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Criminal Defense

Orlando Violent
Crime Lawyer

We Are Your Orlando Violent Crime Defense Attorneys

The attorneys at Katz & Phillips, P.A. have been successfully defending Orlando residents against violent crime charges for decades. We’re tenacious and will aggressively protect your rights, whether you’ve been charged with:

Our team of attorneys has handled them all. We’re not intimidated by the severity of these charges, and we’ve proven that time and again.

orlando violent crime attorney

We defend those charged with all kinds of violent crimes

Assault & battery defense

If someone even believes he or she is in danger, you can be charged with assault in Florida.

If you make actual contact with that person with the intention of hurting him or her or causing pain, your crime becomes one of battery.

You don’t have to cause injury — your touch might even have been unintentional.

That should matter, but does not always matter in the eyes of the officer at the scene, you may still be charged with battery.

If you have a weapon or firearm in your possession at the time, the charges can jump to aggravated assault or aggravated battery, and the penalties become much worse.

If you’ve recently found yourself in this sort of situation and you believe you may be charged with an assault or battery, or both, you need an experienced and aggressive criminal defense attorney to fight for you.

If you’ve already been charged, you need help immediately. The state of Florida fiercely prosecutes these crimes, and judges aren’t likely to let you off easily if you don’t have help.

This is not something you should handle on your own.

Aggravated assault defense

Suppose for a moment that someone has threatened to harm you or your family.

Now imagine that late one night, you notice an unidentified individual standing on the street near your home. 

You believe this person is watching your door. You arm yourself, maybe with your son’s baseball bat. You go outside to confront the individual. You demand that he leave the location immediately.

He may or may not have anything to do with the threat against you or your family. If he makes a report to the police, you can find yourself facing aggravated assault charges.

Aggravated assault is a step up in severity from assault.

Assault occurs when you attempt or threaten to harm another individual.

Aggravated assault means you did it with a weapon, in your possession.

Something as innocuous as a baseball bat can be considered a deadly weapon when used to inflict injury on another individual.

Aggravated assault is a serious charge, one you should not try to face alone.

Aggravated battery defense

Aggravated battery is a second-degree felony in the state of Florida.

Simple battery is a misdemeanor, but several factors can combine to put you at risk for a more serious felony charge.

If you had a deadly weapon in your possession at the time you made violent contact with another individual, this enhances your potential conviction to a felony.

You will face a felony charge for aggravated battery if the person you assaulted was pregnant; the prosecution must prove that you had knowledge of or should have realized the victim’s pregnancy.

Lastly, if you hurt someone to intentionally cause disfigurement, disability, or grievous injury, you can be charged with felony aggravated battery.

Without a qualified and experienced criminal defense attorney on your side, you could risk up to 15 years in prison and could be fined up to $10,000.

You can’t be charged with aggravated battery if you acted to save yourself or someone else.

The attorneys with Katz & Phillips, P.A. can potentially have the charges against you dropped or thrown out if you acted in self-defense or defending another.

Further, felony charges might be reduced to a misdemeanor, or we might be able to successfully negotiate with the prosecution so you serve probation rather than jail time.

orlando violent crime assault attorney

Child abuse defense

At a minimum, child abuse is a third-degree felony in the state of Florida. It brings to mind thoughts of an adult striking or otherwise physically harming a child, but it doesn’t stop there.

You may be liable for child abuse charges if you cause psychological damage to a child, if you do anything that might potentially lead to the injury of a child, or even if you incite someone else to hurt a child. You can spend up to five years in state prison.

Under some grievous circumstances, child abuse can be a first-degree felony.

If a child is permanently disfigured or disabled by what transpired, if the child was confined or trapped in some way, if he was intentionally and harshly tortured or punished, you could face up to 30 years behind bars.

Kidnapping defense

Kidnapping is a first-degree felony. That’s almost as bad as it gets, but if the offense you’re being charged with involved a child, the stakes jump exponentially.

If the state of Florida also accuses you of issues of child prostitution, exploitation, sexual battery, or abuse, you may lose any opportunity of negotiating for a lesser charge.

You can’t handle this without the very best legal assistance available.

Call the experienced and aggressive attorneys at Katz & Phillips, P.A. as soon as you expect you might have a problem.

Murder & manslaughter defense

The line between murder and manslaughter is thin in Florida.

A murder charge means you intentionally took someone’s life, or that an individual died because of some felonious action on your part.

Manslaughter is death resulting from negligence and is a second-degree felony.

An experienced criminal defense attorney can use the facts of your case to make the difference between one charge and the other.

First-degree murder is punishable by death in Florida; at the very least, if convicted, you will spend the rest of your life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

With this much at stake, you need the best, most experienced criminal defense attorney you can find.

Even a conviction for manslaughter might land you in prison for decades.

If you are facing a serious charge of this magnitude, you need help and you need it immediately.

How we can help

We’ll hit the ground running and do everything possible to prevent you from being found guilty of these devastating charges.

We’ll begin investigating the case against you immediately to find an angle or strategy we can use toward your best defense.

We’ve done this successfully many times before, and we can do it again for you.

Our violent crime defense attorneys are here to help

The state of Florida works aggressively to convict violent offenders because such crimes endanger innocent citizens.

The attorneys with Katz & Phillips, P.A. will work just as hard to defend your rights and to prevent the worst from happening to you.

If you or a loved one has been charged with such a crime, you need to reach out for help right away.

Time can make as much of a difference as your attorney’s experience and willingness to fight on your behalf.

Schedule your consultation with the attorneys at Katz & Phillips, P.A. today so we can begin protecting your rights by calling (321) 332-6864.

Associations & Accolades
James Phillips and David Katz are both Board Certified DUI Defense Experts. In fact they are two of only four Board Certified DUI Defense Experts practicing in the State of Florida.
National College For DUI Defense Board Certified Specialist
Orlando Criminal Team Awards