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Criminal Mischief Defense
Criminal mischief is the breakup charge, the neighbor-feud charge, the one-bad-night charge: a keyed car, a punched wall, a broken phone, a cracked windshield. It feels minor until the repair estimate arrives — because in Florida, the dollar amount of the damage is the difference between a 60-day misdemeanor and a 5-year felony, and the estimate usually comes from the one person angriest at you.
These cases turn on valuation, intent, and ownership — three elements the arrest affidavit almost never examines. Call or text 407-846-8008 before you pay for anything or agree to anything.
The Law: § 806.13
A person commits criminal mischief by willfully and maliciously damaging the real or personal property of another — including graffiti.
• Damage of $200 or less: second-degree misdemeanor.
• Over $200 up to $1,000: first-degree misdemeanor.
• Over $1,000: third-degree felony — as is any criminal mischief by someone with a prior criminal-mischief conviction, and damage that interrupts a business or utility at a restoration cost of $1,000 or more.
• Places of worship: damage over $200 is a felony.
• Graffiti carries escalating mandatory fines ($250/$500/$1,000) plus community service — and a minor's driver's license can be held.
The Three Battlegrounds
1. Valuation. The State must prove damage amount — with competent evidence, not the owner's guess or an inflated “replace everything” quote. Repair cost versus replacement, depreciation, pre-existing damage, and padded estimates are all cross-examination. Pushing a case under $1,000 — or under $200 — changes the charge itself, and we litigate that line hard.
2. Intent. “Willfully and maliciously” excludes accidents, reckless moments, and collateral damage from other conduct. A door that broke during a move-out, damage during a mutual scuffle, a car dinged in anger-adjacent chaos — malice is a specific finding, not a mood.
3. Ownership — the marital-property defense. Florida courts have long held that “property of another” raises genuine issues when the property is jointly owned — the TV bought together, the car titled to both spouses. Damaging property you co-own sits on contested legal ground, and in domestic cases this defense is easy to overlook.
How These Cases End Well
Criminal mischief is a restitution-driven charge, and prosecutors know it: making the owner whole — through counsel, documented, at the real number — can open the door to diversion, reduced charges, or dismissal, especially for first offenders. A dismissed or diverted case can then be expunged. What turns these cases bad is the opposite instinct: apologizing in writing (a confession), venmo-ing random amounts (an admission), or pleading guilty fast with a felony-level estimate unchallenged on the record.
Frequently Asked Questions
It was my own stuff — we live together.
Joint or marital property cases have a genuine ownership defense. Bring receipts and titles; they matter more than anyone expects.
The “victim” says the damage is $1,500; the repair quote says $480.
Then the felony line is the fight — and an independent estimate is evidence. Never accept the affidavit's number.
It happened during an argument the police already charged as domestic battery.
The counts travel together and so do the defenses — and the mischief count is often the State's weakest, which makes it the lever for resolving the package.
Will I have to pay either way?
If the property is truly another's and damaged, restitution is likely part of any resolution — but paying through a structured resolution that ends in dismissal and paying on top of a felony conviction are very different outcomes for the same dollars.
Don't Let a Repair Bill Become a Felony Record
Call or text 407-846-8008 for a free consultation with former prosecutor Chad Seibel. Office visits are by appointment only.