If you’ve been accused of battery on a law enforcement officer, frequently referred to as Battery on LEO, in Florida you need to know exactly what you are facing and how to fight it immediately. This crime can vary drastically in seriousness from poking a cop to prove a point in a conversation to a punch or violent attack, but all forms of this crime are minimum 3rd degree felonies and are taken very seriously by the prosecution and Courts all over Florida. 

Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer requires proof of four factual elements, these are the things the the State will be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt:

See Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim) 8.11.

Florida defines a law enforcement officer broadly and under this statute it will also include protected public officials. Therefore a law enforcement officer can be any of the following:

Under Florida Statute Section 784.07, battery on a law enforcement officer is punishable by up to five years in prison or probation and a $5,000 fine. If you are convicted of aggravated battery involving the use of a weapon or the victim suffers serious injuries as a result of your actions, the minimum sentence is five years in prison—but you can face as long as 30 years in prison. 

Conviction of assault or battery on a law enforcement officer could have serious consequences to your reputation, your job prospects, your finances and your freedom. A conviction may result in the following penalties:

Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer:

Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer:

Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer (carries a 3-year minimum prison term)

Aggravated Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer (carries a 5-year minimum prison term) Section 784.07(2)(d), Florida Statutes

Defending against Battery on Law Enforcement in Florida is not impossible despite having the police and State pushing back against you. There are a number of defenses that may apply to a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer and I have summarized them below to help you understand some potential concepts which can come up in analyzing Battery on Law Enforcement cases:

You lacked knowledge that the victim was a law enforcement officer. the State needs to prove you know the victim was a law enforcement officer at the time of the touching. 

The officer was not engaged in lawful duties. If the officer violates the law while performing their role, such as by performing an unlawful detention, the charge is not valid. 

You were acting in self-defense – assuming you were not being arrested at the time, it can still be self defense if the police were entering your home illegally or unlawfully detaining you – similar to the police acted illegally above. Meeks v. State, 369 So. 2d 109, 110 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). Under Section 776.051(1) “a person is not justified in the use of force to resist an arrest by a law enforcement officer who is known, or reasonably appears, to be a law enforcement officer.”

You are not allowed to resist an arrest—even if it is later determined to be unlawful—with violence. However, this rule does not apply in cases where the officer uses excessive force. If an officer is using excessive force or the appearance of excessive force appears to be imminent, the conventional rules of self-defense apply. This is found in the standard Florida Jury Instructions regarding justifiable use of force – 3.6(g)

Although an arrest, whether lawful or unlawful, may never be resisted with violence, any excessive force used by the officer may be forcefully defended against in accordance with conventional principles of self-defense. Jackson v. State, 463 So. 2d 372, 374 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985).  This is true even in lawful arrest scenarios.  Id.

Did the unlawful force appear imminent? even if excessive force was not applied a defense is still possible if it appeared imminent, however defensive force by an accused must be reasonable and proportionate (necessary under the circumstances)

The conduct in question qualifies as incidental touching. If you did not intend to make physical contact with the law enforcement officer, the charge does not apply. Unintended actions or bodily movements not calculated to make contact with the officer do not meet the basic elements of Battery on a Police Officer.  Common scenarios where this issue may arise include:

Sometimes uniformed police officers take jobs as private citizens and perform work in some from that could easily be mistaken for official duties, but does not qualify legally. For example, in the Nicolosi case, an Officer was slapped while working as a bouncer standing outside a nightclub, and in Bryan v State 865 So.2d 677 (2004) Officers were threatened by an aggressive driver. In both cases the Court found that the police were acting in their private capacities and therefore the charges were reduced to misdemeanors. Nicolosi v State, 783 So. 2d 1095 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001).