Criminal Cases Involving Hit and Run

Now that generative AI chatbots are having their 15 minutes of fame these days, people are asking them questions and getting neat, grammatically correct responses, perhaps a little bit too neat. If you ask Chat GPT or another one of the leading bots what happens after a hit and run accident, it will probably answer from the perspective of someone whose car got hit by a driver who did not stick around to exchange contact information. It will advise you on filing a claim with your insurance company, assuming that you are trying to minimize your financial losses and that you probably will never find out who hit you. A similar thing used to happen when the older generation confided its worries in clunky old search engines like Google. It would give your folks an array of answers, giving each website the opportunity to speak for itself, but most of these would assume the perspective of the motorist left in the lurch after another driver caused an accident and then left the scene. What if the driver that caused the accident and did not stop was you? When is bumping into something with your car and then simply going on with your day a rookie mistake, and when is it a crime? Here, our Miami criminal defense lawyer explains the legal consequences for drivers accused of leaving the scene of an accident.

Criminal Penalties for Leaving the Scene of the Accident Vary According to the Severity of the Accident

Almost everyone has been in a minor traffic accident at some point, and our instinct is to try to put the unpleasant experience behind us as quickly as possible. You are worried about the disapproval and financial penalties you will get from your family or from the car insurance company. The law lets you avoid notifying the police after the most minor accidents. Pursuant to Florida’s fender bender law, you are not required to file a police report after a car accident if no one suffered physical injuries and the total property damage was less than $500.

If the accident was more serious than that, then you must exchange contact information with the other driver, and you must file a police report by flagging down a passing patrol car or calling the police to come to the scene of the accident. Failure to do this is the crime of leaving the scene of an accident, also known as hit and run. If the accident involves property damage only but no bodily injuries, then hit and run is a misdemeanor, and the maximum penalty is a year in county jail. If someone gets injured, then you can be charged with felony hit and run, where the maximum sentence is 15 years in state prison. Hit and run with fatalities has even more serious consequences.

What If the Injured Person Files a Civil Lawsuit?

The laws of criminal procedure include many safeguards against unfair convictions. You might get acquitted of hit and run because the jurors have reasonable doubt about your guilt, or the court might dismiss the case because of insufficient evidence or because of procedural errors that violate your Constitutional rights. Regardless of the outcome of your criminal case, the injured person has the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against you in civil court. The plaintiff can prevail in the civil case even if you were not convicted. In fact, a conviction or guilty plea in criminal court for hit and run guarantees an automatic win for the plaintiff if the injured person files a personal injury lawsuit. Therefore, some defendants who would otherwise take a plea deal plead no contest instead of pleading guilty; this way, the civil court weighs the evidence and determines whether to award compensatory damages to the injured person.

Hit and Run Defendant Convicted at Trial After Rejecting Plea Deal

Earlier this year, a man was arrested for hit and run after hitting a motorcyclist while driving his work van and not stopping to render assistance. The van driver pleaded not guilty, and at his trial, he maintained that he had done nothing wrong; he said that the motorcyclist was driving dangerously and was at fault for the accident. The motorcyclist was injured, but his injuries were not catastrophic; by the time of the trial, he was well enough to testify against the van driver. Prosecutors originally offered the defendant a plea deal that would have resulted in a one-year prison sentence, but he rejected it, insisting that he was innocent. The jury convicted him at trial, and he could face up to 15 years in prison.

Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys

A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you seek justice if you were charged with misdemeanor or felony hit and run.  Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.

Source:

flaglerlive.com/fernandes-verdict/