Criminal defense
Federal criminal charges in Florida
A different courthouse, a different prosecutor, and a bail rule that starts from detention
A federal case is not a bigger version of a state case. Different court, different prosecutor, different investigators, different bail law, different sentencing, and no parole at the end of it. Jose A. Dapena appears in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida. The single most useful thing to know is that for a large category of federal charges the law starts from a presumption that you will be detained until trial.
01 Quick answers
- Which court hears it?
- A United States District Court. In Florida that is the Southern District — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Key West — or the Middle District, which includes Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ocala and Fort Myers.
- Is there bond?
- Not as you know it. There is a detention hearing, and for many charges 18 U.S.C. § 3142(e)(3) presumes no condition will assure safety and appearance. The presumption can be rebutted.
- When is the detention hearing?
- At the first appearance, unless continued — at most five days for the defense and three for the government, and the person stays detained during the continuance.
- How is a sentence decided?
- The Sentencing Guidelines are calculated first, then weighed against the factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). The Guidelines are advisory but the calculation anchors everything.
- Is there parole?
- No. Federal parole was abolished. A sentence is served in full apart from limited good conduct time, so the number imposed is close to the number served.
- Can I get under a mandatory minimum?
- Sometimes — through the safety valve in § 3553(f), or through substantial assistance. Each has strict conditions.
02 Detention
Federal bail starts from the opposite assumption
This is the difference that shocks families, and it arrives within a day. In state court a bond amount is set and the question is whether it can be paid. Federal court does not work that way: the question is release or detention, and for a large category of charges the statute starts from detention.
Section 3142(e)(3) creates a rebuttable presumption that no condition will reasonably assure appearance and community safety, where there is probable cause for a drug offense carrying ten years or more, a firearm count under § 924(c), listed terrorism offenses, or specified offenses involving a minor victim.
The presumption is rebuttable, and rebutting it is the work. It is answered with a concrete release plan rather than with argument: a third-party custodian the court will accept, verified employment, property to secure a bond, a residence, and a record of appearance. That package has to be built in days, not weeks.
And the clock is short. Subsection (f) puts the detention hearing at the first appearance, continued at most five days for the defense and three for the government — and the person is detained throughout any continuance. Whoever is going to build the release plan has to start the day of the arrest.
State court asks how much the bond is. Federal court asks whether you are released at all, and for many charges it starts from no.
03 The case
Who brings it, and how it is built
A federal case is prosecuted by an Assistant United States Attorney and investigated by a federal agency — the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, ATF, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Postal Inspection Service. These are not the agencies whose reports a state practitioner reads.
Felonies proceed by grand jury indictment unless the right is waived. The grand jury sits without a judge and without the defense, which is why the first a person often hears of a federal case is either a target letter or an arrest.
A target letter is the most valuable document in federal practice, because it arrives before charges. It means the government believes you are a target and has not yet indicted. The window between that letter and an indictment is the only period where the shape of the case can still be influenced — through a proffer, a presentation to the prosecutor, or a decision about whether to say anything at all.
Federal investigations are long and quiet. By the time an indictment lands the government has usually had the records, the wiretaps, the cooperators and the financial analysis for a year or more. A case that feels sudden is not; it is just the first part that was visible.
Discovery and the Speedy Trial Act run on their own rules, with excludable time that makes the nominal deadlines longer than they read. Complex cases are routinely designated as such and the clock extends.
04 Sentencing
The Guidelines, the mandatory minimums, and the two ways under
Federal sentencing begins with arithmetic. A Guidelines range is calculated from the offense level and criminal history category, and although the Guidelines are advisory the calculation anchors everything that follows. The range is then weighed against the factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
Loss amount, drug quantity and role drive the number, and they are contested in a way that surprises people: facts that were never proven to a jury can raise a Guidelines range, and much of federal defense work happens at the presentence stage rather than at trial.
Mandatory minimums sit underneath the Guidelines and do not move for mitigation. Drug quantities trigger them, and a § 924(c) firearm count carries a term that runs consecutively to everything else — it is added, not absorbed.
There are two routes below a mandatory minimum. The safety valve in § 3553(f), which the First Step Act widened: it now requires no more than four criminal history points excluding one-point offenses, no prior three-point offense and no prior two-point violent offense, together with no violence or weapon, no death or serious injury, no leadership role, and truthful disclosure of everything about the offense by sentencing. Material written before 2018 describes a far narrower rule.
And substantial assistance, which is a decision with consequences beyond the case and should never be agreed to in principle before the terms are concrete.
There is no parole. It was abolished in the federal system. Apart from limited good conduct time, the sentence imposed is close to the sentence served — which makes the difference between two Guidelines calculations a difference in years of actual custody.
05 State and federal
When the same conduct can be charged in either
A great deal of conduct is a crime under both systems — drugs, firearms, fraud, identity offenses. Which one takes a case is a prosecutorial decision, and the same facts can produce very different exposure depending on where they land.
Being prosecuted in one does not always bar the other. The two sovereigns are separate, and a state disposition does not automatically end federal interest in the same conduct. That is not a theoretical point; it changes how a state case should be resolved when a federal investigation is known or suspected.
So a state plea taken quickly can be expensive. Admissions made to resolve a county case are available in a federal one, and a disposition that looked like a good outcome in state court can supply an element or an enhancement federally.
For anyone who is not a United States citizen, federal convictions are frequently aggravated felonies, which forecloses nearly all immigration relief. This office handles immigration as well, and that analysis belongs before any plea in either system.
06 The statutes
- 18 U.S.C. § 3142 Release or detention The detention hearing, its timing, and the presumption against release in (e)(3).
- 18 U.S.C. § 3553 Imposition of a sentence The (a) factors, and the safety valve in (f) as the First Step Act widened it.
- 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) Firearm during a drug or violent crime A term that runs consecutively to everything else rather than alongside it.
- 18 U.S.C. § 3161 Speedy Trial Act The deadlines, and the excludable time that makes them longer than they read.
Federal charges questions, answered
I got a target letter. What now?
It is the most important piece of paper you will receive, and it means you have time that people who are simply arrested do not have. Do not call the agent, do not start explaining, and do not begin tidying anything — that last one creates a second and easier case.
Get counsel the same day. The window between a target letter and an indictment is the only period in a federal case where its shape can still be influenced.
Why is there no bond amount?
Because federal law asks a different question. It is release or detention, and for drug charges carrying ten years or more, § 924(c) firearm counts and certain other offenses, the statute presumes detention.
It is rebuttable, and what rebuts it is a concrete release plan — a custodian, employment, property, an address — assembled in days.
The agents were polite and said I am just a witness.
People are told that, and it is sometimes true and sometimes a way to obtain a statement before anyone has counsel. Lying to a federal agent is itself a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, so a conversation meant to be helpful can become the charge.
Declining an interview is not an admission. It is the only decision in that moment that cannot hurt you.
Everyone says federal cases cannot be won.
Federal conviction rates are high and most cases resolve by plea, so the honest framing is that the work is usually about exposure rather than acquittal — detention, the Guidelines calculation, which counts are charged, whether a § 924(c) count is in the case.
Those are not small things. Each is measured in years, and they are decided by preparation rather than by argument at trial.
I already have a state case on the same facts.
Then they have to be handled together. A state plea can supply admissions and enhancements to a federal case, and resolving the state matter quickly to be done with it is how people make the federal exposure worse.
Raise the federal investigation at the first meeting even if nothing has been filed.
What does a federal defense cost?
A flat fee set by the charges and the scope, with no payment plans. Federal cases carry a different scope from state ones because the detention hearing, the discovery volume and the Guidelines work are where the time goes, and that is set out in writing before anything is signed.
Criminal matters are handled on a flat fee, set by the charges and the scope of the representation. Any consultation charge is disclosed before the appointment. There are no payment plans.
07 Keep reading
Talk to Jose A. Dapena about your federal charges matter
You speak with the attorney who would handle the case, not an intake department. Practicing in Florida since 1998, Florida Bar number 152358.
Criminal matters are handled on a flat fee, set by the charges and the scope of the representation. Any consultation charge is disclosed before the appointment. There are no payment plans.