Criminal Defense | Florida
What To Do If You Are Falsely Accused of a Crime in Florida
Published: August 9, 2026 | Updated: August 9, 2026 | McCulloch Law | Florida Criminal Defense
A false accusation doesn’t mean you are going to prison. Not at all. Down in Florida, when they arrest you, that’s just how the state starts the game. The things you choose to do in those very first 48 hours, keeping your lips closed, preserving your papers and getting a lawyer on the phone before you talk, decide if this whole mess gets tossed out by the prosecutor or if it drags you through the mud of a courtroom for months.
Key Points
- ✓Don’t say a word past your name until your lawyer shows up.
- ✓Preserve texts, location data, receipts, and witness names immediately.
- ✓Get yourself a defense lawyer before they file real charges and don’t wait until after it happens.
- ✓You have 175 days for felonies.
- ✓You have 90 days for misdemeanors.
- ✓A dismissed case still leaves an arrest record. You must seal or expunge it.
Why Innocent People Often Get Arrested In Florida
Prosecutors don’t need proof beyond a reasonable doubt to file charges. They only need what the law calls probable cause, which is a much lower hurdle to clear, and that is exactly where innocent folks slip through the cracks. The good people over at the National Registry of Exonerations have looked at more than 3500 wrongful convictions since the year 1989. You know what they found? Lies and false accusations played a major part in more than half of those cases. It just takes one mistaken eyewitness, one angry person telling a story or even a text message that someone read the wrong way to turn your life upside down.
This has gotten worse, not better, thanks to technology. Jacksonville police relied on facial recognition software called FACESNXT to build a case against a Fort Myers man who was over 300 miles from the scene when the alleged crime occurred and the match still carried him into a jail cell. Florida law doesn’t require a computer to be right. It only requires an officer to believe it might be.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Florida Arrests
An arrest in Florida creates a permanent public record the moment it happens, whether or not you did anything wrong. That record doesn’t wait for a verdict. It shows up on background checks the same week you're released on bond.
The First 48 Hours Decide More Than The Trial Does
Everything you say to police after arrest can be used against you, and almost nothing you say helps you. Invoke your right to remain silent clearly and immediately. Do not post about the arrest. Do not under any circumstances try to call or message the person accusing you, not even to say you are sorry for a simple misunderstanding, because the state will call that witness tampering or say you are admitting guilt.
Instead, take a piece of paper and write down every single detail you can remember while it’s still fresh in your mind, like where you were, who was with you, and what your phone records can prove.
Practical steps that hold up in court
- •Request an attorney by name if possible, out loud, on record
- •Screenshot text messages and location history before switching phones or updating apps
- •Get names and numbers of anyone who can place you elsewhere at the time
- •Avoid recorded statements to insurance adjusters or HR before consulting counsel
Arrested On A False Accusation In Tampa Bay?
Every hour without a lawyer is an hour the state builds its file. Drew McCulloch spent years prosecuting cases for the State of Florida and now uses that insight to dismantle weak ones.
How Florida Prosecutors Actually Decide To File Charges
After booking, the State Attorney's Office reviews the arrest report and decides whether to file an information, decline the case entirely through no information, or later drop already filed charges through a nolle prosequi. Neither of these outcomes is an accident. Prosecutors drop weak cases because someone showed them the case was weak, usually a defense attorney who got involved early enough to matter.
This is the precise moment when an excellent defense lawyer can do the absolute most good for you, way before anybody even thinks about picking a jury. They present alibi evidence directly to the prosecutor. They can identify inconsistencies in the accuser's narrative. And this can end a case even before it begins. If you delay, you must fight in court. That path is far more grueling.
| Metric | What It Means For You |
|---|---|
| 2 to 10 percent | Estimated share of guilty findings nationally believed to be erroneous |
| 50 percent+ | Wrongful convictions since 1989 involving perjury or false accusation |
| 175 days | Florida's speedy trial deadline for felony cases after formal charges |
| 90 days | Florida's speedy trial deadline for misdemeanor cases after formal charges |
| $1,000 fine, up to 1 year | Maximum penalty for a first false police report. |
Can You Sue Someone For Falsely Accusing You In Florida?
Yes, you absolutely can, and the laws in Florida give you a couple of different paths to take. If someone knowingly lies to the police, that’s a crime all on its own under Florida Statute 837.05, which can get them a first degree misdemeanor charge for their first lie. And a third degree felony if they keep doing it. Aside from the criminal side of things, once your own case is resolved in your favor, you can go after the person who lied about you in civil court either for defamation or malicious prosecution.
Civil recovery is real but it is not the priority. Clearing the criminal case comes first, because a pending charge weakens your leverage in any lawsuit and a conviction ends it. Our internal case reviews consistently show that clients who pursue civil claims after acquittal or dismissal, rather than during, recover faster and for more.
What Our Case Data Shows
When we look back at our closed cases, we see a very clear and undeniable pattern. Clients who contacted us immediately secured far better outcomes. They saw charges dismissed at a significantly higher rate.
What Happens To Your Record If Charges Are Dropped?
Regrettably, nothing happens automatically. When the state files a nolle prosequi or a "no info" to end the prosecution, it halts the prosecution. However, it doesn’t wipe away the arrest. Your mugshot, the police report and the court records are still out there on the internet for anyone to find unless you take the extra legal step to get them sealed or expunged under Florida Statute 943.0585.
Landlords run checks on you. Employers do too and so do professional licensing boards. An arrest that never actually led to a conviction can still cost you an apartment or a wonderful job opportunity if it’s just sitting out there in a database for years. Expungement is not paperwork you get around to eventually. It is the last mile of clearing your name, and skipping it leaves the accusation half alive.
Don't Let A Dropped Charge Follow You For Years
McCulloch Law, P.A. handles false accusation defense and record sealing and expungements across Tampa, Hillsborough, and Pinellas Counties, available 24/7 for a free consultation.
Building A Defense That Prosecutors Can’t Ignore
A false accusation is defeated with cold documentation. Outrage alone will not save you. Prosecutors are professionals who calculate risk. We must present a defense so airtight that they back down. This requires timestamped alibis and verified facts. We must highlight discrepancies in the police report. Where appropriate, we challenge the arrest itself.
“I spent years on the prosecution side before I started defending people, and I've seen how easily a thin case turns into a real one if nobody pushes back early. The clients who come to us in the first days after arrest, before they've said too much and before the state has locked in its narrative, get outcomes the ones who wait simply don't.”— Drew McCulloch, Esq., Former State Prosecutor and Founder, McCulloch Law, P.A.
Attorney McCulloch's team at McCulloch Law, P.A. has secured dismissals and non-filed charges in cases ranging from third-degree felony drug possession to battery on a law enforcement officer, often before formal information was ever entered. That track record is not luck. It is what happens when a former prosecutor knows exactly which pressure points make a state attorney's office walk away.
You Don't Have To Prove Your Innocence Alone
Call now for a free, confidential consultation with a former state prosecutor who knows exactly how these cases get built and how they get taken apart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I be charged without physical evidence?
Yes. In Florida, a person's word is considered actual evidence. If someone tells a convincing story to a police officer, that is legally enough to put you in handcuffs.
Can I refile charges after they're dropped?
Sometimes. Having the charges dropped isn’t the same as being found not guilty by a jury, so the state can technically refile those charges within the legal time limit, which is usually three years for most felonies in Florida.
What if the accuser takes it all back?
That certainly helps, but it doesn’t mean your case is automatically over. Your lawyer still has to officially present that statement to the prosecutor or the judge to get things moving in your favor.
Will hiring a criminal defense lawyer make me look guilty?
No. Prosecutors fully expect you to get a lawyer and it’s actually the single best move you can make if you want your charges dropped or declined early on.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney client relationship with McCulloch Law, P.A.