{"id":447,"date":"2018-12-19T12:35:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T17:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=447"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:59:10","slug":"florida-court-holds-actual-possession-of-a-gun-is-not-needed-to-impose-a-firearm-sentence-enhancement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-holds-actual-possession-of-a-gun-is-not-needed-to-impose-a-firearm-sentence-enhancement\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Holds Actual Possession of a Gun is Not Needed to Impose a Firearm Sentence Enhancement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a minor charged with a crime, it is essential to understand what sentence you might face prior to deciding to enter into a plea agreement. While certain crimes have mandatory sentences, in some cases it may not be clear what penalty applies to an offense under the terms of the statute.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a Florida Court of appeals recently <a href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/florida\/fourth-district-court-of-appeal\/2018-17-2982.pdf?ts=1541607809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruled<\/a>\u00a0that actual possession of a gun is not required for a court to impose a mandatory firearm enhancement sentence on a minor defendant who entered a plea for an armed burglary charge. \u00a0If you are a minor resident of Tampa facing criminal charges, you should consult with a Tampa criminal defense attorney to discuss whether entering a plea agreement may be appropriate in your case.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Factual Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Reportedly, a witness saw four males trying to open a car in a parking lot. She contacted the police, who responded and ultimately detained the defendant. The officers became aware that a gun had been taken from a car burglarized by one of the four males. The minor defendant advised the officer that he knew where the gun was, and proceeded to lead the officers to the gun. A second male who was detained told the officers that a third male handed him the gun and he did it in a bush. None of the men indicated who removed the gun from the car.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-holds-actual-possession-of-a-gun-is-not-needed-to-impose-a-firearm-sentence-enhancement\/#more-447\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a minor charged with a crime, it is essential to understand what sentence you might face prior to deciding to enter into a plea agreement. While certain crimes have mandatory sentences, in some cases it may not be clear what penalty applies to an offense under the terms of the statute. For [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-burglary","category-juvenile"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida Gun Enhancement Without Holding the Gun<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read how Florida can add a gun enhancement without \u201cactual possession,\u201d and why location and proof become the main fight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/florida-court-holds-actual-possession-of-a-gun-is-not-needed-to-impose-a-firearm-sentence-enhancement\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Florida Gun Enhancement Without Holding the Gun\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Read how Florida can add a gun enhancement without \u201cactual possession,\u201d and why location and proof become the main fight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/florida-firearm-sentence-enhancement-actual-possession-not-needed.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. 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