In Florida criminal cases, if and when a defendant either pleads guilty or no contest or is convicted at a trial, the court will normally order restitution as part of the defendant’s sentence if there is a victim who lost money or property as a result of the crime. This is most common in fraud and theft cases where the defendant stole money or something else of value from the victim. It is also common in cases where the victim’s property was damaged or the victim was injured as a result of the crime and had to pay for medical bills or to fix or replace property.
Normally, the prosecutor will get with the victim and find out the amount of restitution. The prosecutor and criminal defense attorney will go over the amount and the proof of loss and come to an agreement as to the amount of restitution. If they cannot agree, the court will hold a hearing to determine the amount of restitution that is owed. Then, the defendant can either pay it prior to or at the time of the resolution of the case or the judge will sentence the defendant to a period of probation, either instead of jail or prison or after jail or prison, and the defendant will pay the restitution as a condition of probation.
However, there are times when the state does not know the amount of the restitution when the defendant pleads guilty or no contest. This happens because the prosecutor has not been able to get in touch with the victim or the amount has otherwise not been determined yet for some reason. In this case, the state will normally ask the judge to reserve a period of time to determine the restitution amount. When a defendant pleads guilty or no contest and gets sentenced, the sentence will not change, for better or worse, absent other circumstances in the future. However, if the judge reserves right to determine restitution at a later date, the judge can add a restitution amount at that later time. Florida law indicates that the judge has 60 days for which restitution can be reserved. Some criminal defense lawyers interpret this to mean that if the state does not figure out the restitution amount and the judge does not order that restitution amount within 60 days from the conviction, the state can no longer seek restitution. However, the case law rejects that argument. As long as the judge reserves the issue of restitution within 60 days of the sentence, the state can come back and ask the judge to order the restitution amount after that 60 days has elapsed. Normally, if the state does not have the amount at the sentencing hearing or immediately thereafter, they are never getting it. But, sometimes, the prosecutor is diligent and comes up with a figure later. As long as restitution was reserved within 60 days of the plea and sentence, the state can ask the judge to order restitution beyond that 60 day period.
However, there is one final caveat to this restitution issue. While the court may order restitution well after the 60 days, even years after the plea and sentence, as long as the right was reserved within 60 days, the court loses jurisdiction to order restitution if the defendant’s probation has ended. The court does not have jurisdiction to alter or add to a defendant’s sentence once that sentence has been completed. So, if a defendant was placed on probation and finished, or was not placed on probation at all, the court loses its ability to order restitution at that point.