At The Brancato Law Firm, we take a different approach. Lead attorney Rocky Brancato has tried over 150 jury cases to verdict across homicide,sex crimes, child abuse, and violent felonies during 25+ years of exclusive criminal defense. We prepare every case as if it will go before a jury, and that level of preparation is what creates real leverage, whether your case ends in a dismissal, a negotiated resolution, or a trial verdict.

Why So Few Criminal Cases in Florida Go to Trial

Pew Research Center data, drawn from the National Center for State Courts, shows that Florida’s criminal jury-trial rate sits at just 1.53%. 

Roughly 98% of criminal cases in Florida are resolved without a jury through plea agreements, dismissals, or diversion programs.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers calls the gap between plea offers and post-trial sentences the “trial penalty.” 

The Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Section has openly debated the institutional pressure on judges and prosecutors to move cases through the system as quickly as possible.

This creates a real problem for defendants. When your attorney’s primary strategy is negotiating a plea, prosecutors have little incentive to offer favorable terms. They know your attorney won’t push the case to trial, so they don’t have to.

What Happens When Your Attorney Only Negotiates

Some defense attorneys in the Tampa Bay area present themselves as trial lawyers but focus almost exclusively on negotiating plea deals. They may resolve cases quickly, but often before they have fully challenged the State’s evidence. This approach can leave you vulnerable and close the door on a potential dismissal or a more favorable resolution.

Choosing a criminal trial attorney who actually prepares for trial changes the dynamic entirely.

The Brancato Law Firm’s Two-Track Defense System

The Brancato Law Firm’s Trial-First Defense Approach

We are trial-ready, not deal-ready. Every case we take is prepared as if the trial is the destination.

• Trial Preparation from Day One. We assume nothing and immediately begin building a robust trial strategy. Our team prepares for a jury trial by filing motions to suppress evidence, challenging forensic conclusions, deposing witnesses, and issuing subpoenas for records the State would rather we not see. Rocky Brancato spent roughly 24 years at the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, rising to Chief Operations Officer where he oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys and 200+ total employees. That institutional knowledge of how the criminal justice system works, from charging policies to courtroom procedure, shapes how we build every case.

• A Reputation Prosecutors Already Know. Preparation alone is only part of the equation. Prosecutors in Hillsborough County know our firm and they know our track record across 150+ jury trials. When The Brancato Law Firm is on a case file, they don’t learn that we will be ready for trial. They already know it. That reputation creates immediate pressure for the State to honestly evaluate whether their evidence can survive cross-examination and forensic scrutiny.

How Trial Readiness Protects You in Tampa

Our preparation pressures the State to evaluate their case knowing we are prepared to expose any flaw in their arguments in open court. This is why trial readiness matters even when a case never goes to trial. It puts you in a position of strength at every stage.

When a favorable resolution is possible, our preparation is the reason it’s favorable. When trial is the only way to protect your rights, we are ready. We handle criminal defense across homicide, sex crimes, DUI, domestic violence, drug crimes, weapons offenses, child abuse, and violent crimes, and every case receives the same trial-level preparation.

The pressure to plead guilty is real. Defendants who exercise their right to trial sometimes face harsher sentences than what was offered in a plea, a concept known as vindictive sentencing or the “trial tax.” The best defense against this pressure is an attorney whose trial record makes prosecutors take the case seriously from the start.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a plea negotiator and a criminal trial attorney in Tampa?

A plea negotiator focuses primarily on reaching a deal with the prosecution, often without fully testing the State’s evidence. A criminal trial attorney prepares every case for trial by filing motions, challenging forensic evidence, deposing witnesses, and building a complete defense strategy. That preparation gives your attorney stronger negotiating leverage because the prosecution knows your attorney can and will go to trial if the offer is not fair.

Do most criminal cases in Florida go to trial?

No. Fewer than 2% of criminal cases in Florida are decided by a jury, according to data from the National Center for State Courts. The remaining cases are resolved through plea agreements, dismissals, or diversion programs. This is why choosing an attorney who actually prepares for trial matters. When prosecutors know your attorney is unlikely to try the case, they have less incentive to offer a favorable resolution.

Talk to a Tampa Criminal Trial Attorney Today

If you are facing criminal charges in the Tampa Bay area, you need a defense team whose trial record speaks for itself. The Brancato Law Firm brings 150+ jury trials to verdict, 25+ years of exclusive criminal defense experience, and death-penalty-qualified trial preparation to every case.

Call (813) 727-7159 for a free, confidential consultation. We are available 24/7 for arrest emergencies.

By Rocky Brancato

One of the most important principles in criminal defense is one that clients don’t always understand at first: it’s your case, not mine.

My job is to advise you. I tell you what the evidence shows, what the law says, what the likely outcomes are, and what I think you should do. I give you the benefit of 25 years of experience in Tampa’s criminal courts. You get the truth, even when it’s not what you want to hear.

But at the end of the day, the decision is yours. You decide whether to take a plea or go to trial. You decide whether to testify. The amount of risk you are willing to assume is yours. It’s your liberty on the line, your life that will be affected by the outcome. I can guide you, but I can’t make the decision for you.

And sometimes, the client makes a different choice than I would have recommended.

Sometimes they’re wrong. But sometimes—like in the case I’m about to tell you about—they’re right.

The Case

My client was charged with cocaine possession. The facts, on their face, looked bad for him.

He had experienced a medical emergency and was transported to the hospital. When hospital personnel removed his clothes for treatment, they discovered cocaine in his pants pocket—along with his wallet containing his identification and money. The hospital stored his belongings, and when the cocaine was discovered, they reported it to law enforcement.

The State was able to establish chain of custody. The cocaine was real. It was in his pants. His wallet—with his ID—was in the same pocket. Those facts weren’t in dispute.

The State offered a plea deal. Under the circumstances—the evidence, the charge, the likely outcome at trial—I thought he should take it. I told him so directly. That’s my job: to give honest advice, not to tell clients what they want to hear.

He looked at me and said no. He wanted to fight.

The State’s Case

The State’s theory was straightforward: actual possession.

Under Florida law, actual possession means the drugs were on your person—in your hand, in your pocket, under your direct physical control. The cocaine was in my client’s pants. His pants were on his body. His wallet with his ID was in the same pocket. Open and shut.

And technically, the State was right. He was in actual possession. The drugs were on him. When he was conscious, he had dominion and control over his own pants and whatever was in them.

This was the kind of case where most defense attorneys would tell their client there’s nothing to fight. The drugs were on you. They can prove it. Take the deal.

But I’ve been doing this for 25 years. And experience teaches you to look for what’s not obvious.

Seeing What Others Miss

When I reviewed the evidence, I noticed something that the State apparently hadn’t considered significant:

No one ever saw my client with conscious dominion and control over the cocaine.

Think about it. The drugs were discovered by hospital staff after he was already incapacitated from a medical emergency. By the time anyone found the cocaine, he was unconscious or being treated. No witness could testify that they saw him reach into his pocket. There was no witness who saw him touch the drugs. No one saw him conscious and in control of the cocaine at any point.

The State could prove the drugs were in his pants. They could prove chain of custody. They could prove actual possession in the technical sense—the drugs were on his person.

But could they prove he knowingly possessed them? Could they prove conscious dominion and control?

That was the gap. And gaps create reasonable doubt.

“Constructive Spiritual Possession”

I needed to frame this argument in a way the jury would understand and remember. Legal distinctions can sound abstract. Jurors need something concrete—something that sticks.

So I coined a phrase: “constructive spiritual possession.”

The argument went like this: Yes, the cocaine was in his pants. Yes, those pants were on his body. But the State is asking you to convict him of knowingly possessing those drugs, and the only evidence they have is that the drugs were found on an unconscious man being treated for a medical emergency.

No one saw him conscious with those drugs. No one saw him exercise knowing control. The State wants you to infer possession from proximity—to assume that because the drugs were in his pants, he must have known they were there and must have been in control of them.

But that’s not proof. That’s speculation. That’s constructive spiritual possession—the drugs were in the same space as his body, so he must be guilty. Is that enough to take away someone’s freedom?

Preparing the Client to Testify

There was another factor in this case: my client wanted to testify.

This is always a risk. When a defendant takes the stand, they open themselves up to cross-examination. The prosecutor’s job is to rattle them—to get them angry, confused, or defensive. To make them say something they shouldn’t. Many defendants hurt their own cases by testifying.

But again—it’s the client’s call. The decision whether to testify belongs to the defendant, not the attorney.

So I prepared him. I gave him rules for testifying: Answer the question you’re asked, nothing more. Don’t volunteer information. Stay calm. Listen to the entire question before answering.

And I warned him: The prosecutor is going to try to make you angry. That’s the strategy. They want you to lose your temper, to get defensive, to slip up. Don’t take the bait.

He listened. He heeded the advice.

On the stand, he was calm. He was composed. He answered the questions directly without being evasive. When the prosecutor pushed, he didn’t push back—he stayed measured. He told his story in a way that was credible and human.

His performance on the stand, combined with my argument about the absence of any witness to conscious possession, gave the jury what they needed.

The Verdict

The jury came back: Not guilty.

Cocaine in his pants. His wallet with his ID in the same pocket. Chain of custody established. And a not guilty verdict.

If my client had followed my recommendation, he would have taken the plea. He would have a drug conviction on his record today. Instead, he walked out of that courtroom with his record clean.

He made the call. I made the argument. He executed on the stand. And together, we won.

The Lesson

This case reminds me of two things.

First: respect client autonomy. I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I know the statistics, I’ve seen the patterns, I have a sense of how cases tend to go. But I don’t know everything. Sometimes the client sees something I don’t—maybe it’s confidence in their own ability to testify, maybe it’s a willingness to take a risk I wouldn’t take, maybe it’s just the conviction that they can live with a loss but can’t live with giving up without a fight.

Second: see what’s not obvious. The State saw a slam dunk—drugs in his pants, wallet with his ID, chain of custody. What they didn’t see, because they weren’t looking, was the absence of any witness to conscious possession. That gap was there the whole time. It just took an attorney who knew how to find it and how to make a jury see it.

What This Means for You

If you’re facing criminal charges, you need an attorney who will be honest with you—who will tell you the truth about your case, even when it’s uncomfortable. You need someone who will give you real advice based on experience, not just tell you what you want to hear.

But you also need an attorney who respects your right to make decisions. Who won’t pressure you into a plea deal because it’s easier for them. Who, when you decide to fight, will fight with everything they have.

And you need an attorney who can see what others miss. Who can find the gap in the State’s case when everyone else sees a slam dunk. Who knows how to frame an argument so a jury understands it and remembers it.

About the Author

Tampa Attorney Rocky Brancato is the founding attorney of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a criminal defense practice in Tampa, Florida. With more than 25 years of experience—including service as Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office—Rocky has tried hundreds of cases and developed a reputation for finding what others miss. He believes in honest advice and client autonomy: your case, your decision, his fight.

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