Felony procedure in Tampa usually turns first on custody, first appearance, the bond order, and the later filing decision. An arrest affidavit is an important record, but it is not the same document as a prosecutor’s formal charge.
Call (813) 588-6602No obligation · Written for Tampa · Hillsborough County
Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (813) 588-6602Florida calls an offense a felony when it is punishable by death or imprisonment in a state penitentiary; a misdemeanor is ordinarily punishable by county incarceration not exceeding one year. Write down the statute subsection and degree exactly as printed. The word “felony” alone does not identify the conduct alleged, the evidence listed, or the court division that will later handle the proceeding.
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130 generally requires an arrested person who has not been lawfully released to appear before a judicial officer within 24 hours. The judge states the charge, provides a complaint copy, and advises the person about silence and counsel.
Hillsborough duty judges conduct first appearances and bond motions by audiovisual device from Courtroom 17 in the Courthouse Annex.
Hillsborough’s 2026 order adopts the statewide uniform bond schedule without change. The order says plainly that the schedule applies to a booking officer, not to a judge, and that it does not bind a first-appearance or bail-bond hearing. A judge considers an individualized release question under the cited statutes and criminal rule.
The order also excludes many arrests from pre-first-appearance release under the schedule. Examples include capital, life, first-degree, and second-degree felonies; robbery; burglary; carjacking; kidnapping; trafficking; felony battery; domestic battery by strangulation; stalking; protective-injunction violations; and specified prior-supervision or recent-arrest histories. The list is important because an amount associated with a different charge does not mean the booking officer can release every person. Read the current order rather than relying on a bond amount repeated online.
For a Hillsborough felony arrest, the Clerk describes a sequence in which jail paperwork reaches the felony department, an official court file is prepared, and the file is forwarded to the State Attorney for a filing decision. The formal charging document may differ from the initial arrest paperwork, may include more than one count, or may not be filed. Keep every version of the paperwork; replacing the arrest affidavit with a verbal retelling loses dates, witnesses, statute sections, and property descriptions that can matter later.
When charges are filed, the Clerk says an arraignment notice is mailed to the address provided at arrest, with notice also sent to a bond agent where applicable. Check that address. A temporary address, a move from Seminole Heights to another part of town, or mail left at a former residence can create a practical problem even though the courthouse record continues.
Release paperwork may restrict contact, travel, substances, possession of weapons, or entry to an address. The local bond order says a person released before trial must refrain from criminal activity and from contact with a victim except through pretrial discovery; it also states that a violation may lead to revocation of bond. Read the written terms as they stand. A text, invitation, apology, or informal agreement with another person is not a court modification.
This is especially important where the allegation involves a household member, a co-worker, or a nearby address. Ordinary daily movement can overlap with a stay-away term. Questions about the scope of an order call for direct legal advice and, where appropriate, a court filing through counsel—not private workarounds.
Make one chronological folder with the booking sheet, arrest affidavit, complaint copy, bond receipt, release conditions, property receipt, notices from the Clerk, and any DUI suspension notice. Do not alter photographs, messages, location records, or other material that might later be relevant. This is a guide to Florida and Hillsborough procedure, not a determination about evidence or an outcome.
Felony Defense Lawyer in Tampa. Call (813) 588-6602 and a Tampa lawyer reviews the claim and the deadline that applies. Nothing is signed on that call.
Call (813) 588-6602Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130 requires that every arrested person not already released in a lawful manner be taken before a judicial officer within 24 hours of arrest, in person or by electronic audiovisual device at the court's discretion. At that hearing the judge must state the charge, provide a copy of the complaint, and advise the person of the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. Rule 3.133 sets a separate 48-hour limit for a nonadversary probable cause determination when the defendant is in custody.
Why it matters: In Hillsborough County that hearing is normally run by video link from the county jail, and release conditions are addressed at it. Rule 3.130(c)(2) also requires the judge to allow a defendant who is hiring counsel reasonable time to send for that lawyer and, on request, to have an officer carry a message to a named lawyer inside the county at no cost. That makes the first day after an arrest the point at which counsel matters most.
Source: flcourts.gov
Administrative Order S-2025-063 of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit adopts the statewide uniform bond schedule for Hillsborough County without change, effective January 1 through December 31, 2026. The order states the schedule applies only to the booking officer and does not bind a judge. It also excludes a long list of arrests: capital, life, first- and second-degree felonies, homicide, felony battery, domestic battery by strangulation, and domestic violence under Florida Statutes 741.28. The list continues with stalking, robbery, burglary, carjacking, kidnapping, trafficking in a controlled substance, and violation of a protective injunction. It reaches anyone on pretrial release, probation or community control at the time of a felony arrest, and anyone arrested three or more times in the preceding six months.
Why it matters: It decides whether anyone can be bonded out at the jail counter or has to wait for a judge. For every excluded charge there is no pre-first-appearance release, and the judge then makes an individualized determination under Florida Statutes 903.011(6) and 903.046 and Rule 3.131. Prior supervision status and recent arrest history change the answer even when the charge itself is minor.
Source: fljud13.org
The Hillsborough County Clerk of Court states that after a felony arrest the county jail sends the initial paperwork to the Clerk's felony department. That department prepares the official court file, including the original arrest document and any release forms, and forwards it to the Office of the State Attorney. The State Attorney then determines whether to file formal charges. Once charges are filed with the Clerk, the defendant is notified by mail of an arraignment date, sent to the address provided at the time of arrest, and the bail bond agent is also notified if the defendant bonded out. The felony department cannot change a court date once notice has gone out.
Why it matters: An arrest is not a filed charge, and the gap between them is where people assume a case has gone away. The notice that resumes it goes to whatever address was recorded at booking, so anyone who moved, or who gave a temporary address, can miss a court date they never saw. Missing it does not pause the case.
Source: hillsclerk.com
No obligation · Written for Tampa · Hillsborough County