Animal Cruelty in Florida

There are many differing levels of animal cruelty charges in Florida and they may result in anywhere from a $50 fine to $10,000 in fines and years of lock up in a prison. If you have been accused of misdemeanor or felony animal abuse, please call The Law Office of The Orlando Criminal Attorney and schedule a consultation with a skilled Orlando criminal lawyer.

Animal cruelty charges generally occur out of negligence or psychological disorders. Most negligence-related charges are misdemeanors, but if you made a serious mistake, you could be facing a felony. If you are a loving pet owner who neglected to properly care for your pet, an Orlando criminal attorney can help you show that you are ordinarily a great pet owner who just made a mistake. In some cases, we may talk to character witnesses to establish this fact. If you neglected your animal due to circumstances beyond your control or if a person who was supposed to watch your animal while you were away fails to do so, we can often have the charges against you dropped once we show the court what happened. If the charges against you show that you may not be a good owner to the animal, we may be able to help you avoid criminal penalties if you agree to give the animal away to a loving owner.

Your Orlando Criminal Attorney Will Look for Flaws in the Evidence

When animal cruelty charges involve the intentional mistreatment of an animal, a much different defense strategy will be required. Your Orlando criminal lawyer should first review the evidence against you to ensure that it was legally obtained and convincingly indicates that you were the person who harmed the animal. If these two requirements are met, then we may help you avoid serious criminal penalties by helping you enroll in therapy. Many people who harm animals are doing so because they are actually in the early stages of a developing sociopathic disorder. By getting help at the first sign of this problem, you could be preventing your dangerous outbursts from being turned against people in the future. If you are proactive about a psychological problem, the courts will be much more sympathetic to you and your plight and be less willing to send you to prison.

If you have been accused of animal cruelty, it is important to realize just how serious these charges are. Please call our criminal defense law offices today to discuss the charges with a top Orlando criminal attorney.