a Child Protection Team are treated differently from a child’s words to a parent. When the child is not going to testify, our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm challenge every interview conducted with law enforcement involvement on confrontation grounds, separate from the reliability hearing.

What happens when a child’s interview is not recorded?

When a child’s interview is not recorded, the defense loses the best evidence of how the questions were asked, but the State still must prove reliability through the interviewers’ testimony. In Oliver v. State, 397 So. 3d 104 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024), a Pasco County case, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office had a standard policy that prohibited recording interviews of child sexual abuse victims. The Second District held there is no statutory or common law duty to record these interviews, and it affirmed because the trial judge made specific findings that the interviewers used open-ended, nonleading questions and that there was no evidence of coaching.

The court also noted that the facts “in another case may not present with safeguards sufficient to mitigate the need for audio or video recording.” That is a local fact that matters to anyone charged in Pasco County. When there is no recording, our attorneys depose every interviewer, request their notes, and press for details the interviewer cannot remember, because a judge cannot make specific reliability findings from a memory that has gaps. In Hillsborough County cases, we compare the interview against the Child Protection Team’s own protocols and the questioning that came before it.

How does our firm challenge child hearsay?

Our firm challenges child hearsay by reconstructing the path of the accusation from the first conversation to the courtroom and showing the judge where it was shaped by adults. Each step below is aimed at the statutory requirement it attacks.

Losing the reliability hearing does not end these arguments. The same inconsistencies, suggestive questions, and motives can be presented to the jury through cross-examination and defense experts, and a judge who admits a statement without the specific findings the statute requires creates an issue for appeal.

Our child hearsay defense results

In one case, a child said that “a rhino came out of Grandpa’s skin,” and the prosecution presented the statement as coded language for sexual abuse. Rocky Brancato’s cross-examination showed the child was describing a literal zoo animal, and evidence of coaching came out at the hearing. The judge excluded the hearsay as unreliable, and the State dismissed all charges.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Each case is unique.

Related evidence issues in child sex cases

Child hearsay rarely stands alone. Prosecutors often pair it with other-acts evidence, medical findings, and limits on what the defense can say about the child. Our guide to whether prior accusations can be used against you in a Florida sex crime case covers when other accusations can come in; our post on how to challenge SANE exam evidence covers the medical side; and our guide to the exceptions to Florida’s rape shield law explains when a child’s prior experiences can come in. Lewd and lascivious charges are defined in section 800.04, Florida Statutes.

What should you do if a child has made an accusation against you?

If a child has made an accusation against you, do not talk to the child, the family, or investigators about it, and contact a defense attorney before any interview. Do not try to get the child to “take it back,” which can lead to a witness tampering charge and will be used as evidence of guilt. If a Child Protection Team or detective has contacted you but no charge has been filed, our representation before charges are filed can put the defense in place while the investigation is still open.

Frequently asked questions about child hearsay in Florida

Can a child’s statement to a parent be used in court in Florida?

Yes, if the judge finds it reliable at a hearing and, when the child does not testify, there is corroborating evidence. The Brancato Law Firm asks the parent at deposition exactly what was said, in what order, and what questions came first, because a parent’s paraphrase is often where the account changed.

How much notice does the State have to give before using child hearsay?

At least 10 days before trial, with a written statement of the child’s statement, when it was made, and the circumstances that the State says show reliability. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm use that notice to identify every statement and demand the hearing well before jury selection.

Is a Child Protection Team interview automatically admissible?

No. It must pass the same reliability hearing, and if the child does not testify, Contreras may bar it as testimonial. The Brancato Law Firm reviews every CPT recording frame by frame for leading questions and law enforcement involvement; our Tampa child abuse defense attorneys handle these hearings regularly.

What if the child is now an adult at trial?

The child’s age when the statement was made is what matters, not the age at trial. The Brancato Law Firm still challenges reliability in older cases, where the passage of time often makes it harder for the State to show how the original statement was obtained.

Can child hearsay be used in a custody dispute case?

Yes, the statute applies in civil and criminal cases, and courts treat a custody fight as a reason to look closely at possible influence on the child. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm gather the family court record to show the judge when and why the accusation surfaced.

Can child sex abuse charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes. When a judge excludes unreliable child hearsay, the State may be left without enough evidence to proceed, and prosecutors can drop the charges. The Brancato Law Firm has obtained dismissals in exactly that situation, as described in our Tampa sex crimes lawyer case results.

Talk to a Tampa defense attorney about child hearsay

The reliability hearing is usually scheduled well before trial, and the work that wins it starts with the first discovery. Our attorneys will identify every statement the State plans to use and build the record to challenge it. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 at any hour; we defend clients in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties from an office two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

If you were arrested after days of messages with someone who turned out to be an undercover deputy, the first thing our attorneys look at is who pushed the conversation toward a crime. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and a former police academy instructor who taught officers how investigations are supposed to be run. I have tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict, and our attorneys use that experience to take sting operations apart message by message, from the first contact to the arrest.

What is entrapment under Florida law?

Entrapment happens when a law enforcement officer, or someone working with or for one, induces or encourages a person to commit a crime using methods that create “a substantial risk that such crime will be committed by a person other than one who is ready to commit it.” That is the definition in section 777.201, Florida Statutes. The statute covers informants and civilians acting as police agents, not only sworn officers.

Under the same statute, a person “shall be acquitted” if he or she proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the criminal conduct occurred as a result of an entrapment. Preponderance means more likely than not, a lower bar than the State’s burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The statute also says the issue “shall be tried by the trier of fact,” which is usually the jury. At The Brancato Law Firm, we treat entrapment as a defense to build from the first day, because the evidence that proves it, the messages and the officer’s choices, is fixed the moment the investigation ends.

What are the two kinds of entrapment in Florida?

Florida recognizes two separate entrapment defenses: subjective entrapment, which is the statutory defense, and objective entrapment, which comes from the due process clause of the Florida Constitution. The first asks about the defendant; the second asks only about the police. Our attorneys raise both whenever the facts support them, because they fail and succeed for different reasons.

How does a Florida court decide subjective entrapment?

A Florida court decides subjective entrapment by asking three questions, set out by the Florida Supreme Court in Munoz v. State, 629 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 1993). In Munoz, the Court read section 777.201 as adopting the subjective test and set the order of proof that Florida trial judges still follow today.

1. Inducement. Did a government agent induce the accused to commit the charged crime? The defense must prove this by a preponderance of the evidence.
2. Predisposition. If there was inducement, was the accused already “awaiting any propitious opportunity or was ready and willing, without persuasion, to commit the offense”? Once the defense produces evidence of no predisposition, the burden shifts to the State to rebut it beyond a reasonable doubt.
3. Judge or jury. If the facts are undisputed, inducement is shown, and the State lacks enough evidence of predisposition formed before and independent of the police conduct, the judge must rule for the defense as a matter of law. If the facts are disputed, or reasonable people could draw different conclusions, the jury decides.

The third question is where many sting cases are won or lost. When every message is preserved and the record shows the officer doing the persuading, our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm ask the judge to decide entrapment before a jury is ever picked.

What counts as police inducement?

Police inducement means persuasion that goes beyond offering a chance to commit a crime: repeated pleading, pressure on a reluctant person, appeals to sympathy or friendship, promises of reward, or taking the lead in introducing the illegal idea. Florida courts draw a firm line between inducement and opportunity. In the words the Second District repeated in 2023, “creating nothing more than an opportunity to commit a crime is not prohibited.”

These are the patterns our attorneys look for when we read a chat log or listen to an informant’s recorded calls. A single message where the person backs away can matter more than fifty messages of small talk. When an informant is involved, we also look at what the informant was promised, which our post on whether the State has to reveal a confidential informant explains in more detail.

How do prosecutors try to prove predisposition?

Prosecutors try to prove predisposition with evidence that the accused was ready to commit the crime before police ever got involved, such as prior similar conduct, earlier messages, or eagerness at the first opportunity. Under Munoz, the State may make “an appropriate and searching inquiry” into the accused’s conduct and may even use prior criminal history that would normally be kept from a jury. But that evidence counts only to the extent it shows predisposition “both prior to and independent of the government acts.”

That limit matters. Statements a person makes after an officer spent days wearing down his resistance are weak proof of what he was inclined to do before the officer appeared. Munoz also said a judge may rule entrapment as a matter of law even when the State presents prior convictions. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm separate the record into what the client said before inducement and what he said after it, and we build the predisposition argument around that timeline.

When does police misconduct violate due process?

Police misconduct violates due process, and bars the prosecution entirely, when law enforcement’s methods are so outrageous that a court will not let the case go forward regardless of the defendant’s predisposition. Munoz held that section 777.201 replaced the older objective test, but it preserved this due process defense for “egregious law enforcement conduct.” Two Florida Supreme Court decisions show what that looks like.

In State v. Glosson, 462 So. 2d 1082 (Fla. 1985), an informant was promised 10 percent of the civil forfeitures from the cases he developed, and he had to testify and cooperate in the prosecutions to get paid. The Court held that a trial court may dismiss charges on due process grounds when an informant stands to gain a contingent fee conditioned on testimony that is critical to the prosecution.

In State v. Williams, 623 So. 2d 462 (Fla. 1993), the Broward County Sheriff’s Office turned seized powder cocaine into crack cocaine for reverse-sting operations, and some of it was lost into the community. The Court held that illegally manufacturing crack for a reverse sting within 1,000 feet of a school violated due process and reversed the conviction. Cases like these are rare, and our attorneys raise objective entrapment only when the record supports it, because judges take the claim seriously only when it is precise.

How does entrapment work in online sting cases?

Online sting cases are where Florida’s entrapment law is most often tested, because the entire conversation between the officer and the accused is usually preserved word for word. Charges in these cases typically include using a computer to solicit a minor and traveling to meet a minor under section 847.0135, Florida Statutes; the traveling charge is a second-degree felony. The statute applies even when the “child” is an adult officer, because it covers a person “believed by the person to be a child.”

The volume of these cases is large. In 2025, Internet Crimes Against Children task forces conducted nearly 347,000 investigations and arrested more than 17,000 people nationw

Entrapment is a common response to these charges, and research shows it rarely wins by itself. A national study published in 2005 in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, based on 2000 to 2001 case data, found that entrapment or police conduct was raised in 44 percent of undercover “proactive” cases, compared with 4 percent of cases involving real child victims. The same study found that 4 percent of offenders arrested in undercover cases had prior arrests for sexual offenses against minors, compared with 11 percent in real-victim cases, and the authors described the entrapment defenses they saw as common but not successful (Mitchell, Wolak, and Finkelhor, Crimes Against Children Research Center). That gap in prior records is why predisposition, not the raw fact of the sting, is usually the fight.

How DeMare v. State drew the line on adult-profile stings

In DeMare v. State, 298 So. 3d 1269 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020), a detective created a profile of an 18-year-old woman named “Amber” in the adult section of a dating site. Jason DeMare answered that adult profile. After four days of flirting as an adult, “Amber” said she was 14. DeMare immediately tried to end it and said sex would be illegal. The detective kept pressing: she said she liked older men, said her parents were out of town, accused him of being scared, and coaxed him for details. He had no record of offenses against minors.

The Second District Court of Appeal, which hears appeals from Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, held that DeMare was entrapped as a matter of law, reversed his conviction for traveling to meet a minor, and ordered him discharged. The lesson is that an adult-profile start, a late age reveal, a clear refusal, and persistent police pressure can add up to entrapment that a judge must recognize without sending the case to a jury.

The same court has also shown the limits. In State v. Panebianco, 370 So. 3d 345 (Fla. 2d DCA 2023), a Sarasota County judge dismissed charges against a man who answered a 19-year-old’s profile but was told early and repeatedly that she was 14. The Second District reversed. It agreed he had shown a lack of predisposition, since he had no record of offenses against minors, but held that his own sexual messages created a question of predisposition for a jury, and that the operation was not outrageous enough to be objective entrapment. Our attorneys read every message with these two cases side by side. For more on the charges themselves, see our guides to solicitation of a child using a computer, what happens after a Tampa sex sting arrest, and what to do if you messaged a minor online.

Can entrapment get charges dismissed before trial?

Yes. Entrapment can end a case before trial through a sworn motion to dismiss under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4), which allows dismissal when “there are no material disputed facts and the undisputed facts do not establish a prima facie case of guilt.” The State can defeat that motion by showing a real factual dispute, and on the motion the judge reads the evidence in the light most favorable to the State.

In Hillsborough County, in our firm’s experience, prosecutors contest nearly every entrapment motion in a sting case, and the decision to file one can change the plea discussions already underway. That makes timing a strategic call, not a formality. Losing the motion also does not end the defense. Because the statute sends entrapment to the trier of fact, the same evidence can be argued to a jury at trial, and jurors may weigh the officer’s persistence differently than a judge reading a cold transcript. Our Hillsborough County criminal defense team plans for both stages from the start.

What should you do if you think police entrapped you?

If you think police entrapped you, stop all contact, say nothing to investigators, and get a defense attorney before the case is charged or before your first court date. The steps below protect the evidence that an entrapment defense depends on.

1. Do not answer more messages from the account, and do not try to explain yourself to it.
2. Do not delete anything. Deleting messages can look like consciousness of guilt and can lead to a separate tampering charge; the full thread is often your best evidence.
3. Write down, privately and for your lawyer only, how the contact started and when the other person first raised anything illegal.
4. Decline any interview. Politely say you want a lawyer, then stop talking.
5. Call a defense attorney right away. If you believe you are under investigation but have not been charged, our representation before charges are filed can sometimes shape what the prosecutor decides.

Frequently asked questions about the entrapment defense in Florida

Is it entrapment if the officer pretended to be an adult first?

It can be. In DeMare, the Second District found entrapment as a matter of law where the officer posed as an 18-year-old, revealed a younger age days later, and kept pushing after the man refused. The Brancato Law Firm compares the timing of the age reveal and the officer’s pressure in every sting case we take, as our guide to vigilante predator catchers also discusses for civilian stings.

Who has the burden of proof for entrapment in Florida?

The defense must first prove inducement by a preponderance of the evidence, and must offer some evidence of lack of predisposition. The burden then shifts to the State to prove predisposition beyond a reasonable doubt under Munoz and section 777.201. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm gather the background evidence, such as a clean record and the client’s history, that triggers that shift.

Does a prior criminal record defeat an entrapment defense?

Not automatically. Prosecutors may use prior conduct to argue predisposition, but Munoz said a judge may still find entrapment as a matter of law even when the State presents prior convictions, and the evidence must show predisposition formed before and independent of the police conduct. At The Brancato Law Firm, we look at whether a prior record has anything to do with the crime the officer was pushing.

Can entrapment charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes. Prosecutors can drop charges when the evidence of inducement is strong, and a judge can dismiss them on a successful motion. Our Tampa internet crimes defense attorneys present the inducement record to the prosecutor early when that gives the client the best chance at a dismissal or a reduced charge.

Is it entrapment if police only gave me the chance to commit a crime?

No. Florida courts hold that creating an opportunity to commit a crime is not entrapment; there must be persuasion or pressure that overcame a person who was not ready to commit it. The Brancato Law Firm looks for the moment the conversation turned and who turned it, because that is usually where the defense lives.

Can I raise entrapment if I have not been charged yet?

Entrapment is a defense raised in court, but the groundwork starts during the investigation, when the messages can be preserved and the prosecutor has not committed to a charge. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm offer pre-file advocacy for people who believe a chat or a meeting is under investigation.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our overview of how a Florida criminal case moves from investigation to appeal.

Talk to a Tampa defense attorney about entrapment

The window to preserve a sting case’s best evidence closes quickly, often within days of the arrest. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 at any hour, and our attorneys will review how the contact started, who raised the crime, and whether an entrapment motion fits your case. Our office is two blocks from the courthouse, and we defend clients in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking criminal defense clients in Tampa.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Internet Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

Sex sting cases are usually won or lost on the chat transcript, and the State controls how that transcript was made. I learned how these investigations are built as a Major Crimes Unit attorney handling sex crime cases, and as founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I have defended people arrested in Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office sting operations. Our attorneys read every message, every timestamp, and every profile the detectives used before we advise a client on anything.

How do Tampa sex stings work?

Tampa Bay sex stings are undercover operations in which detectives pose online as a minor, or as a parent or relative offering a minor, and arrest the people who respond. In a four-day operation in April 2025, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested 15 people, according to a May 2025 Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office press release. Detectives posed both as relatives of a juvenile offering to sell a minor and as juveniles on social media. Twelve people were arrested when they arrived at the meeting location, and 3 who agreed but did not show up were arrested later on warrants.

Operations can run much larger. In October 2025, the Sheriff announced 171 arrests from a months-long operation called Operation Unmasking Predators, with charges including human trafficking and traveling to meet a minor, according to news reports of the Sheriff’s announcement. In our experience, Hillsborough stings follow two patterns, and the pattern shapes the charges:

What charges come from a Tampa sex sting?

One conversation can produce several felonies. These are the charges our attorneys see most often in Hillsborough County sting cases:

Under section 847.0135, Florida Statutes, solicitation and traveling both reach “another person believed by the person to be a child,” so the absence of a real child is no defense. Each separate use of a phone or computer may be charged as a separate offense. Under section 787.06, Florida Statutes, the human trafficking count reaches commercial sexual activity involving “an adult believed by the person to be a child younger than 18,” and the statute bars any defense based on belief about age. Our article on solicitation of a child using a computer explains the solicitation statute in detail, and our post on human trafficking defense in Tampa covers the trafficking statute.

What happens in the first 48 hours after a sting arrest?

The first 48 hours set the tone for the whole case. After arrest, the person is booked into the Orient Road Jail and goes before a judge at first appearance, usually within 24 hours, where bond and release conditions are set. In our experience, judges in these cases commonly order no contact with minors and restrictions on internet use as conditions of release. The Sheriff’s Office often announces operations publicly with booking photos, so clients should prepare for that.

1. Do not explain the chats. Detectives often interview people right after arrest, and statements about intent fill the gaps in the State’s case.
2. Do not unlock or hand over your phone. Ask for a lawyer and let your attorney deal with any warrant.
3. Do not delete accounts or messages. Deleting evidence can lead to a separate tampering charge.
4. Save your own records. Write down the apps used, the profile you answered, and the timeline while it is fresh.
5. Call a defense attorney before first appearance if you can. Counsel can argue bond and conditions the first time a judge sees the case.

Our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorney page explains the local court process after an arrest.

Is entrapment a defense to a Tampa sex sting?

Yes, and it is the central defense in many sting cases. Florida’s subjective entrapment statute, section 777.201, Florida Statutes, applies when law enforcement induces a person to commit a crime the person was not ready and willing to commit. The statute puts the burden on the defendant to prove entrapment by a preponderance of the evidence, and the question of predisposition is usually for the jury. Objective entrapment, a due process doctrine, bars prosecution when police conduct is so outrageous it offends basic fairness.

The Second District, which covers Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, has made clear that these motions are hard to win before trial. In State v. Panebianco, 370 So. 3d 345 (Fla. 2d DCA 2023), Sarasota County detectives created a profile of a 19-year-old on an adult website, and within minutes “Sophia” said she was 14. The trial court dismissed every charge as entrapment. The Second District reversed, holding that the defendant’s lack of any prior record showed lack of predisposition but that the chats themselves let reasonable people disagree, so a jury had to decide. It also held the sting was not outrageous enough to be objective entrapment.

When a judge will not dismiss, the jury still must hear the defense. In Oyler v. State, 162 So. 3d 200 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015), a detective posed as an 18-year-old on a dating site that barred minors, then asked if the man “like[d] younger girls” and said she was 13. The Fifth District reversed his conviction because the trial court refused an entrapment jury instruction and excluded evidence that he had never been arrested. Our attorneys build entrapment defenses for both stages: a motion to dismiss where the facts are undisputed, and a trial record that puts predisposition squarely before the jury. Our article on entrapment in Florida covers the doctrine in more depth.

Who gets caught in online sex stings?

Research shows many people arrested in these stings started on adult platforms and had no sex offense history. A 2023 Washington State Institute for Public Policy report, Whichard and Kelley’s Internet Stings and Operation Net Nanny, studied 299 arrests from Washington State Patrol stings between 2015 and 2022. In stings using a fictitious parent, 89.8% of contacts began on adults-only platforms, and 70.4% did in stings using a fictitious child. Only 2.9% of those arrested had a prior felony sex offense against a child.

Those findings do not decide any case, but they explain why predisposition evidence matters so much. A client with no record who answered an adult ad is in a very different position from someone who sought out a child, and our attorneys gather work history, character evidence, and, when helpful, a psychosexual evaluation to show the difference.

Can you be convicted of both solicitation and traveling?

Not for the same conduct. In State v. Shelley, 176 So. 3d 914 (Fla. 2015), the Florida Supreme Court held that convictions for both solicitation under section 847.0135(3) and traveling after solicitation under section 847.0135(4) violate double jeopardy when based on the same conduct, and the solicitation conviction must be vacated. When the State charges both counts from one conversation, our attorneys use Shelley to cut the exposure and the scoresheet.

Do you have to register as a sex offender after a sting conviction?

Yes, for most sting charges. Florida’s registration statute, section 943.0435, Florida Statutes, lists section 847.0135 (except subsection (6)) and section 787.06(3)(g) among the offenses that require registration. That is why the specific charge in any plea matters as much as the sentence. A plea to the charge as filed can carry lifetime registration, while an amended charge may not, and our attorneys evaluate every offer with registration in mind. Our overview of sex offender registration in Florida explains the requirements.

How is a child sex sting different from an escort sting?

An escort sting targets adults buying sex from adults and is usually charged as solicitation of prostitution, while a child sex sting adds a “minor” and turns the case into serious felonies with registration. Some operations blur the line, starting with an adult ad and introducing a minor partway through. Our article on Tampa escort stings covers adult prostitution stings, and our guide for people who messaged a minor online covers what to do before any arrest. If a private group rather than police confronted you, see our post on vigilante predator catchers in Florida.

Can a Tampa sex sting charge be reduced to a non-sex offense?

Yes. In an October 2026 Tampa sting case, our firm got a commercial human trafficking charge reduced to prostitution and unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and neither offense requires sex offender registration. Undercover officers had played the role of a trafficker offering teenage girls, and the State had our client on video agreeing to pay for sex. No real children were involved. Rocky Brancato filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the officers entrapped the client and presented the firm’s mitigation report, and the client received a withheld adjudication and probation. You can read the full case on our case results page. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Frequently asked questions about Tampa sex stings

Can sex sting charges be dropped in Tampa?

Yes. Charges can be dropped or reduced when the chats show the detective, not the client, drove the conversation, when intent evidence is weak, or when a client withdrew before any travel. The Brancato Law Firm presents those facts to prosecutors early, and when an investigation is still open, through pre-file advocacy.

What if the profile said the person was 18?

That fact supports the defense but does not end the case, because the charges turn on what you believed after the age was raised. Courts look at the whole conversation. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm map exactly when the age came up and how the conversation changed afterward.

Can I be charged if I never drove to the meeting?

Yes. Computer solicitation is complete without travel, and people who agree but do not show up are often arrested later on warrants. The Brancato Law Firm uses the decision not to travel as evidence against predisposition, as explained on our internet crimes defense page.

Why is there a human trafficking charge when I only talked to a police officer?

Section 787.06(3)(g) covers commercial sexual activity involving an adult believed to be a child, so offering money in a parent-persona sting can support the charge even though no child existed. The Brancato Law Firm challenges whether the evidence actually shows a commercial transaction and the knowledge the statute requires.

Will my name be in the news after a Hillsborough sting?

Often, yes, because the Sheriff’s Office publicizes many operations with names and booking photos. The Brancato Law Firm focuses on the outcome that lasts, the court record, and advises clients on what can later be sealed if the case is dismissed.

Should I take a plea in a sex sting case?

Not before your attorney has reviewed the full chat logs and the registration consequences of the specific charge. Some pleas carry lifetime registration while amended charges may not. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm compare every offer against the strength of the entrapment and intent defenses.

For how The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. defends these cases, see our Tampa sex crimes defense practice.

Call before you talk to detectives about the chats

Most sting cases are shaped in the first days, when a client decides whether to explain the messages, unlock a phone, or wait for a lawyer. Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato founded The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., and our attorneys defend sting cases throughout Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties. Call us at any hour at (813) 727-7159. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers facing criminal charges.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Internet Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and a former Major Crimes Unit attorney who handled sex crime and child abuse cases, I have cross-examined sexual assault nurse examiners in Hillsborough County courtrooms for more than 25 years. Prosecutors present the SANE report as science. Our attorneys treat it as what it is: one examiner’s observations and opinions, each of which can be tested against the photographs, the medical literature, and the law of evidence.

What is a SANE exam?

A SANE exam is a forensic medical examination performed after a reported sexual assault by a registered nurse with specialized training. The nurse takes a history from the patient, examines the body for injury, photographs findings, often with a magnifying colposcope, and collects swabs and clothing into a sexual assault kit for DNA testing. The exam serves two purposes at once: medical care for the patient and evidence collection for a possible prosecution.

Florida pays for these exams. Under section 960.28, Florida Statutes, the state’s Crime Victims’ Services Office pays up to $1,000 for the initial forensic examination of a sexual battery victim, whether or not the person reports to police or cooperates with a prosecution. That rule means many exams happen before any investigation, and the kit may sit in storage until the person decides whether to report.

Where are SANE exams done in Hillsborough County?

In Hillsborough County, adult forensic exams are performed mainly by certified nurses at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, which runs its main sexual assault services site in North Tampa and opened a second site in Ruskin in 2023. The North Tampa location conducted 334 forensic exams in 2022, according to WUSF reporting on the Ruskin expansion. Exams of children are usually done by nurse practitioners and physicians on the local Child Protection Team, often at Tampa General Hospital.

Knowing who did the exam matters, because different examiners follow different protocols and keep different records. Our attorneys request the full exam file, including the intake history form, every photograph, the kit inventory, and the examiner’s training records, not just the narrative summary the State attaches to its discovery.

Does an injury on a SANE exam prove sexual assault?

No. Genital injury is common after consensual sex, so an injury alone does not show that sex was forced. In a 2009 study in the Journal of Forensic Nursing, Marilyn Sommers and colleagues gave forensic sexual assault examinations to 120 healthy women after consensual intercourse and found at least one anogenital injury in 55% of them, as reported in Health Disparities in the Forensic Sexual Assault Examination Related to Skin Color. The same study found injuries in 68% of white participants and 43% of Black participants, concluding that dark skin color predicted fewer detected injuries, which shows how much the findings depend on the examination itself.

The reverse is also true. Many people who report an assault have no injury at all, and Florida law does not require one. For the defense, the point is narrower: when the State calls an injury “consistent with” sexual battery, the honest follow-up is that it is equally consistent with consensual sex. Our attorneys make that point through the medical literature and, when the case warrants it, through an independent expert.

How many sexual assault kits does Florida test?

Florida tracks every kit through the FL Track-Kit system required by section 943.326, Florida Statutes. From June 8, 2022, through August 31, 2024, law enforcement submitted 5,610 sexual assault kits to labs and 5,104 had completed analysis, according to FDLE’s sexual assault kit tracking data. During the same period, 770 kits were collected from people who had not reported to law enforcement.

Those numbers matter in individual cases. A kit that took months to reach the lab, sat unreported, or was tested only after charges were filed raises chain-of-custody and storage questions. Our attorneys trace each kit through its tracking record and the lab’s documentation before accepting the DNA result.

Can a SANE nurse testify about what the accuser said?

Sometimes, but the rules are strict. Under section 90.803(4), Florida Statutes, statements made for medical diagnosis or treatment can be admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule, but only insofar as they are reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment. Details that serve the investigation rather than the medical care fall outside that exception.

The Confrontation Clause adds a second limit. In Hernandez v. State, 946 So. 2d 1270 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007), Hillsborough County deputies arranged for a Child Protection Team nurse practitioner to examine a child at Tampa General Hospital, and a deputy waited until the exam was done. The Second District held that the nurse’s questioning was “the functional equivalent of a police interrogation,” so the statements to her were testimonial, and reversed for a new trial because the defendant never had a chance to cross-examine the people who made them. When an exam is arranged and attended by law enforcement, our attorneys use Hernandez to keep out statements from anyone who does not testify. When the accuser is a child, the same confrontation rules apply to Child Protection Team interviews, as our guide to how to fight child hearsay in a Florida sex case explains.

Can a SANE nurse say the accuser was assaulted?

No, not when the opinion rests on the accuser’s own account. A nurse may describe the findings and explain that some assaults leave no injury, but may not vouch for the accuser’s credibility. In Geissler v. State, 90 So. 3d 941 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), a Child Protection Team nurse practitioner in New Port Richey found no physical evidence of abuse but told the Pasco County jury that her “medical assessment supported the allegation of sexual abuse.” The Second District reversed and ordered a new trial, holding that an opinion based entirely on the child’s reported history left the jury with the impression that the nurse believed the child.

That rule applies directly to SANE reports, which often end with an impression such as “findings consistent with history given.” Our attorneys move before trial to limit the nurse to the findings, and we object at trial when testimony crosses into vouching. Florida’s expert testimony standard in section 90.702, Florida Statutes also requires that any opinion rest on reliable principles applied to the facts, which a conclusion drawn from the accuser’s story alone does not.

How do our attorneys challenge a SANE report?

Our attorneys challenge a SANE report in six steps:

1. Get the whole file. Intake forms, body diagrams, every photograph, the kit inventory, and the examiner’s training and certification records.
2. Check timing. Compare the exam time to the alleged incident. Healing patterns can show an injury predates the accusation.
3. Review the photographs independently. A forensic pathologist or physician can interpret colposcope images differently from the nurse, as in our case study on the source of genital injury.
4. Trace the kit. Chain of custody, storage, and lab handling through FL Track-Kit and lab records.
5. Limit hearsay and vouching. File motions in limine under section 90.803(4), Hernandez, and Geissler.
6. Fit the evidence to the defense. When the defense is consent, DNA and minor injuries do not answer the real question, and the jury should hear that plainly.

Expert help is often decisive. Our guide to expert witnesses in criminal defense explains how we choose and use them, and our Tampa forensic science attorney page describes our forensic defense work. For the charges themselves, see what sexual battery is in Florida under section 794.011, Florida Statutes.

What should you do if you learn an accuser had a SANE exam?

Do not contact the accuser, do not talk to detectives, and call a defense attorney right away. A SANE exam often means a detective will soon ask for your side of the story, sometimes through a recorded “controlled call” from the accuser. Anything you say can be used to fill the gaps the medical evidence leaves. Our attorneys can step in before an arrest through pre-file advocacy and present the facts that support consent or innocence before the State decides what to file. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer page explains how our firm defends these cases.

Frequently asked questions about SANE exam evidence in Florida

Can sexual battery charges be dropped if the SANE exam found no injuries?

They can be, but a lack of injury alone rarely ends a case, because Florida law does not require physical injury. A clean exam combined with inconsistent statements or evidence of consent can lead prosecutors to drop or reduce charges. The Brancato Law Firm presents that combination to the State early, often before charges are filed, through representation before charges are filed.

Is a SANE nurse an expert witness in Florida?

A SANE nurse can testify as a fact witness about the exam and, if qualified, as an expert about injury findings. The nurse is not a physician and may not vouch for the accuser’s credibility under Geissler. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm challenge the nurse’s qualifications for any opinion beyond documenting what she saw.

How long after an assault can a SANE exam find evidence?

Evidence collection is generally most useful within the first few days, and injuries heal quickly, sometimes within days. That makes the gap between the alleged incident and the exam a key fact. The Brancato Law Firm builds a timeline from texts, location data, and medical records to test whether a documented injury fits the accusation.

Can the defense hire its own expert to review a SANE exam?

Yes. The defense can retain a physician, forensic pathologist, or nurse examiner to review the photographs and records and testify. The Brancato Law Firm works with an expert network in forensic science to review colposcope images and challenge conclusions the evidence does not support.

What if the DNA in the rape kit matches me?

A DNA match proves contact, not lack of consent. When the defense is that the sex was consensual, the DNA result is often undisputed and the case turns on the other evidence. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm focus the jury on that real question rather than on the lab report.

Can the accuser’s statements to the SANE nurse be used if the accuser does not testify?

Often not. If the exam was arranged or directed by law enforcement and the statements were made to gather evidence, they can be testimonial under Hernandez v. State, 946 So. 2d 1270 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007), and admitting them without cross-examination violates the Confrontation Clause. The Brancato Law Firm files motions to exclude those statements when the accuser is unavailable.

Have our attorneys review the SANE report before you say anything

A SANE report reads like a conclusion, but every line of it can be tested. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. at (813) 727-7159 at any hour, and our attorneys will review the exam file, the photographs, and the kit records, then tell you where the medical evidence is weakest. The firm was founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, and we defend sex crime cases across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

If police took your phone after a complaint from a roommate, a coworker, or a stranger in a store, the case against you is already inside that device. As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I bring to these cases my years in the Major Crimes Unit handling sex crime prosecutions and more than 150 jury trials to verdict. Our attorneys defend digital voyeurism charges in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties by testing every element the State must prove, starting with what the camera actually captured and where.

What is video voyeurism under Florida law?

Video voyeurism is secretly using a camera or other imaging device to view, record, or broadcast someone who is undressing or exposed in a private place, without that person’s knowledge and consent. Since October 1, 2024, section 810.145, Florida Statutes calls the offense “digital voyeurism.” Chapter 2024-132, Laws of Florida (CS/CS/HB 1389), renamed the crime, added “exploiting” as a prohibited purpose, and created new dissemination offenses. The statute covers three kinds of conduct:

1. Secret recording in a private place. Using or installing a device to secretly view, broadcast, or record a person who is dressing, undressing, or privately exposing the body where that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
2. Permitting someone else to do it. Allowing another person to use or install the device for that person’s gratification or profit.
3. Recording under or through clothing. Secretly recording under or through another person’s clothing to view the body or undergarments, often called upskirting. This version does not require a private place, so it reaches stores, escalators, and other public spaces.

The statute defines a reasonable expectation of privacy as circumstances in which a reasonable person would believe he or she could fully disrobe without being watched or recorded, including the inside of a home, a bathroom, a changing or fitting room, a dressing room, or a tanning booth. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer page explains how our firm defends the full range of sexual offense charges.

Is video voyeurism a felony or a misdemeanor in Florida?

It depends on the accused person’s age, the alleged victim’s age, the relationship between them, and any prior record. For an adult with no prior voyeurism conviction, the base offense is a third-degree felony. These are the degrees under section 810.145 and the maximum penalties under section 775.082, Florida Statutes:

Two more rules drive exposure. First, each instance of viewing, recording, or sharing is a separate offense with a separate penalty, so one phone can produce many counts. Second, when an accused 19 or older is a family or household member of the person recorded, or holds a position of authority or trust such as a coach, caregiver, or employer, the court must reclassify the felony one degree higher. The offense levels come from section 921.0022, Florida Statutes, the offense severity ranking chart on the Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet.

Do you have to register as a sex offender for video voyeurism in Florida?

Only for the child-victim version of the offense. Florida’s registration statute, section 943.0435, Florida Statutes, lists section 810.145(8) as a qualifying offense, not the rest of section 810.145. A conviction for recording an adult, or for sharing an adult’s recording, does not by itself trigger registration. A conviction under subsection (8), which covers victims under 16 and accused persons who are 24 or older, caretakers, or school employees, requires registration as a sexual offender.

That distinction makes the charging decision the most important event in many cases. Whether the State files under subsection (2) or subsection (8), and whether it can prove the alleged victim’s age and the accused person’s role, decides whether a client faces a lifetime of registration. Our overview of sex offender registration in Florida explains what registration requires.

How often do video voyeurism convictions lead to prison in Florida?

For an adult first offense, rarely; for the child-victim version, usually. In fiscal year 2022-23, the Florida Department of Corrections recorded 1 prison admission and 31 supervision admissions for adults 19 or older convicted of video voyeurism, a 3.1% incarceration rate, according to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research impact analysis of the 2024 bill. For second or subsequent offenses the rate was 12.5%, and for the child-victim offenses under subsection (8) it was 71.4%, with 10 prison admissions and 4 supervision admissions.

The scoresheet explains the gap. A single Level 3 count scores 16 points, well below the 44 points at which prison becomes the lowest permissible sentence, so a first-offense adult case often resolves with probation. Multiple counts, a Level 5 primary offense, or a prior record can push the score past that line. The same analysis reported 22 misdemeanor video voyeurism arrests statewide in fiscal year 2022-23, a reminder that most of these cases are charged as felonies.

How do you fight a video voyeurism charge in Florida?

You fight it by holding the State to each element: a secret recording, of a person undressing or exposed, in a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy, without consent, for a prohibited purpose, by you. Our attorneys build the defense around the elements the evidence does not support:

• Not secret. A camera that was visible, a security system with posted notice, or a device installed so its presence was “clearly and immediately obvious” falls under the statute’s exceptions in subsection (5).
• No reasonable expectation of privacy. A person visible from a street or a public area may not meet the statute’s definition, except in an under-the-clothing case.
• Consent. Recordings made with a partner’s knowledge and agreement are not secret. Text messages and prior conduct often prove consent.
• No prohibited purpose. The State must prove amusement, sexual gratification, profit, or an intent to degrade, exploit, or abuse. A home security camera installed to watch a front door is not voyeurism.
• Identity. Shared phones, cloud accounts, and household devices raise the question of who actually made or viewed the recording.
• Count stacking. Duplicates, thumbnails, and automatic cloud copies of one recording should not become separate charges.

Secrecy is often contested. In J.T.R. v. State, 79 So. 3d 839 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012), a juvenile held a phone over a school bathroom stall and argued the State had not proven the recording was secret because the victim looked up at the camera. The First District affirmed, holding that a victim who notices the camera only after recording starts does not defeat secrecy. The lesson is that secrecy is judged at the moment the recording begins, so the defense must establish what the person knew before then.

Can police make you unlock your phone in a voyeurism case?

In the Second District, which covers Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, a court can order you to provide a phone passcode when police already hold a warrant for the phone. In State v. Stahl, 206 So. 3d 124 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016), a man was accused of holding an illuminated phone under a shopper’s skirt in a store, then withdrew his consent to search his iPhone. The Second District held that compelling the passcode did not violate the Fifth Amendment because the State already had a warrant and knew the phone was his, calling it “a case of surrender and not testimony.”

Other Florida appellate courts have since disagreed with Stahl, so the issue remains contested. The practical lesson is the same everywhere: do not give consent to search a phone, do not unlock it, and do not explain what is on it. Ask for a lawyer and let your attorney handle any court order. Our article on secretly recording someone in Florida covers the separate audio recording law that often appears alongside these charges.

What happens after a video voyeurism arrest in Hillsborough County?

After an arrest in Hillsborough County, the accused goes before a judge at first appearance at the Orient Road Jail within 24 hours, where bond and release conditions are set. In our experience, judges routinely add a condition barring any contact with the person recorded, and the State asks the court to keep the accused away from the location, such as a workplace or apartment complex, where the camera was found. Violating those conditions can lead to bond revocation, so our attorneys explain them to clients before release.

The phone, laptop, or hidden camera usually goes to a forensic examiner, and that report often takes months. That delay is an opportunity. Before the State files formal charges, our attorneys can present facts about consent, ownership of the device, or the purpose of a camera through pre-file advocacy, which can lead the State to file a lesser charge or no charge at all. Our Hillsborough County criminal defense page describes the local process.

Why does Florida treat upskirting differently?

Florida separately criminalizes recording under or through clothing because older voyeurism laws required a private place, and courts often held there is no expectation of privacy in public. A 2006 study in Criminal Justice Studies, Valerie Bell, Craig Hemmens, and Benjamin Steiner’s Up Skirts and Down Blouses: A Statutory Analysis of Legislative Responses to Video Voyeurism, reviewed 47 state and federal voyeurism statutes and found that most required an invasion of privacy, leaving upskirt recordings in public places uncovered. Florida closed that gap with the under-the-clothing provision, which is why a store or a stadium can be the scene of a felony.

For the defense, the shift moves the fight from where the recording happened to what it shows and why it was made. Our attorneys examine the actual footage frame by frame, because a recording that does not capture the body or undergarments under the clothing does not meet this version of the offense.

Frequently asked questions about video voyeurism in Florida

Is it illegal to have a hidden camera in your own home in Florida?

Not by itself. A camera becomes digital voyeurism when it secretly records someone undressing or exposed in a private area, such as a guest bathroom or a tenant’s bedroom, for a prohibited purpose. The Brancato Law Firm examines where each camera pointed and why it was installed, because a security camera covering a door or driveway is lawful.

Can video voyeurism charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes. Charges can be dropped or reduced when the evidence does not show secrecy, a private place, a prohibited purpose, or who made the recording, or when a search was unlawful. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm raise these issues with prosecutors early, often before charges are filed, through representation before charges are filed.

Is sharing a secret recording a separate crime in Florida?

Yes. Since October 1, 2024, sending a recording you know or have reason to believe was made by digital voyeurism is digital voyeurism dissemination, a third-degree felony, and selling it is commercial dissemination. The Brancato Law Firm looks at whether the client knew how the recording was made, an element the State must prove for sharing charges.

Does recording a partner during sex count as video voyeurism?

It can, if the partner did not know about or consent to the recording. Consent to sex is not consent to be recorded, but consent to recording can be shown through messages, a visible device, or past practice. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm gather that evidence early, and our article on revenge porn charges in Florida covers later sharing of intimate images.

Is a teenager who records a classmate charged with a felony?

Usually not as an adult felony. An accused under 19 commits a first-degree misdemeanor under section 810.145(2)(b), and most cases involving minors go to juvenile court. The Brancato Law Firm works to keep these cases in diversion programs that avoid a permanent record.

Will I have to register as a sex offender if the person I recorded was 17?

Not under section 810.145(8) unless the person was under 16, or you were a caretaker or school employee of a student. Registration applies only to subsection (8) convictions, so the age of the person recorded and your role decide the question. Our sex crimes defense attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm challenge the State’s proof of both facts.

Speak with our attorneys before the forensic report comes back

The weeks after a phone or camera is seized are when the defense can shape the charge, before a prosecutor decides between a misdemeanor, a third-degree felony, or a registrable offense. Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato founded The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. to defend people in exactly this position, and our attorneys can review the warrant, the device report, and the facts about consent. Call us at any hour at (813) 727-7159 for a confidential consultation. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking criminal defense clients in Tampa.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

Most child pornography cases in Tampa begin with an automated report from a tech company, months before anyone knocks on a door. I learned how investigators build these cases as a police academy instructor teaching officers search-and-seizure law, and as a Major Crimes Unit attorney handling sex crime and child abuse cases. Today, as founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I lead a team that defends people charged in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, many of whom had no record before the search warrant. Our attorneys start with the evidence trail: the report, the warrant, and the forensic image of each device.

How do child pornography investigations start in Florida?

Most cases start with a CyberTipline report from an online platform to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which routes it to law enforcement. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 2258A, requires providers to report apparent CSAM once they have actual knowledge of it, but expressly does not require them to monitor users or scan content. Many large platforms scan anyway, usually by comparing a file’s hash value, a digital fingerprint, to a list of known images.

The volume is enormous. In 2025, NCMEC made 126,256 CyberTipline reports available to law enforcement for Florida, including 70,812 referrals, according to NCMEC’s 2025 CyberTipline Reports by State. Nationally, NCMEC received 20.5 million reports in 2024. Each report then has to be traced to a person through subpoenas for subscriber and IP address records, which is where the State’s first assumptions enter the case.

Can the search be challenged?

Yes. A search challenge is often the strongest defense, because if the warrant falls, the files usually fall with it. In Burnett v. State, 848 So. 2d 1170 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), a case investigated by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Second District held that the affidavit supporting the warrant for the defendant’s computer and diskettes was fatally defective and reversed 136 counts of possession that flowed from the seizure. The court affirmed other convictions but threw out every possession count.

Our attorneys look for these warrant problems in every case:

• Thin probable cause. The affidavit must connect the person and the place to be searched to the files, not just repeat that a tip exists.
• Staleness. Months can pass between the tip and the warrant. Our article on the 10-day search warrant rule explains a reversal on timing grounds.
• Scope. A warrant for one device or account does not authorize a search of everything a person owns.
• Account warrants. Warrants to Google, Apple, or other providers raise their own issues, covered in our guide to a Google account legal request.

What is a private search doctrine motion to suppress?

A private search doctrine motion asks the court to suppress evidence because police opened a flagged file without a warrant when no person at the reporting company had looked at that file first. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s private search cases, police may repeat a search a private party already did, but may not go beyond it without a warrant. When a tech company flags a file only by an automated hash match, the defense argues that no private person ever saw the contents, so the officer who opened the file conducted a new government search. Because police in many CyberTip cases open the files first and get warrants afterward, a win on this motion can take down every warrant built on that first look.

Our firm files these motions in Hillsborough County cases, and we build them from the CyberTip itself. Google’s CyberTips answer a question for each reported file: “Was File Reviewed by Company?” A “No” means no Google reviewer looked at that file for the report; the flag rests on a hash match to a different file someone reviewed in the past. We match every file the detective opened to that answer, and we point out what the State must prove at the hearing. A warrantless search shifts the burden to the State, so the prosecution must show, file by file, that a private person actually viewed what the officer opened.

Where do the courts stand on opening hash-matched files?

The courts are split, and Florida’s state appellate courts have not settled the question for the files a company never viewed. In Morales v. State, 274 So. 3d 1213 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019), a Santa Rosa County defendant uploaded an image to a chatroom whose service matched it to known CSAM through Microsoft’s PhotoDNA. No one at the company or NCMEC opened it before an FDLE agent did, without a warrant. The First District held that the agent’s viewing did not exceed the private search because the hash match identified the image with near certainty.

In Lowers, Google hash-matched 156 files in a Google Drive account, a reviewer opened 31, and the CyberTip showed which files were opened and which were not. A detective then opened files that neither Google nor NCMEC had viewed. The Fourth Circuit held that was an unconstitutional search. Brillhart, an appeal from the Middle District of Florida, went the other way on its record, but only because the file’s hash traced to a file a human at Google had already confirmed. The Second District, which hears appeals from Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, has not squarely decided the question in the decisions we have reviewed. In Youngman v. State, 342 So. 3d 770 (Fla. 2d DCA 2022), it held only that police software finding files a defendant shared publicly on BitTorrent was not a search at all.

Legal scholars have questioned how far hash searches should reach. A 2018 Stanford Law Review note, Dennis Martin’s Demystifying Hash Searches, argues that police conduct a Fourth Amendment search whenever they use an algorithm to do what would be a search if done by hand.

How do our attorneys build a private search motion?

Our attorneys build the motion from the State’s own documents, in five steps:

1. Pull the per-file review answers. We read the CyberTip’s “Was File Reviewed by Company?” answer for every reported file.
2. Match them to what the detective opened. The warrant affidavits usually describe specific files; we check whether each described file was one no company employee viewed.
3. Hold the State to its burden. At the evidentiary hearing, the State must prove with competent evidence, not the tip’s own label, that a person reviewed each file the officer opened.
4. Excise the tainted descriptions. We ask the court to strike the officer’s descriptions of unlawfully viewed files from each warrant affidavit and test whether probable cause remains.
5. Defeat good faith and attenuation. Searches done after the 2021 Wilson decision are harder to excuse as good faith, and a client who invoked the right to counsel and gave no statement leaves the State no break in the chain, unlike the defendant in Lowers.

Lowers carries a practical lesson. The Fourth Circuit found the search unconstitutional and still let the evidence in because the defendant talked to police and consented to searches afterward. A person who stays silent and asks for a lawyer protects the motion as well as the case.

Can a CyberTip be wrong?

Yes. A CyberTip is a report, not proof, and both its labels and its claims about human review can be wrong. The clearest Florida example involves William Lawshe, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer who had been named national wildlife officer of the year in 2014. According to News4JAX reporting, a St. Johns County investigation that began with a February 2023 tip led to three counts of possessing child pornography, he left the agency, and the charges were dropped that December after his lawyers produced evidence they said proved his innocence.

Lawshe then sued Verizon and its cloud-storage contractor. In Lawshe v. Verizon Communications, Inc., No. 3:24-cv-137-MMH-LLL (M.D. Fla. Feb. 28, 2025), he alleged that his account held legal images of adult models and that the CyberTip behind his arrest rested on a hash match to an image tagged only “unconfirmed.” He alleged the report still stated that the company “had viewed the entire contents” of the image and that it showed a “pre-pubescent” minor, when the people pictured were plainly adults. Judge Marcia Morales Howard held that federal reporting immunity did not defeat his defamation and Stored Communications Act claims over that report at the pleading stage, writing that the defendants “conflate an intent to immunize mistaken reports with an intent to immunize unfounded reports.” The parties later settled, and in February 2026 the court vacated the order at their request, so it is not precedent. It remains a public record of how an automated flag, and a claim that someone reviewed it, can be wrong.

That is why our attorneys never accept a CyberTip at face value. We check whether each file was actually reviewed, whether it was labeled “apparent” or only “unconfirmed,” and whether an independent examiner agrees the image shows a minor at all. A person who has been falsely flagged has a defense, and the first step is to say nothing to investigators and call a lawyer.

What does the State have to prove about knowledge?

The State must prove you knowingly possessed, controlled, or intentionally viewed material you knew contained CSAM. Under section 827.071, Florida Statutes, the file’s presence on a device is not enough by itself. When the device or home is shared, Florida applies constructive possession rules: the State must show you knew of the files and could exercise control over them through evidence beyond mere proximity, as the Second District explained in Jenrette-Smith v. State, 114 So. 3d 427 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013).

Forensic evidence decides most knowledge disputes. Our attorneys retain independent digital forensic examiners to answer questions the State’s report often skips:

1. Who was using the device? Login records, user profiles, and activity at the time of download.
2. Were the files ever opened? Access dates, thumbnails, and viewing history.
3. Where did the files sit? A deleted file, a cache, or an automatic sync folder tells a different story than an organized collection.
4. How did they arrive? Bulk downloads, file-sharing programs, malware, or a synced account a user never opened.
5. Are the counts right? Duplicates, thumbnails of the same image, and files of uncertain age inflate the count.

Deleted files raise their own issue. In Burnett, the State’s expert found deleted images on diskettes but could not say when or by whom they were deleted. The Second District resolved the case on the warrant and expressly left open whether deleted images retrievable only by an expert prove knowing possession. Our attorneys press that question when the evidence is deleted or fragmentary. Because constructive possession works the same way across offenses, our guide to constructive possession in Florida is useful background.

What changed in Florida’s CSAM law on July 1, 2026?

On July 1, 2026, Chapter 2026-20, Laws of Florida (CS/CS/HB 1159), renamed “child pornography” as “child sexual abuse material” throughout the statutes and raised several penalties. Possessing, controlling, or intentionally viewing CSAM under section 827.071(5) became a second-degree felony, and each image and each child depicted is still a separate offense. Our post on child pornography penalties in Florida covers sentencing, scoring, and the image-count enhancement in detail. The changes that most affect defense strategy are these:

The transmission change builds on earlier law about file sharing. Section 847.0137 reaches a person who knew or reasonably should have known he was transmitting CSAM. In Jeror v. State, 313 So. 3d 178 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021), a Sarasota County defendant moved downloaded videos into a folder a BitTorrent program shared automatically. The Second District held the evidence let the jury find he reasonably should have known the files were being shared, and affirmed. With cloud links now included, how a folder was shared, and whether the user knew, is a central fact our attorneys investigate.

Can a child pornography charge be dropped or reduced in Florida?

Yes. Charges can be dismissed, reduced, or resolved for fewer counts when the search is suppressed, the knowledge evidence is weak, or mitigation persuades the prosecutor. Counts tied to unreliable forensics can also be dropped. Early work matters most, and when an investigation is still underway, pre-file advocacy can shape what the State files.

One example from our firm: a young man who had just turned 18 was charged with possession of child pornography and faced prison and sexual offender registration. Our attorneys built a detailed mitigation case and negotiated with the prosecutor, and the case resolved with a plea to a non-registerable offense with treatment. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Our guide to a mitigation report explains that work, and our overview of sex offender registration in Florida explains what registration under section 943.0435, Florida Statutes requires.

Charges involving chats with a minor are a different offense with different defenses; see solicitation of a child using a computer and what to do if you messaged a minor online. Our Tampa internet crimes attorney page describes how our firm defends these cases.

What should you do if police contact you about a CSAM investigation?

Do not answer questions, consent to a device search, or delete anything; call a defense attorney first. Deleting files after you learn of an investigation can lead to a separate tampering charge and can be argued as evidence of knowledge. Investigators often arrive with a warrant already signed and ask friendly questions while the search happens. Anything said during that visit can supply the knowledge element the forensic evidence lacks.

• Say you want a lawyer and will not answer questions.
• Do not give passwords or unlock devices without advice from counsel.
• Write down who came, what they took, and what they said.
• Keep the warrant and inventory paperwork.

Frequently asked questions about fighting a child pornography charge in Florida

Is accidentally downloading child pornography a crime in Florida?

Not if it was accidental. Section 827.071(5) requires knowing possession or intentional viewing of material the person knew contained CSAM. The Brancato Law Firm uses forensic evidence, such as whether a file was ever opened, to show what a client did and did not know.

Can I be charged if other people used my computer or Wi-Fi?

You can be charged, but shared access is a real defense. On a shared device or network, the State must prove knowledge and control beyond simple proximity to the files. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build a timeline of who used each device and account when the files arrived.

Is sharing a Google Drive or Dropbox link a crime under Florida’s 2026 law?

Sharing a link or access credential to cloud storage that contains CSAM can now be charged as transmission under section 847.0137, a second-degree felony. The Brancato Law Firm examines whether the client created the link, knew what it contained, and knew it was shared, which is where these cases are won or lost.

Can a CyberTip search be suppressed if no one at Google viewed the file?

It can, in some courts. Several federal appeals courts have held that police violate the Fourth Amendment by opening a hash-matched file no company employee viewed, while others, including the Eleventh Circuit on a record of prior human review, have allowed it. The Brancato Law Firm files private search doctrine motions built on the CyberTip’s file-by-file review answers, a question Florida’s Second District has not settled.

What if a CyberTip flagged an image of an adult?

Then the State cannot prove a key element, because CSAM must depict a minor. Automated tags such as “unconfirmed” signal that even the reporting system was unsure of the person’s age. The Brancato Law Firm retains independent examiners to test age and origin, and cases like Lawshe v. Verizon Communications, Inc., No. 3:24-cv-137-MMH-LLL (M.D. Fla. Feb. 28, 2025) show that these reports can be wrong.

Can a search warrant based on a CyberTip be thrown out?

Yes, if the affidavit lacks probable cause, the information was stale, or police exceeded the scope of the warrant or the private search. In Burnett v. State, 848 So. 2d 1170 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), a defective affidavit led to reversal of 136 possession counts. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm file motions to suppress when the warrant or the tip falls short.

Does Florida’s July 2026 law apply to my case if the files were downloaded earlier?

The new penalties apply to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2026. When downloads span that date, The Brancato Law Firm uses the forensic timeline to argue which law applies to each count; our internet crimes defense team reviews the file dates in every case.

Will I be arrested before I know I am being investigated?

Often, yes. Many people first learn of a CSAM investigation when police execute a search warrant, sometimes months after the original tip. If you think an investigation is underway, The Brancato Law Firm can step in before charges are filed through representation before charges are filed.

For how The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. defends these cases, see our Tampa sex crimes defense practice.

Talk to our attorneys before you talk to investigators

The first conversation with police and the first forensic image of a device shape everything that follows. The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. was founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, and our attorneys can step in before an interview, review the warrant and CyberTip, and bring in an independent forensic examiner. Call us at any hour at (813) 727-7159 for a confidential consultation. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers facing criminal charges.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Internet Crimes page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

The statute number written on a plea form can decide whether a person serves 85% of a prison sentence or nearly all of it. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I handled sex crimes, homicide, and child abuse cases in the Major Crimes Unit before spending more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms. Our attorneys look at the gain-time consequences of every charge and every plea offer before a client decides anything.

What Is the Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr. Act?

The Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr. Act is the name of subsection (7) of Florida’s sexual battery statute. It says a person convicted of committing a sexual battery on or after October 1, 1992, “is not eligible for basic gain-time,” and a 2023 amendment extended that rule to attempts, solicitations, and conspiracies committed on or after July 1, 2023. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm explain this law to clients because its name comes up in plea discussions, but its real effect today depends on other gain-time rules.

The law is named for an 11-year-old Brevard County boy. According to the federal appeals court opinion in Schwab v. Crosby, 451 F.3d 1308 (11th Cir. 2006), Mark Dean Schwab received an eight-year prison sentence for sexual battery in 1988 but was released on probation in early March 1991, about three years into that sentence. On April 18, 1991, Junny Rios-Martinez left for his sixth-grade class and never came home. Schwab was convicted of his murder and was later executed. In 1992, the Legislature cut off basic gain-time for sexual battery and named the law after him.

Do You Serve 100% of a Sexual Battery Sentence in Florida?

Close to it, for offenses committed on or after October 1, 2014. Florida prison sentences earn time off only through gain-time, and a person convicted of sexual battery today cannot earn the two ordinary kinds: basic gain-time is barred by the Junny Rios-Martinez Act, and incentive gain-time is barred by section 944.275, Florida Statutes. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm treat a sexual battery prison sentence as a sentence that will be served in full when we evaluate any plea offer.

Here is why the Junny Rios-Martinez Act alone no longer drives the result. Florida stopped applying basic gain-time to all offenses committed on or after January 1, 1994. For offenses committed on or after October 1, 1995, every Florida prisoner must serve at least 85% of the sentence imposed, and the only common way to reach that 85% floor is incentive gain-time of up to 10 days per month. Section 944.275 then takes incentive gain-time away for sexual battery committed on or after October 1, 2014, with one narrow statutory exception.

For an attempted sexual battery committed before July 1, 2023, the 85% rule usually controls, because both gain-time bars were written for completed offenses until the 2023 amendment. Our attorneys check the offense date in the charging document first, because the date decides which rule applies.

Which Sex Offenses Lose Incentive Gain-Time in Florida?

For offenses committed on or after October 1, 2014, section 944.275 bars incentive gain-time for sexual battery under section 794.011 (with one narrow exception), lewd or lascivious offenses under section 800.04, lewd or lascivious offenses against an elderly or disabled person under section 825.1025, certain computer solicitation offenses under section 847.0135(5), and specified kidnapping, false imprisonment, and murder provisions tied to sexual offenses. The Brancato Law Firm compares every proposed plea charge against that list, because a plea that avoids “sexual battery” but lands on a listed lewd or lascivious count does not change how much of the sentence is served.

That is why the old advice that “lewd or lascivious” avoids the harshest sentencing rule is out of date. Our post on unlawful sexual activity with a minor under section 794.05 explains one charge that sits outside the incentive gain-time bar but still carries registration.

What Happens After a Sexual Battery Sentence Is Served?

Release from prison is rarely the end of the case. A sexual battery conviction brings lifetime registration in most cases, possible sex offender probation, and a screening for civil commitment under the Jimmy Ryce Act before release. The Brancato Law Firm plans for those consequences at the charging stage, because the plea that shortens a sentence can still lock in decades of supervision.

The numbers show how long those consequences last. As of October 2024, Florida’s sex offender registry listed 86,207 people, and 20,742 of them were confined, including people in prison and people civilly committed, according to the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). The same report counted 1,999 registered sex offenders living in the community in Hillsborough County in 2024.

Policy has moved toward longer prison terms even though the national research on reoffending is more mixed than the public assumes. A Bureau of Justice Statistics study of nearly 9,700 sex offenders released from state prisons in 15 states in 1994 found that 5.3% were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years. The same study found sex offenders were about four times more likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for another sex crime. Our attorneys use that kind of data carefully at sentencing, where a judge decides how much prison is necessary in the first place.

We cover each of these in more depth in our guides to sex offender registration in Florida, fighting Jimmy Ryce civil commitment, and sex offender probation rules.

How Do Our Attorneys Defend Against a Sentence With No Gain-Time?

Our attorneys defend these cases on the assumption that any prison term will be served almost in full, so the work focuses on the charge itself, the offense date, and the charge of any plea. As a Tampa sex crimes lawyer team, The Brancato Law Firm follows five steps:

1. Fight the charge. We test the evidence, the forensic findings, and the accuser’s statements, because an acquittal or dismissal avoids every consequence on this page.
2. Confirm the offense date. The date decides whether the Junny Rios-Martinez Act, the 85% rule, or the 2014 incentive gain-time bar applies.
3. Read the plea charge against the statute. We check whether a proposed plea lands on a statute listed in section 944.275 before advising a client to accept it.
4. Count real time, not paper time. We explain to clients and families how much of any proposed sentence will actually be served, including jail credit.
5. Plan for after release. We address registration, probation conditions, and civil commitment exposure as part of the same negotiation.

Many sexual battery investigations start months before an arrest. When detectives call or a controlled call is suspected, representation before charges are filed gives our attorneys a chance to shape the charging decision before a sexual battery count is ever filed.

Why Should You Talk to a Lawyer Before Discussing a Plea?

Because the gain-time consequences are fixed by the statute of conviction, and they cannot be fixed after the plea is entered. A plea offer that sounds shorter on paper can mean more real time in prison than a longer sentence on a different charge. The Brancato Law Firm runs those numbers before any plea discussion with the State Attorney’s Office, and we advise families on the real release date, not the headline number.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Junny Rios-Martinez Act

Does the Junny Rios-Martinez Act apply to lewd or lascivious charges?

No. The Act applies only to sexual battery under section 794.011, but lewd or lascivious offenses under section 800.04 committed on or after October 1, 2014, lose incentive gain-time under section 944.275 anyway. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm check both statutes before telling a client how much of a sentence will be served.

Does the Junny Rios-Martinez Act apply to attempted sexual battery?

Yes, for offenses committed on or after July 1, 2023, when the Legislature added attempts, solicitations, and conspiracies. For older attempt cases, The Brancato Law Firm reviews the offense date closely, because the 85% rule may control instead.

Can you get out early on a Florida sexual battery sentence for good behavior?

Generally no, for sexual battery committed on or after October 1, 2014, because incentive gain-time, Florida’s main good-behavior credit, is barred. The Brancato Law Firm makes sure clients get every day of jail credit the law allows, since credit for time already served still counts against the sentence.

Can sexual battery charges be dropped or reduced in Florida?

Yes. Prosecutors dismiss or reduce sexual battery charges when the evidence does not hold up, when the accuser’s account changes, or when the defense shows a lesser charge fits the facts better. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build that case for the State Attorney’s Office early, and our sex crimes defense practice handles these negotiations in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties.

Does a sexual battery conviction mean civil commitment after prison?

Not automatically. A person convicted of a sexually violent offense is screened before release, and the State must prove in a separate proceeding that the person meets the Jimmy Ryce Act criteria. The Brancato Law Firm explains that process in our guide to fighting Jimmy Ryce civil commitment.

Is the Junny Rios-Martinez Act a mandatory minimum sentence?

No. The Act does not set a minimum prison term; it controls how much of whatever sentence the judge imposes will be served. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm address both questions separately, first the sentence length under the scoresheet and then how much of it the client will actually serve.

Talk to Our Attorneys Before Any Plea Discussion

Before you or a loved one discusses any plea on a sexual battery charge, call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. at (813) 727-7159. Founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, our firm reviews the offense date, the charge, and every plea option for its real-time consequences, and you can call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for criminal defense in Spanish and Haitian Creole in Tampa.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes Defense page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

A Florida prosecutor charging a lewd exhibition case has always had to answer one question first: did the child see or sense what happened? As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, a former Major Crimes Unit attorney who handled homicide, sex crime, and child abuse cases, and a former Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys, I have tried cases where that question decided everything. On October 1, 2026, the Legislature took that question away for a new category of cases, and our attorneys are already adjusting how we defend them.

This guide covers what the new law prohibits, the 1992 Florida Supreme Court decision behind it, how the bill changed in committee, what it means for plea negotiations and registration, and how these charges are defended.

What Does Florida’s New Section 800.035 Prohibit?

Section 800.035, Florida Statutes, creates the crime of “indecent exposure of sexual organs while observing a child.” A person commits it if, while observing a child under 16 for the purpose of his or her own sexual arousal or gratification, the person does either of two things:

• Intentionally exposes his or her sexual organs in a lewd or lascivious manner; or
• Intentionally performs any sexual act that does not involve physical or sexual contact with the child, including masturbation, sadomasochistic abuse, sexual bestiality, or simulated sexual activity.

The statute defines “observing” as “intentionally viewing another person under circumstances in which the offender is reasonably capable of being seen by the person being viewed.” It then adds the key sentence: it is not a defense that the child “was not aware of any specific conduct on the part of the offender or did not see the offender’s sexual organs.”

The offense is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Two exceptions apply: a mother breastfeeding her baby, and a person who is merely nude in a place set apart for nudity. The law was passed as CS/CS/HB 1525, signed on June 16, 2026, and published as chapter 2026-159, Laws of Florida.

Why Did Florida Create This Law?

Florida created section 800.035 to reach conduct that the existing lewd exhibition statute could not. Lewd or lascivious exhibition under section 800.04(7) requires the act to happen “in the presence of” a child under 16. The Florida Supreme Court has read that phrase to require proof that the child actually perceived the act.

That rule comes from State v. Werner, 609 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 1992). Martin Werner of Broward County took his 13-month-old daughter into a locked bathroom for half an hour and later told his wife he had been masturbating while caring for the child. A jury convicted him, but the appeals court reversed because the State had not proved the baby was aware of the act. The Supreme Court agreed, holding that “the child must see or sense that a lewd or lascivious act is taking place for a violation to occur,” even if the child cannot understand or describe it.

For more than 30 years, Werner gave the defense a factual question to fight in every exhibition case: was the child asleep, facing away, or too far away to notice? Supporters of HB 1525 targeted exactly that. Representative Doug Bankson, the House sponsor, told CBS12 that the bill was partly prompted by an incident in his district and that the conduct can “scar a child for life.” Former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told the station the conduct can escalate if it goes unpunished.

The new crime does not overrule Werner for section 800.04(7). A prosecutor charging the more serious second-degree felony still has to prove the child perceived the act. Section 800.035 is a separate, lower-level crime built for the cases Werner screened out.

How Did HB 1525 Change in the Legislature?

The bill changed shape twice before it passed, and it passed without a single “no” vote. Representative Doug Bankson sponsored the House bill with Representative Yarkosky. The Senate companion, SB 1742, was sponsored by Senator Jonathan Martin.

The first Senate committee substitute created a felony for lewd acts “while viewing” a child and repealed section 800.02. The second Senate substitute renamed the crime “indecent exposure of sexual organs while observing a child,” replaced “viewing” with the narrower defined term “observing,” and added the sentence that a child’s lack of awareness is no defense. The House Judiciary Committee adopted the same name and repealed section 800.02 in its version.

Vote tallies come from the official bill history and the Senate and House staff analyses. The Criminal Justice Impact Conference, the Legislature’s prison forecasting group, estimated a “positive indeterminate” effect on prison beds, meaning more prison admissions in a number it could not predict.

How Common Are These Charges in Florida?

Lewd exhibition charges are a small but steady part of Florida’s sex crime caseload. According to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee’s analysis of SB 1742, which relied on Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Department of Corrections data compiled by the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Florida recorded these numbers in fiscal year 2024-25:

The same analysis reports 34 new prison commitments for lewd exhibition offenses in that year, and a 9.7% incarceration rate for a Level 1 third-degree felony, the level the new crime is expected to score at. In plain terms, most people convicted of a Level 1 felony in Florida are not sent to state prison, but a felony conviction on a sex offense still follows them for life.

Does the New Crime Require Sex Offender Registration?

No. Section 800.035 is not on the list of registrable offenses in section 943.0435, Florida’s sexual offender registration statute. Section 800.04 is on that list, so a conviction for lewd or lascivious exhibition under section 800.04(7) requires lifetime registration, while a conviction under section 800.035 does not.

The new offense is also not on the list of crimes that trigger the mandatory sex offender probation conditions in section 948.30, such as curfews, residence restrictions, and no unsupervised contact with minors. A judge can still impose special conditions that relate to the offense, but they are not automatic.

In our view, that gap makes section 800.035 a significant new plea option. Before October 1, 2026, a defendant facing a lewd exhibition charge often had to choose between trial and a plea that carried registration. Now there is a felony that addresses the same conduct without registration. Whether prosecutors at the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office will offer it in a given case depends on the facts, but our attorneys will ask for it whenever the evidence of the child’s awareness is weak.

What Happened to Section 800.02?

HB 1525 repealed section 800.02, Florida’s “unnatural and lascivious act” law, effective October 1, 2026. That statute made it a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail, to commit an unnatural and lascivious act with another person. Florida courts treated it as a lesser included offense of lewd or lascivious charges under section 800.04, which meant a jury could return it as a compromise verdict.

In our experience, prosecutors almost never filed section 800.02 as a charge. Its real value was at trial. Because it was a lesser included offense with a name that sounds nearly as bad as lewd or lascivious, a jury looking for a compromise could choose it without knowing it was a non-sex misdemeanor with no registration requirement. For defense attorneys trying certain lewd or lascivious cases, it was a hidden gem, and its repeal takes that compromise verdict off the table for conduct on or after October 1, 2026.

The repeal removes that misdemeanor option for conduct on or after October 1, 2026. The Legislature’s fiscal analysts predicted the change could push more cases toward the more serious lewd or lascivious offenses. Charges for conduct before October 1, 2026 are not wiped out, because Article X, section 9 of the Florida Constitution provides that repealing a criminal statute does not affect prosecution or punishment for a crime already committed.

How Do You Fight an Indecent Exposure While Observing a Child Charge?

The State must prove intent, purpose, observation, and age beyond a reasonable doubt, and each element gives the defense room to work. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team focuses on these issues:

1. Purpose of sexual gratification. The State must prove the person was observing the child “for the purpose of his or her own sexual arousal or gratification.” Changing clothes, urinating, or being nude at home is not this crime without that purpose. Purpose is usually proved with circumstantial evidence, and circumstantial evidence can be challenged.
2. Observation. The person must have intentionally viewed the child under circumstances where the person was “reasonably capable of being seen” by the child. Distance, lighting, window tint, blinds, and sight lines matter. Our attorneys visit and photograph the scene.
3. Lewd or lascivious exposure. Nudity alone is not enough. The statute requires intentional exposure “in a lewd or lascivious manner,” and the State must prove both the intent and the lewd character of the exposure.
4. Age of the child. The child must be under 16. That element requires proof, usually through records or testimony.
5. Identity. Many of these cases begin with a neighbor’s report or a home security camera. Video quality, time stamps, and the reliability of an identification are all open to challenge.
6. Date of the conduct. Section 800.035 applies only to conduct on or after October 1, 2026. Earlier conduct must be charged under the laws in effect at the time.

These cases often start with an investigation before any arrest. If a detective has called you or a neighbor has made an accusation, representation before charges are filed gives our attorneys a chance to present context to the State Attorney’s Office before a filing decision.

Does Exposure Lead to Hands-On Offending?

Supporters of the law argued that non-contact offending can escalate, and research gives that argument partial support. In a long-term study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law in 2006, Philip Firestone and colleagues followed 208 men assessed for exhibitionism at an Ottawa clinic for an average of 13 years. During follow-up, 23.6% were charged with or convicted of a new sexual offense, and 19 of the 49 men who reoffended sexually committed a hands-on offense.

The same study found that most men in the sample were not charged with a new sexual offense, and the strongest predictors of reoffending were measurable risk factors. That is why a professional psychosexual evaluation is often central to mitigation in these cases. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm use qualified evaluators to give prosecutors and judges an individual risk picture rather than a general assumption.

This post is part of our guide to the new Florida criminal laws that took effect October 1, 2026, which summarizes all eight laws in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it a crime in Florida if the child never saw anything?

Yes, under section 800.035, as long as the State proves the other elements, including that the person was observing the child for sexual gratification and could reasonably have been seen. The Brancato Law Firm focuses on the observation and purpose elements in these cases, because the child’s awareness is no longer a defense to this charge.

Do I have to register as a sex offender for a section 800.035 conviction?

No. Section 800.035 is not listed in section 943.0435, so a conviction does not trigger sexual offender registration, though other consequences of a felony conviction still apply. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm explain the full collateral picture before any plea, and our guide to sex offender registration in Florida covers which offenses do require it.

Can a lewd exhibition charge be reduced to the new offense?

It can, if the prosecutor agrees and the facts support it, because section 800.035 covers similar conduct at a lower degree and without registration. The Brancato Law Firm raises that option in negotiations when the evidence that the child perceived the act is weak, as described in our guide on how to fight a lewd and lascivious charge.

Is being naked in my own home illegal under the new law?

No, not by itself. The State must prove intentional lewd exposure or a sexual act while observing a child for sexual gratification, under circumstances where the child could reasonably see you. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm look closely at cases built on a single moment seen through a window, because context is often the whole defense.

What is the penalty for indecent exposure in front of an adult in Florida?

Exposure of sexual organs under section 800.03 is a first-degree misdemeanor for a first offense, punishable by up to one year in jail, and a third-degree felony for a second or later offense. The Brancato Law Firm defends exposure charges in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, and our sex crimes defense attorneys review whether the conduct was actually lewd.

What happens to pending section 800.02 cases?

They continue. The Florida Constitution provides that repealing a criminal statute does not affect prosecution for crimes already committed, so conduct before October 1, 2026 is still governed by the law in effect at the time. In a lewd or lascivious trial for conduct before that date, our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm will ask for the section 800.02 lesser included instruction, because it gives the jury a non-sex misdemeanor option.

Talk to a Tampa Sex Crimes Defense Lawyer Today

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes practice page.

What you say to a detective in the first days of an exposure investigation can become the State’s proof of purpose. Before you answer questions, call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159. Our attorneys will review the allegation, the scene, and any video, and we will advise you on whether to speak at all. Call us at any hour; our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers facing criminal charges.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and a former Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys, I have watched people accept a withhold on a sex charge believing it kept their record clean. I’m Rocky Brancato, and before that leadership role I handled sex crime and child abuse cases in the Major Crimes Unit. Our attorneys review registration exposure on every sex offense plea offer before a client signs anything, because a withhold that looks like a win at sentencing can carry a lifetime of reporting duties.

What Is a Withhold of Adjudication in Florida?

A withhold of adjudication is a sentence in which the judge accepts a guilty or no contest plea but does not formally declare the defendant guilty. Under section 948.01(2), Florida Statutes, the court may “stay and withhold the adjudication of guilt” when it finds the defendant is not likely to reoffend, and a felony defendant who receives a withhold must be placed on probation.

Outside the sex offense laws, a withhold matters. It avoids a formal adjudication of guilt, and in an ordinary felony case it is usually the first step toward sealing the record. Prosecutors and defense lawyers both treat a withhold as a meaningful benefit in theft, drug, and other non-sex cases, and our firm negotiates for them regularly.

Florida limits when a withhold is available at all. Under section 775.08435, Florida Statutes, a court may not withhold adjudication for any capital, life, or first-degree felony. For a second-degree felony, a withhold requires a written request from the State Attorney or written findings supporting a downward departure, and it is barred if the defendant already has a prior felony withhold from a separate case.

Does a Withhold of Adjudication Avoid Sex Offender Registration in Florida?

No. For registration, Florida law counts the plea, not the label the judge puts on the judgment. Section 943.0435(1) defines “convicted” as “a determination of guilt as a result of a trial or the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.” Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer page explains how we defend the underlying charges that trigger this rule.

The Sexual Predators Act uses the same definition. Under section 775.21(2), Florida Statutes, a “conviction” for sexual predator purposes also means a determination of guilt “regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.” A withhold therefore protects a client from neither the sexual offender registry nor a sexual predator designation when the offense qualifies.

The table shows why a withhold on a sex offense is worth much less than the same withhold on a theft or drug charge. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm explain each of these rows to a client before a plea is entered, not after the registration paperwork arrives.

What Did the Court Decide in Price v. State?

The court held that a man who received a withhold of adjudication and finished probation still had to register as a sex offender. In Price v. State, 43 So. 3d 854 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010), Peter Price pleaded no contest in 1994 to two counts of lewd and lascivious assault upon a child under section 800.04. The judge withheld adjudication and placed him on five years of probation, which he completed in 1999.

Price registered for years. In 2008 he completed one registration but chose not to complete the second one six months later, and he was arrested for failing to register properly. He moved to dismiss, arguing that because adjudication was withheld he had never been “convicted.” The trial court denied the motion, Price pleaded no contest to the failure-to-register charge while reserving his right to appeal, and he was sentenced to six months in the Volusia County jail.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed. It held that under the 1999 and 2008 versions of section 943.0435, “‘convicted’ for purposes of sex offender registry included entry of a plea of nolo contendere, regardless of whether adjudication was withheld.” The court added that the result would be the same even under the older 1997 wording.

The court relied on Montgomery v. State, 897 So. 2d 1282 (Fla. 2005), in which the Florida Supreme Court held that a no contest plea followed by a withhold of adjudication is a conviction for sentencing purposes. The lesson from Price is practical: a withhold that ended decades ago can still support a new felony arrest today if the registration duties were not followed.

Does Federal Law Treat a Florida Withhold as a Conviction?

Yes. The federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), found at 34 U.S.C. § 20911, requires registration by anyone “convicted” of a sex offense, and federal courts have held that a Florida withhold qualifies.

In United States v. Bridges, 741 F.3d 464 (4th Cir. 2014), William Bridges had pleaded no contest in Florida in 1999 to attempted sexual battery upon a child under 16. The Florida court withheld adjudication and imposed two years of probation, with credit for three days in jail. Years later he was federally indicted in Virginia for traveling interstate and failing to update his registration.

Bridges argued that he had never been “convicted” because Florida withheld adjudication. The district court rejected that argument in United States v. Bridges, 901 F. Supp. 2d 677 (W.D. Va. 2012), and the Fourth Circuit affirmed. The appellate court held that his “nolo contendere plea with adjudication withheld constitutes a conviction” under SORNA “because it resulted in a penal consequence,” meaning the probation and jail time.

This matters for anyone who may leave Florida. A person who believes the withhold ended the matter can face a federal failure-to-register charge in another state, prosecuted by federal authorities rather than the State Attorney’s Office.

How Many People Are on Florida’s Sex Offender Registry?

As of October 2024, Florida’s registry held 86,207 registrants, including 16,246 designated sexual predators, according to the Florida Legislature’s OPPAGA Report 24-11 (December 2024). The same report counted 1,999 registrants in Hillsborough County in 2024, more than in Pinellas (1,579) or Pasco (872).

Registration violations also produce a steady stream of new felony cases. OPPAGA found roughly 2,200 arrests for registration violations in Florida in 2023. Failing to register, or failing to report a change on time, is a third-degree felony under section 943.0435(9), and each missed report is a separate offense.

Why Do People Plead Without Knowing About Registration?

Many defendants accept a sex offense plea without understanding the registration consequence because courts have long treated registration as a “collateral” consequence that the judge is not constitutionally required to explain. Law professor Jenny Roberts documented this gap in The Mythical Divide Between Collateral and Direct Consequences of Criminal Convictions, 93 Minn. L. Rev. 670 (2008), listing mandatory sex offender registration among the consequences courts have held need not be disclosed before a guilty plea.

Her article argues that the line between “direct” and “collateral” consequences is a fiction, and that a defendant should be warned about any consequence a reasonable person would consider significant to the decision to plead. Registration fits that description. Because the law does not guarantee the warning, our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm give it ourselves, in writing, before any sex offense plea is entered.

Can a Withheld Sex Offense Be Sealed or Expunged in Florida?

No. Section 943.0584, Florida Statutes, makes a record ineligible for sealing or expunction if it is a conviction for listed offenses, and it defines “conviction” to include a guilty or no contest plea “regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.” The list includes any offense in chapter 794, lewd or lascivious offenses involving a person under 16, offenses under section 847.0135, and “any violation specified as a predicate offense for registration” as a sexual predator or sexual offender.

In an ordinary felony case, a withhold is often the path to a sealed record. On a registrable sex offense, that path is closed, which is another reason the plea decision carries so much weight.

How Can a Sex Offense Case Be Resolved Without Registration?

Registration is avoided only when the case ends without a guilty or no contest plea to an offense on the registration list. These are the paths our attorneys pursue, depending on the evidence:

1. Pre-file advocacy. When a client is under investigation, our representation before charges are filed can present evidence to the State Attorney’s Office before a charging decision is made.
2. Dismissal or a no-file decision. Weak identification, unreliable statements, or a suppressed confession can end a case before any plea is discussed.
3. A plea to a non-registrable offense. Where the facts support it, the negotiation focuses on the charge itself, because the charge, not the sentence, decides registration.
4. Trial. An acquittal carries no registration duty. Rocky Brancato has tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict.
5. Correcting an error after the fact. When a client was told to register or designated a predator in error, our firm reviews the judgment, plea form, and statute in effect on the offense date for a motion to correct.

A withhold can still be valuable on a non-registrable plea. The point is to negotiate the charge first and the withhold second.

What Should You Ask Before Accepting a Withhold on a Sex Charge?

Ask whether the specific statute you are pleading to appears on the registration list, because that answer decides registration regardless of the sentence. Before signing a plea form, get clear answers to these questions:

• Is the offense listed in section 943.0435 or section 775.21, including as an attempt?
• Could this plea, combined with any prior record, qualify me as a sexual predator?
• Will federal SORNA require registration if I move or travel to another state?
• Will this plea make my record permanently ineligible for sealing?
• If I must register, what are my reporting deadlines and how often must I reregister?
• Is there any path to removal later, such as the 25-year petition or Romeo and Juliet relief?

In Hillsborough County, a person who is not taken into custody after a qualifying plea must report in person to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office within 48 hours, under section 943.0435(2). Our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorney page explains how sex offense cases move through the 13th Judicial Circuit, and our guide What Is Sex Offender Registration in Florida? lists every reporting deadline.

Frequently Asked Questions About Withholds and the Sex Offender Registry

Does a no contest plea to a sex offense require registration in Florida?

Yes. Section 943.0435 counts a guilty or no contest plea as a conviction for registration purposes, with or without a withhold. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm treat a no contest plea on a sex charge as the registration decision itself, not a technicality.

Can a withhold of adjudication be undone to get off the sex offender registry?

Not by itself, because the registration duty flows from the plea, not the adjudication. The Brancato Law Firm reviews whether the plea can be vacated in a postconviction motion or whether a statutory removal path applies; our guide Can I Get Off the Sex Offender Registry in Florida? covers each option.

Does a withhold on a sex offense count as a conviction for a sexual predator designation?

Yes. Section 775.21 defines “conviction” to include a plea “regardless of whether adjudication is withheld,” so a withheld prior can count toward a later predator designation. When a predator order was entered in error, The Brancato Law Firm examines the sentencing record for a motion to correct it.

Do I have to register if I received a withhold in Florida and then moved to another state?

Very likely, because federal SORNA treats a Florida withhold with probation as a conviction, and most states apply their own rules on top of it. The Brancato Law Firm can review the Florida judgment before a move so a client knows exactly what the new state and federal law will require.

Can I seal a withheld adjudication for lewd or lascivious conduct in Florida?

No, if the offense involved a person under 16 or is otherwise a registration predicate, section 943.0584 makes the record ineligible for sealing even with a withhold. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm look at the exact statute and subsection in the judgment, because a different charge can produce a different answer on sealing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer before accepting a sex offense plea offer in Tampa?

Yes, because the plea itself decides registration, sealing, and federal exposure, and none of those consequences can be fixed by a lighter sentence. The Brancato Law Firm reviews plea offers in sex crime cases across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties; see our sex crimes defense page for how we approach these cases.

Talk to a Tampa Defense Attorney Before You Sign a Sex Offense Plea

A plea offer on a sex charge usually comes with a deadline, and once the plea is accepted, registration follows by law within 48 hours. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 before you sign, and our attorneys will tell you in plain terms whether the offer triggers registration and what alternatives the evidence supports. You can call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking criminal defense clients in Tampa.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Tampa Sex Crimes Lawyer page. Before you hire any attorney, you can also read Rocky’s book, How to Choose a Major Crimes Attorney – or Any Criminal Defense Attorney for That Matter, available on Amazon.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

The ruling that decides many Florida sex crime trials comes before a single juror is sworn: whether the jury will hear about other accusations. I saw that play out again and again in the Major Crimes Unit, defending homicide, sex crime, and child abuse cases, and over more than 150 jury trials to verdict. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, where our attorneys answer a Williams rule notice with depositions, an independent investigation of the prior accuser, and a targeted motion to exclude.

What is the Williams rule in Florida?

The Williams rule is Florida’s name for the law that controls when a jury may hear about crimes or bad acts other than the one charged. The general version, in section 90.404(2)(a), admits “similar fact evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts” only when it proves a material fact such as motive, opportunity, intent, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake. The same paragraph bars that evidence when it is relevant solely to prove bad character or propensity.

The rule takes its name from Williams v. State, 110 So. 2d 654 (Fla. 1959), a rape prosecution that began in a parking lot near Webb’s City in St. Petersburg. About six weeks before the charged attack, a 16-year-old found Ralph Williams hiding in the back of her car in the same lot at about the same hour. The Florida Supreme Court held that the earlier incident was admissible because it showed a plan, helped identify Williams, and answered his expected consent defense. The court also set the limit that still applies today: evidence whose only relevance is the accused’s character or propensity stays out.

The rule carries the most weight in sex crime prosecutions, where Florida law relaxes it, which is why our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team treats a Williams rule notice as one of the most important filings in the case.

How are sex crime cases different under Florida’s Williams rule?

Sex crime cases are different because Florida law relaxes the propensity ban when the charge is child molestation or a listed sexual offense. Two paragraphs of section 90.404 create that exception, and together they cover sexual battery, lewd or lascivious offenses involving children, and several related crimes.

• Paragraph (2)(b), child molestation. When the defendant is charged with child molestation, evidence of the defendant’s other acts of child molestation “is admissible and may be considered for its bearing on any matter to which it is relevant.” The statute defines child molestation by a list of offenses committed against a person 16 years of age or younger.
• Paragraph (2)(c), sexual offenses. When the defendant is charged with a listed sexual offense, such as sexual battery under section 794.011, evidence of the defendant’s other sexual offenses is admissible on the same terms. The Legislature added this paragraph in 2011, extending the child molestation approach to sexual offenses against victims of any age.

The Florida Supreme Court explained the reach of the child molestation paragraph in McLean v. State, 934 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 2006), a Second District case in which the State offered testimony about earlier molestation to corroborate a child’s account. The court held that paragraph (2)(b) admits other acts regardless of whether they share any similarity or occurred within the family, and upheld the statute where identity was not disputed. The same opinion warned that section 90.403 keeps the statute from opening “the door to introduction of any and all propensity evidence in sexual molestation cases.” The court also left open whether the statute is constitutional when identity is disputed, an open question that matters whenever a case turns on who committed the act.

The exposure is wide. In October 2024, 1,999 registered sex offenders lived in Hillsborough County communities, with 1,579 in Pinellas and 872 in Pasco, according to the Florida Legislature’s OPPAGA Report 24-11 (December 2024). For anyone in that group who faces a new sex charge, the prior conviction is a likely candidate for a Williams rule notice.

What must the State prove before a jury hears about another accusation?

The State must clear five safeguards before a jury hears about a collateral act in a sex crime case. The first comes from the statute’s notice provision, and the rest come from McLean and section 90.403.

1. Written notice. Under section 90.404(2)(d), the State must serve the defense, no fewer than 10 days before trial, a written statement of the other acts it intends to offer, described with the particularity required of an indictment or information. No notice is required for evidence used only to impeach or in rebuttal.
2. Clear and convincing proof. Before considering admission, the judge must find that the other act was proved by clear and convincing evidence. A rumor, a hunch, or an unsworn complaint should not meet that standard.
3. A prejudice balancing test. Under section 90.403, relevant evidence is inadmissible when the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion, misleading the jury, or needless cumulative evidence substantially outweighs its probative value. McLean told judges to weigh similarity, closeness in time, frequency, and intervening circumstances, plus any factor unique to the case.
4. No feature of the trial. The judge must keep the collateral act from becoming a feature of the trial. When necessary, the court should exclude the evidence or substantially limit how much of it the jury hears.
5. A limiting instruction. When the evidence comes in, the court must, if asked, tell jurors the limited purpose for which they may consider it. At the close of the evidence, the jury must again be told that limited purpose and that the defendant cannot be convicted of a charge not in the information.

Can an accusation that never led to charges be used against you?

Yes. A prior accusation does not need an arrest, a charge, or a conviction to qualify as Williams rule evidence, as long as the State can prove the act by clear and convincing evidence and the evidence survives the balancing test. Florida law draws one firm line, however, and it depends on how the earlier accusation ended.

In State v. Perkins, 349 So. 2d 161 (Fla. 1977), the Florida Supreme Court held that evidence of a crime for which the defendant was acquitted is not admissible in a later trial, calling it fundamentally unfair to make a defendant defend the same accusation twice. By contrast, in Holland v. State, 466 So. 2d 207 (Fla. 1985), the court refused to extend that protection to a robbery charge the State had dropped, because a nolle prosequi (a prosecutor’s decision to abandon a charge) may have nothing to do with the strength of the evidence.

What happens when propensity evidence takes over a trial?

When evidence that proves only character takes over a trial, an appellate court can reverse the conviction even without a defense objection. Two lessons follow: jurors struggle to set that evidence aside, and judges know it.

Research supports that concern. In a mock-jury study of 160 adults published in Law and Human Behavior in 1985, R. L. Wissler and M. J. Saks found that conviction rates were highest when the defendant’s prior conviction was for a crime similar to the one charged, and that jurors did not limit their use of the record as the judge’s instruction directed (NCJRS abstract). For that reason, a limiting instruction should be the last safeguard, after the judge has already screened the evidence.

Green v. State, No. 2D2024-1803 (Fla. 2d DCA Sept. 4, 2026), a Pinellas County sexual battery case, shows the danger. The State introduced a steak knife found in a recessed area of Gregory Green’s van and two sealed, unused condoms, although no evidence connected either item to the crimes. Prosecutors returned to the items through a crime scene technician and a detective, and then told jurors in closing that the knife and condoms were “odd things” they should consider. The Second District held that the items’ only possible relevance was bad character or propensity. Because defense counsel never objected, the court applied fundamental error review, and it found the error, combined with improper prosecutorial comments, required reversal of the sexual battery and battery convictions and a new trial.

Can the defense use someone else’s prior acts? Torbit v. State (2026)

Yes, but only under the general Williams rule, and only with close similarity. A July 2026 First District decision shows how narrow that path is in sex crime cases.

What happened in Torbit

Torbit v. State, No. 1D2024-1393 (Fla. 1st DCA July 29, 2026), arose from a Leon County trial for sexual battery on a victim who was physically helpless to resist. The complainant, T.B., ranged from highly intoxicated to barely conscious during a night of sexual activity in 2018 involving Logan Torbit, another man named Pasinski, and a 17-year-old girl. Pasinski, T.B., and the 17-year-old all testified for the State. Torbit’s defense was that Pasinski, not Torbit, assaulted T.B.

To support that theory, Torbit sought to introduce evidence that Pasinski allegedly sexually battered a different woman, B.B., in May 2019, more than ten months later. Officers found B.B. in a towel because Pasinski had told her to shower. Torbit argued the shower instruction matched how Pasinski and the 17-year-old had bathed T.B. on the night in question, suggesting Pasinski had learned to remove DNA. He offered it as “reverse Williams rule” evidence under paragraph (2)(c), relied on bodycam footage, and specifically disclaimed paragraph (2)(a). The trial court excluded the evidence, and the jury convicted. Torbit faced up to 30 years but received a downward departure of three years in prison followed by three years of sex offender probation.

What the First District held

The First District affirmed on two grounds:

• Paragraph (2)(c) covers only the defendant. By its terms, the paragraph admits evidence of “the defendant’s commission” of other sexual offenses, so it does not reach a collateral offense committed by someone else.
• No proffer, no review. Even if the paragraph applied, Torbit never proffered B.B.’s testimony, so the appellate court had no record to judge what she would have said or how the trial court applied the McLean factors.

Judge Treadwell concurred to make the point sharper. He wrote that paragraph (2)(c) “creates an opportunity only for the prosecution,” so there is no reverse rule to be found in its text. He also explained that Torbit never raised a due process or Confrontation Clause argument in the trial court, which left any constitutional claim unpreserved. The concurrence did not endorse a reverse rule under (2)(c), and it did not decide the constitutional question.

What the defense can still do

The defense still has the traditional reverse Williams rule under paragraph (2)(a). In State v. Savino, 567 So. 2d 892 (Fla. 1990), a defendant charged with killing his six-year-old stepson tried to show that his wife had killed her infant daughter years earlier. The Florida Supreme Court held that defense-offered similar fact evidence is judged by the same standard as the State’s, which for identity means “a close similarity of facts, a unique or ‘fingerprint’ type of information,” and it upheld the exclusion. Six weeks after Torbit, Wellons v. State, No. 4D2025-2340 (Fla. 4th DCA Sept. 9, 2026), added a useful counterweight: the Fourth District agreed that a prior shooting at the defendant’s home was too dissimilar to qualify as reverse Williams rule evidence, yet reversed a murder conviction because the same evidence was admissible for another purpose, to explain why the defendant ran.

Three lessons from these cases shape how our firm tries sex cases:

1. Choose the right paragraph. Offer third-party collateral acts under (2)(a) and build the fingerprint-level similarity Savino requires.
2. Proffer the witness. Put the collateral witness’s actual testimony on the record outside the jury’s presence, because an appellate court will not guess.
3. Raise every ground at trial. State the due process, confrontation, and right-to-present-a-defense arguments to the trial judge, and offer any alternative purpose for the evidence, as the defense did in Wellons. Our post on why your lawyer must object at trial explains why preservation decides so many appeals.

How do our attorneys fight Williams rule evidence?

Our attorneys fight Williams rule evidence by attacking the prior accusation on facts first and on law second. A collateral accuser who looks strong in a police report often looks very different after a deposition and an independent investigation.

1. Investigate the prior accuser. We depose the collateral witness, gather records and social media, interview third parties, and look for motive, delay in reporting, and contradictions.
2. Challenge the notice. We hold the State to the 10-day deadline and the particularity requirement, and we object when the notice is vague about dates, places, or acts.
3. Force the clear and convincing finding. We ask the court to hear live testimony at a pretrial hearing and to rule on the proof standard before any balancing.
4. Argue dissimilarity and remoteness. We line up the differences in age, relationship, location, manner, and timing that McLean tells judges to weigh.
5. Limit what the jury hears. If some evidence comes in, we ask the court to restrict the number of witnesses and exhibits and to keep the prosecutor from making the other act the centerpiece of closing argument.
6. Protect the record. We request limiting instructions at the moment of admission and in the final charge, and we object to every improper use so the issue survives for appeal.

Losing the pretrial hearing does not end the issue. The defense can still limit how the evidence is used at trial, object when it starts to dominate the case, and raise the ruling on appeal.

Related rules often work alongside this one. Florida’s rape shield law limits evidence of the complainant’s sexual history, the child hearsay exception controls a child’s out-of-court statements, and a motion to sever can keep unrelated counts from being tried together. When the defense is that the encounter was consensual, our guide to the consent defense explains how prior-act evidence can shape that strategy.

When should you talk to a lawyer about a prior accusation?

You should talk to a lawyer as soon as you learn that detectives are investigating a sex crime allegation, before any charge is filed if possible. The 10-day notice rule sets only the State’s minimum, and a proper investigation of a collateral accuser takes far longer.

The window before charges is often the most valuable. The State Attorney’s Office reviews every case before deciding to prosecute, and during that window our attorneys can present evidence and context directly to the assigned prosecutor. Our page on representation before charges are filed explains how that process works.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Sex Crimes page.

Frequently asked questions

Can the State use a sex charge I was acquitted of in Florida?

No. Under State v. Perkins, evidence of a crime for which a jury acquitted you is not admissible against you in a later trial, although a charge the State simply dropped can still be offered if it meets the other requirements. The Brancato Law Firm checks the disposition of every prior case listed in a Williams rule notice and moves to exclude any acquitted conduct before trial.

How old can a prior accusation be and still come in under the Williams rule?

Florida sets no fixed cutoff, but closeness in time is one of the factors a judge must weigh under McLean, and the presence or absence of intervening circumstances matters too. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build a timeline of the prior accusation and the charged act to show the court how remote and different the two events are. Our Tampa sex crime defense attorneys use that timeline at the pretrial hearing.

Does the prosecutor have to tell my lawyer before using prior accusations at trial?

Yes. Section 90.404(2)(d) requires written notice no fewer than 10 days before trial, describing the other acts with the particularity of a charging document, though no notice is needed for impeachment or rebuttal evidence. The Brancato Law Firm reviews every notice for timing and detail and objects when it falls short.

What should I do if detectives are contacting people from my past during a sex crime investigation?

Decline to give a statement and get a lawyer involved right away, because investigators often look for other accusers before a charging decision. The Brancato Law Firm can step in at that stage through pre-file advocacy, gathering our own evidence and presenting it to the prosecutor before charges are filed.

Is the Williams rule the same as Florida’s rape shield law?

No. The Williams rule governs evidence about the accused’s other acts, while the rape shield law in section 794.022 limits evidence about the complainant’s prior sexual conduct. The Brancato Law Firm litigates both rules when a case calls for it, and our post on Florida’s rape shield law covers its exceptions.

Can a Williams rule error get a sex crime conviction reversed on appeal?

Yes. Florida appellate courts reverse when collateral or propensity evidence was wrongly admitted and the error was not harmless, as the Second District did in Green v. State in 2026. At trial, The Brancato Law Firm makes a clear record with objections, proffers, and requests for limiting instructions so that any error can be reviewed on appeal.

Talk to a Tampa sex crimes defense team now

Before you talk to detectives, or to anyone from your past, about an accusation, call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. at (813) 727-7159. Founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, our firm starts investigating collateral accusers as soon as we are retained, because the State’s Williams rule notice can arrive as late as 10 days before trial and the work to answer it takes far longer. Call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

A Jimmy Ryce jury is not asked whether you committed a crime. It is asked to predict whether you will commit one, and that question turns almost entirely on expert opinions that can be tested. In the Major Crimes Unit, I handled homicide, sex crime, and child abuse cases, and as founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, I have spent more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms cross-examining the kinds of experts the State relies on in these cases. Our attorneys defend Ryce cases by attacking the diagnosis, the risk prediction, and the process that produced them.

What Is the Jimmy Ryce Act in Florida?

The Jimmy Ryce Act is Florida’s sexually violent predator law. It allows civil commitment to a secure Department of Children and Families facility after a prison sentence ends. Under section 394.912, Florida Statutes, a “sexually violent predator” is a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense and “suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility for long-term control, care, and treatment.”

People committed under the Act are held at the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia, in DeSoto County. Under section 394.917, Florida Statutes, commitment continues “until such time as the person’s mental abnormality or personality disorder has so changed that it is safe for the person to be at large.” There is no maximum term.

Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research tracks every commitment. Its Sexually Violent Predator Program commitments table counts 1,197 commitments from February 1999 through July 2026, including 29 commitments during calendar year 2025.

What Must the State Prove to Commit Someone?

The State must prove two elements by clear and convincing evidence, and a jury verdict must be unanimous. The definitions in section 394.912 set the bar:

The U.S. Supreme Court added a constitutional limit. In Kansas v. Crane, 534 U.S. 407 (2002), the Court reviewed Kansas’s version of the law and held that “there must be proof of serious difficulty in controlling behavior,” enough to distinguish the person from “the dangerous but typical recidivist convicted in an ordinary criminal case.” That lack-of-control requirement is often where a Ryce defense is won.

Is the Jimmy Ryce Act Constitutional?

Yes. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the Act in Westerheide v. State, 831 So. 2d 93 (Fla. 2002), the appeal of a man committed after convictions for lewd and lascivious assault on a child. The court held that Ryce commitment is civil, not criminal, so it does not violate double jeopardy or ex post facto protections, and it rejected due process and equal protection challenges.

The court’s reasoning shapes every trial. Westerheide held that commitment is based on “an individual’s current mental state that makes it likely the person will engage in acts of sexual violence,” not on punishment for the past offense. That is why our attorneys focus the jury on who the person is now, after years in prison and treatment, and not on the crime he already served time for.

How Does a Jimmy Ryce Case Begin?

It begins inside prison, long before the release date. Under section 394.913, Florida Statutes, the Department of Corrections must notify the multidisciplinary team and the state attorney at least 545 days before the anticipated release of a person serving a sentence for a qualifying offense. The process then moves through set stages:

Once a judge finds probable cause, section 394.915, Florida Statutes, requires the person to be held in a secure facility “without opportunity for pretrial release.” That makes the evaluation stage, before any petition is filed, the most important time to have a lawyer involved.

What Rights Does a Person Have in a Jimmy Ryce Case?

A person facing commitment has rights borrowed from criminal cases. Under section 394.916, Florida Statutes, he is entitled to counsel at every adversarial proceeding, may retain his own experts with access to his records, and may demand a six-person jury in writing at least 5 days before trial. If no one demands a jury, the judge decides the case. An indigent respondent can ask the court to appoint a mental health expert at state expense.

At an adversarial probable cause hearing, if the court holds one, the person can present evidence, cross-examine the State’s witnesses, and see every report in the court file. These rights matter only if they are used. Our attorneys hire independent evaluators, demand the State’s records early, and decide with the client whether a jury or the judge is the better fact-finder for his case.

How Do Defense Attorneys Fight Jimmy Ryce Commitment?

They fight the prediction. Ryce cases are expert cases, and the defense wins by showing the State’s experts cannot carry a clear and convincing burden. Research on risk prediction supports that approach. A Public Safety Canada review of 100 studies led by researcher R. Karl Hanson, The Accuracy of Risk Prediction for Sexual Offenders (2007), found that unstructured professional judgment was the least accurate way to predict sexual reoffending, and structured actuarial tools were more accurate.

Base rates matter too. The Bureau of Justice Statistics report Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: A 9-Year Follow-Up (2005-14), published in 2019, found that 7.7% of sex offenders released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for rape or sexual assault within nine years. A jury told only about the old offense hears none of that context unless the defense presents it.

Our attorneys build the defense in five parts:

1. Start before the petition. We engage during the multidisciplinary team evaluation, gather treatment and prison records, and present information that may keep the team from recommending a petition.
2. Retain an independent expert. Section 394.916 gives the person the right to his own examiner with access to the records.
3. Challenge the diagnosis. We test whether the “mental abnormality” is a real, current condition or a label built from the old offense.
4. Challenge the risk prediction. We cross-examine on the tools used, how they were scored, and whether the expert overrode them with unstructured judgment.
5. Prove lack of control is missing. Under Kansas v. Crane, the State must show serious difficulty controlling behavior, and we show the jury the evidence that the person has it under control.

Our Tampa criminal mental health lawyer page explains how we work with forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, and our post on Florida sex offender registration covers the registration duties that follow release.

Can a Person Be Released After Jimmy Ryce Commitment?

Yes. Under section 394.918, Florida Statutes, every committed person must have a mental condition examination at least once a year, and DCF must give him annual written notice of his right to petition for release. The court holds a limited hearing on whether there is probable cause to believe his condition “has so changed that it is safe for the person to be at large.”

If the court finds probable cause, it sets a release trial before the judge. At that trial, the State again bears the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the person’s mental condition “remains such that it is not safe for the person to be at large.” Release petitions are expert cases too, and our attorneys prepare them with an independent evaluation rather than relying on the facility’s annual report.

How Soon Should You Hire a Lawyer for a Jimmy Ryce Case?

Hire one as soon as a release date is within two years and the conviction could qualify. The 545-day notice period means the evaluation may already be underway, and once a petition is filed and probable cause is found, there is no release before trial. For a person still facing the underlying charge, the time to think about Ryce exposure is during plea negotiations, because the offense of conviction decides whether the Act can apply. Our Tampa sex crimes lawyer team weighs that risk in every sex offense case we handle.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long can someone be held under the Jimmy Ryce Act?

There is no fixed limit: commitment lasts until a court finds, at an annual review or a release trial under section 394.918, that the person’s condition has so changed that release is safe. The Brancato Law Firm prepares release petitions with independent experts so the State must prove continued confinement each time.

Who decides whether a person is a sexually violent predator?

A judge decides unless either side demands a six-person jury in writing at least 5 days before trial, and a jury verdict for commitment must be unanimous under section 394.917. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm weigh with each client whether a jury or the judge is the better choice for his facts, as explained on our Tampa sex crimes attorney page.

What crimes can lead to a Jimmy Ryce petition?

Qualifying offenses include sexual battery, lewd or lascivious offenses involving a child, kidnapping or false imprisonment of a child under 13 with a sexual offense, attempts or conspiracies to commit them, comparable federal and out-of-state felonies, and other crimes found to be sexually motivated. The Brancato Law Firm checks whether a prior conviction actually qualifies under section 394.912, because a petition built on a non-qualifying offense fails at the first element.

Can a Jimmy Ryce petition be dropped or dismissed in Florida?

Yes: the multidisciplinary team may decline to recommend a petition, the state attorney may decide not to file, and a petition fails at trial when the State cannot prove both elements by clear and convincing evidence. The Brancato Law Firm works to stop the case at the evaluation stage, before a petition is ever filed.

Does a person get his own expert in a Jimmy Ryce case?

Yes: section 394.916 lets the person retain experts who must be given reasonable access to him and his records, and an indigent person can ask the court to appoint one at state expense. Our team at The Brancato Law Firm works with forensic psychologists who evaluate the person and testify about the limits of the State’s risk predictions, as covered in our post on expert witnesses in criminal defense.

Is a Jimmy Ryce case criminal or civil?

It is civil, because the Florida Supreme Court held in Westerheide that commitment is based on current mental condition and is not punishment. The Brancato Law Firm still treats it like a major criminal trial, because the stakes are confinement with no end date.

Talk to a Tampa Defense Attorney About a Jimmy Ryce Case

The 545-day notice clock may already be running for someone you love in a Florida prison. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159, and our attorneys will review the conviction, the records, and the evaluation stage to find where the State’s case can be stopped. You can call us at any hour, and our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Tampa Sex Crimes Lawyer page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

If you were arrested after an online conversation that turned out to be with a detective, the chat log is now the State’s whole case, and how that conversation started matters as much as how it ended. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and before private practice I handled sex crimes and child abuse cases in the Major Crimes Unit of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I later served as Chief Operations Officer overseeing a staff of over 100 attorneys. Our attorneys are currently litigating entrapment motions in Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office sting cases, and we read every message in the chat before deciding how to fight the charge.

What Is Solicitation of a Child Using a Computer in Florida?

It is knowingly using an electronic device to try to get a child, or someone you believe is a child, into unlawful sexual conduct. Section 847.0135(3), Florida Statutes, covers “a computer online service, Internet service, local bulletin board service, or any other device capable of electronic data storage or transmission,” which includes phones, texting, and dating or social media apps. The statute creates two versions of the offense:

The statute states that “the fact that an undercover operative or law enforcement officer was involved in the detection and investigation of an offense under this section shall not constitute a defense.” That sentence does not eliminate entrapment. It means the use of a decoy is not a defense by itself, and the defense must show how the decoy acted. Our Tampa internet crimes attorney page explains how these investigations are run.

What Are the Penalties for Solicitation of a Child Using a Computer?

The base offense is a third-degree felony, and the penalties grow with the facts and the number of charges. The statute also says that “each separate use” of a device in which an offense is committed “may be charged as a separate offense,” so a multi-day chat can become several counts.

A conviction under section 847.0135, other than subsection (6), makes a person a “sexual offender” who must register under section 943.0435. The two-way communications device offense under section 934.215 is not on that registration list. In negotiated cases, whether a plea is entered to the solicitation charge as filed or to an amended charge can decide whether a client registers for life, so our attorneys check the registration consequence of every offer. Our guide to sex offender registration in Florida covers what registration requires.

How Do Online Sex Stings Work in Tampa Bay?

Most solicitation cases in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties come from proactive stings, and the volume is large. Internet Crimes Against Children task forces nationwide conducted nearly 347,000 investigations and arrested more than 17,000 offenders in 2025, according to the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which funds 61 task forces.

In our practice, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office stings follow two patterns. In decoy-profile stings, a deputy posts or answers an ad as an adult, then reveals a teenage age once the conversation is under way. In reverse stings, a deputy plays an adult, such as a mother or aunt, who offers access to a child, and those cases often add a human trafficking solicitation count. The leading Florida Supreme Court case on these charges began the same way: in State v. Shelley, 176 So. 3d 914 (Fla. 2015), Dean Shelley answered a Craigslist ad in Hillsborough County posted by an officer posing as a single mother, arranged over several days to meet her and her fictitious ten-year-old daughter, and was arrested when he arrived.

Research suggests sting arrestees differ from offenders who target real children. A study of arrests from July 2000 to June 2001, Police Posing as Juveniles Online to Catch Sex Offenders: Is It Working? by Kimberly Mitchell, Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center, published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment in 2005, found that undercover investigations accounted for 25 percent of arrests for internet sex crimes against minors. Only 4 percent of offenders caught posing as juveniles had a prior arrest for a sexual offense against a minor, compared with 11 percent of offenders who met real victims online. Those numbers are a reason to examine predisposition closely in every sting case.

Can You Use Entrapment as a Defense to Online Solicitation in Florida?

Yes. Florida’s entrapment statute, section 777.201, applies when law enforcement induces a crime using methods that “create a substantial risk that such crime will be committed by a person other than one who is ready to commit it.” Once the defendant presents evidence of a lack of predisposition, the State must rebut it beyond a reasonable doubt. When the chat itself is undisputed, a judge can decide entrapment as a matter of law on a sworn motion to dismiss.

The Second District Court of Appeal, which hears appeals from Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, did exactly that in DeMare v. State, 298 So. 3d 1269 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020). A detective created an 18-year-old profile named “Amber” on the dating site Meetme.com, chatted with Jason DeMare as an adult for four days, and revealed she was 14 only when plans became concrete. DeMare “immediately tried to end the relationship,” told her sex would be illegal, and was then repeatedly pressed by the detective. The court found that “his reluctance to violate the law was overcome by law enforcement inducement,” reversed his traveling conviction, and ordered him discharged.

Entrapment does not win every sting case. In State v. Panebianco, 370 So. 3d 345 (Fla. 2d DCA 2023), a Sarasota County judge dismissed solicitation and traveling charges on entrapment grounds, but the Second District reversed. The decoy there said she was 14 early and repeatedly, and Ernest Panebianco “readily engaged in sexual discussions”; his worries about police reflected “a fear of being caught rather than an unwillingness,” so predisposition was a question for a jury. The difference between the two cases is in the messages, which is why our attorneys build a timeline of who raised age, sex, and meeting first.

Can You Be Convicted of Both Solicitation and Traveling to Meet a Minor?

Usually not, when both charges rest on the same conduct. In Shelley, the Florida Supreme Court held that the Legislature did not authorize separate punishments for solicitation and traveling after solicitation, and because the elements of solicitation “are entirely subsumed” by traveling, “double jeopardy principles prohibit separate convictions based upon the same conduct.” The court approved vacating Shelley’s solicitation conviction.

In Lee v. State, 258 So. 3d 1297 (Fla. 2018), the court added that, to decide whether solicitation, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and traveling convictions rest on the same conduct, “the reviewing court should consider only the charging document—not the entire evidentiary record.” In Dettle v. State, 395 So. 3d 1054 (Fla. 2024), the court held that Lee does not apply retroactively to cases already final in 2018, which makes raising the issue at trial and on direct appeal essential. Our attorneys read the charging information count by count for this problem.

What Other Defenses Apply to Computer Solicitation Charges?

Beyond entrapment and double jeopardy, the defense depends on what the messages show and who sent them. Our attorneys look at these issues in every case:

1. No solicitation in the words used. The State must show an attempt to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, not just sexual talk or fantasy.
2. Belief about age. The State must prove the defendant believed he was talking with a child; an adult profile and an adult photo can undercut that belief.
3. Identity of the sender. Shared phones, shared accounts, and incomplete extractions can leave doubt about who typed the messages.
4. Missing messages. Detectives sometimes preserve screenshots instead of full exports; our forensic review looks for gaps in the conversation.
5. Objective entrapment. Police conduct so outrageous that it violates due process bars prosecution, though courts apply this narrowly.
6. Charge stacking. Separate counts for one continuous conversation, and solicitation plus traveling for the same conduct, can be challenged before trial.

For the related travel charge and vigilante cases, see our posts on what to do if you messaged a minor online, Tampa sex sting defense, and vigilante predator catchers.

What Should You Do If You Are Under Investigation for Online Solicitation?

Stop all contact, preserve your devices, and talk to a lawyer before talking to police. These steps protect the defenses described above:

1. Do not delete anything. Deleting messages or apps can look like consciousness of guilt and can destroy messages that support entrapment.
2. Do not contact the other account again. Every new message is new evidence and may be a separate count.
3. Do not consent to a phone search or interview. Politely decline and ask for a lawyer.
4. Write down the timeline of how the conversation began, which site or app was used, and what the profile said about age.
5. Call counsel immediately. Representation before charges are filed can shape how the State Attorney’s Office views the case.

Frequently Asked Questions About Solicitation of a Child Using a Computer

Is solicitation of a minor a felony if no real child was involved?

Yes, because the statute covers “a person believed by the person to be a child,” and the use of an undercover officer is not a defense by itself. The Brancato Law Firm focuses on how the detective presented the decoy’s age and who pushed the conversation toward sex.

Do I have to register as a sex offender for a computer solicitation conviction?

Yes, a conviction under section 847.0135(3) is a qualifying offense under section 943.0435. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm review whether any plea offer includes an amended charge that avoids registration; see our internet crimes defense page.

Can computer solicitation charges be dropped in Florida?

Yes, charges can be dismissed on a successful entrapment motion, reduced through negotiation, or dropped when the evidence does not prove solicitation. The Brancato Law Firm files sworn motions to dismiss when the chat shows a detective overcame a client’s reluctance, as happened in DeMare.

What if the profile said the person was 18?

An adult profile does not end the case if the decoy later claimed to be a minor, but it is strong evidence on belief and predisposition. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build the defense around the exact point where age was introduced; our entrapment guide explains why that timing matters.

Can I be charged with traveling to meet a minor if I never got out of my car?

Yes, the traveling statute covers anyone who “travels any distance” or “attempts to do so” after a prohibited solicitation, so driving to the meeting place can be enough. The Brancato Law Firm examines whether the travel was for the purpose the statute requires and whether the solicitation count must be vacated under Shelley.

Can I be charged for each message I sent?

The statute allows each separate use of a device in which an offense is committed to be charged as a separate offense, though one conversation is usually not charged message by message. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm challenge counts that split one continuous conversation into multiple crimes.

For how The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. defends these cases, see our Tampa sex crimes defense practice.

Talk to a Tampa Defense Attorney About a Computer Solicitation Charge

The first decision in these cases, whether to file an entrapment motion or negotiate, depends on the full chat, so getting it reviewed early matters. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159, and our attorneys will start with the complete conversation and the profile that began it. You can call us at any hour, and our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Tampa Internet Crimes Attorney page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

Registration is usually decided long before anyone mentions it, at the moment a plea form is signed. I learned that in the Major Crimes Unit of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I handled sex crime and child abuse cases, and I have seen it again over more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I have tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict. Our attorneys defend people facing registration consequences, failure-to-register charges, and improper sexual predator designations across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties.

Who Has to Register as a Sex Offender in Florida?

Anyone convicted of a qualifying sex offense listed in section 943.0435, Florida Statutes, must register as a sexual offender. The qualifying offenses include sexual battery, unlawful sexual activity with a minor under section 794.05, lewd or lascivious offenses under section 800.04, child pornography offenses, online solicitation and traveling to meet a minor, and kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor, among others. Our Tampa sex crimes attorney page explains how we defend the underlying charges.

The statute defines “convicted” broadly. It means “a determination of guilt as a result of a trial or the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld,” and it includes certain juvenile adjudications. A withhold of adjudication, which avoids a formal conviction for most purposes, does not avoid registration. That is why our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm look at whether a case can be resolved with a plea to a non-registrable offense before any plea is entered. Once a qualifying plea is accepted, registration follows by law.

Registration also reaches people who move to Florida with a designation from another state. A person who “establishes or maintains a residence in this state” after being designated a sexual predator, sexually violent predator, or other sexual offender elsewhere must register here, “without regard to whether the person otherwise meets the criteria for registration.” Our guide on moving to Florida after registry removal in another state explains why removal elsewhere does not always end the duty here.

How Many People Are on Florida’s Sex Offender Registry?

As of October 2024, there were 86,207 registrants on the Florida registry, including 16,246 designated sexual predators, according to the Florida Legislature’s OPPAGA Report 24-11 (December 2024). Only 30,907 of those registrants, about 36%, lived in Florida communities; the rest were confined, living outside Florida, or had absconded.

The local numbers are substantial. The same OPPAGA report counted 1,999 registrants in Hillsborough County in 2024, compared with 1,579 in Pinellas County and 872 in Pasco County. In Hillsborough, 140 registrants, about 7%, reported only a transient address, which triggers check-ins every 30 days.

What Information Must a Registered Sex Offender Report in Florida?

A registrant must report a long list of personal information in person at the sheriff’s office within 48 hours of establishing a permanent, temporary, or transient residence in Florida, or within 48 hours of release from Department of Corrections custody or supervision. The required information includes name, date of birth, Social Security number, physical description, fingerprints, palm prints, photograph, every residence address, employment information, vehicles owned, home and cell phone numbers, and all email addresses and internet identifiers. A post office box cannot substitute for a physical address.

Within 48 hours after that sheriff’s office report, the registrant must also go in person to a Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office to obtain or update a Florida driver license or ID card that complies with section 322.141(3). The deadlines for later changes are short:

Every deadline in this table comes from section 943.0435. In our experience, most failure-to-register arrests involve one of these ordinary changes, such as a new job, a new phone, or a few nights at a relative’s home, rather than an effort to hide.

How Often Do Sex Offenders Have to Reregister in Florida?

Most sexual offenders must reregister in person twice a year: during their birth month and during the sixth month after it, under section 943.0435(14)(a). Offenders registered for the more serious offenses listed in section 943.0435(14)(b), including sexual battery under section 794.011 and certain lewd or lascivious offenses involving children under 12 or force, must reregister four times a year, during their birth month and every third month after it.

Sexual predators also reregister four times a year under section 775.21, Florida Statutes. A registrant with only a transient address must report in person every 30 days, in addition to the regular reregistration schedule. The sheriff’s office may set the specific days and times for these appointments.

What Is the Difference Between a Sexual Offender and a Sexual Predator in Florida?

A sexual predator is a registrant whom a court has designated under the Florida Sexual Predators Act because of the seriousness of the offense or a prior qualifying record. The designation is reserved for a capital, life, or first-degree felony qualifying offense, or for a second qualifying felony after a prior qualifying conviction. When the criteria are met, the sentencing court “must make a written finding at the time of sentencing that the offender is a sexual predator,” and the clerk sends the order to FDLE within 48 hours.

The Florida Supreme Court has made clear that the predator designation turns on the conviction, not on a finding of current dangerousness. In Milks v. State, 894 So. 2d 924 (Fla. 2005), the court rejected a procedural due process challenge from two men who argued they were designated without any hearing on whether they were dangerous. The court held that “the only material fact” under the Act is “the fact of a previous conviction,” so a hearing on dangerousness is not required.

There are limits. In State v. Robinson, 873 So. 2d 1205 (Fla. 2004), the defendant was convicted of carjacking and kidnapping after his companion stole a car with a baby in the back seat; Robinson later left the child, still in her car seat, in front of a doctor’s office. The State conceded there was no sexual act or motive, yet the trial court designated him a sexual predator because he had kidnapped a minor. The Florida Supreme Court held that designation unconstitutional as applied, because the crime “indisputably did not contain a sexual element.”

What Happens If You Fail to Register as a Sex Offender in Florida?

Failing to register, failing to report a change on time, failing to reregister, or knowingly giving false information is a third-degree felony under section 943.0435(9), punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Each missed report is a separate offense. The same rules apply to sexual predators under section 775.21.

These cases are common. The OPPAGA report found roughly 2,200 arrests for registration violations in Florida in 2023, and a conviction rate of 45% for 2022 arrests, down from 60% for 2014 arrests. Research also suggests that many violations reflect paperwork failures rather than danger. A 2010 study by Levenson, Letourneau, Armstrong, and Zgoba in Justice Quarterly, covering 2,970 registered offenders, found that failure to register “did not predict sexual recidivism,” with sexual recidivism rates of 11 percent for those who failed to register and 9 percent for compliant registrants, a difference that was not statistically significant.

The defenses depend on the record. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm look at whether the person actually knew of the specific duty, whether the sheriff’s office or FDLE records are accurate, whether a residence change truly occurred, and whether the underlying conviction required registration at all. A charge built on a database mismatch looks very different once the documents are pulled.

Can a Sexual Predator Designation Be Corrected in Florida?

Yes, when the court records show the person did not meet the criteria. In Saintelien v. State, 990 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 2008), a man designated a sexual predator after pleading to attempted sexual battery on a child under 12 challenged the designation with a motion to correct an illegal sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). The Florida Supreme Court held that a defendant may use a rule 3.800(a) motion to challenge an erroneous sexual predator designation where “it is apparent from the face of the record that the defendant did not meet the criteria.” Saintelien himself lost because his record showed he qualified, but the rule allows these motions at any time.

These corrections require a close reading of the plea, the judgment, the scoresheet, and the statute in effect on the offense date. Our firm has corrected designations where a prior attorney never objected:

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Can You Get Off the Sex Offender Registry in Florida?

Sometimes, but only through specific statutory paths. Registration lasts for life unless the person receives a full pardon, has the qualifying conviction set aside in a postconviction proceeding, or qualifies for one of two removal procedures:

• Romeo and Juliet relief. Under section 943.04354, Florida Statutes, a person convicted under section 800.04, section 827.071, or section 847.0135(5), with no other such conviction, may move for removal if he or she was not more than 4 years older than a victim who was at least 13 and younger than 18. Sexual battery under section 794.011 does not qualify. The State Attorney and FDLE get 21 days’ notice, and a denied motion cannot be refiled.
• The 25-year petition. A sexual offender who has been released from confinement, supervision, or sanction for at least 25 years, with no arrest for any felony or misdemeanor since release, may petition for removal, unless the registration is based on an adult conviction for excluded offenses such as sexual battery under section 794.011 or kidnapping or false imprisonment.

Our detailed guide, Can I Get Off the Sex Offender Registry in Florida?, walks through each path, the federal standards that also apply, and what the court will expect to see.

What Should You Do If the Sheriff Tells You to Register?

Comply on time, then challenge the requirement through counsel. Missing a 48-hour deadline creates a new felony even if the registration duty later turns out to be wrong. These steps protect you:

1. Do not ignore the contact. Note the deadline the deputy gives you and the office where you must report.
2. Call a defense attorney before answering questions. A registration contact can also be the start of a failure-to-register investigation, and our representation before charges are filed can address it early.
3. Gather your records. The judgment, plea form, sentencing order, any predator order, and any out-of-state registration or removal paperwork decide whether the duty applies.
4. Keep proof of every report. Save receipts from the sheriff’s office, the driver license office, and the FDLE online system.

In Hillsborough County, registration and reregistration are handled through the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and failure-to-register cases are prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the 13th Judicial Circuit. Our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorney page explains how those cases move through the courthouse.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sex Offender Registration in Florida

Does a withhold of adjudication still require sex offender registration in Florida?

Yes. Section 943.0435 counts a guilty or no contest plea as a conviction “regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.” The Brancato Law Firm reviews registration exposure before any plea is discussed, because it cannot be undone by a withhold.

How often does a registered sex offender have to check in with the sheriff in Florida?

Twice a year for most sexual offenders, and four times a year for sexual predators and offenders registered for listed serious offenses; transient registrants also report every 30 days. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm check a client’s actual schedule against the conviction, because the wrong schedule can produce a wrong arrest.

Can a registered sex offender use social media in Florida?

Registration itself does not ban social media, but every email address and internet identifier must be reported within 48 hours of first use. The Brancato Law Firm has obtained court-approved internet access for clients whose probation conditions under section 948.30(1)(h), Florida Statutes, barred internet use until a treatment practitioner approved a safety plan.

What happens if a sex offender misses a reregistration appointment in Florida?

A missed reregistration is a third-degree felony, and each missed report is a separate offense. The Brancato Law Firm moves quickly to document why the appointment was missed and to resolve it before an arrest; see our pre-file advocacy page.

Can a sexual predator be removed from the registry in Florida?

Only through a full pardon, a conviction set aside in postconviction proceedings, or Romeo and Juliet relief in limited cases, but an erroneous designation can be corrected to offender status. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm review the original sentencing record for errors a prior lawyer missed.

Do I have to register in Florida if another state removed me from its registry?

Possibly, because Florida applies its own registration criteria rather than simply following another state’s decision. The Brancato Law Firm reviews these situations before the move; our moving to Florida registry guide has more.

How much does a sex offender registration lawyer cost in Tampa?

Fees are quoted on the facts and complexity of the matter, such as a predator correction, a failure-to-register defense, or a question about whether registration applies at all. Because of call volume, The Brancato Law Firm charges for sex offender registration consultations; call (813) 727-7159, or visit our Tampa sex crimes defense page.

Talk to a Tampa Defense Attorney About Registration Before the Deadline

Whether you have a plea offer on the table, a letter from the Sheriff’s Office, or a failure-to-register warrant, call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159. Registration deadlines are measured in hours, and the options narrow once a plea is entered or a deadline passes. You can call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking clients.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Tampa Sex Crimes Lawyer page. Sexual battery is one of the most common triggers for registration; our guide What Is Sexual Battery in Florida? explains the charge, and our age of consent guide covers the age rules behind many registration cases.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.