St. Augustine Criminal Mischief Attorney

St. Augustine criminal mischief allegations occur for a variety of reasons. Sometimes kids or young adults are burning off youthful energy vandalizing things, other times we see couples that have a heated disagreement and something ends up broken and occasionally someone is mad, drunk or clumsy and something randomly gets broken. The alleged victims of St. Johns County criminal mischief are usually upset about their property being damaged. They become a squeaky wheel for the prosecutor and often want their pound of flesh. This is why you need an experienced St. Augustine criminal mischief attorney. Under Florida law, criminal mischief or vandalism is defined as the wilful and malicious destruction of property belonging to another person. As the value of the property or cost of repair increase so do the potential penalties. It is important to remember just because the property damaged is expensive doesn’t mean you have to replace the entire value. The cost to return the property to its original condition is all that applies.

Criminal mischief with damages under $200 is a second degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail, 6 months of probation, $500 fine, court cost and cost of prosecution. Criminal mischief with damages greater than $200 but less than $1,000 can be charged as a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail, 12 months of probation, $1,000 fine, court cost and cost of prosecution. Criminal mischief with damages over $1,000 or a second criminal mischief can be charged as a third degree felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, 60 months of DOC probation, $5,000 fine, court cost and cost of prosecution.