Resisting an Officer With Violence
Under Section 843.01, F.S., a person who knowingly and willfully resists, obstructs, or opposes specified officers by offering or doing violence to the officer, commits a third degree felony. The offense is ranked as a Level 5 offense on the Criminal Punishment Code Offense Severity Ranking Chart. As explained in Section 843.01, F.S., a third degree felony is punishable by up to five years in state prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine.
The Florida Bar’s Florida Standard Criminal Jury Instructions for resisting an officer with violence provides an instruction that to prove the crime of Resisting Officer with Violence, the State must prove all of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
- The defendant knowingly and willfully resisted, obstructed or opposed the victim by offering to do violence or doing violence to the victim.
- At the time, the victim was engaged in the execution of legal process or lawful execution of a legal duty.
- At the time, the victim was an officer or a person legally authorized to execute process.
- At the time, the defendant knew the victim was an officer or a person legally authorized to execute process.
The term “offering” to do violence means threatening to do violence.
Attorney for Resisting an Officer with Violence in Winter Park or Orange County, FL
If you were accused of resisting arrest or an officer with or without violence, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney at Sammis Law Firm.
Attorney Jocelyn Dopson-Rodriguez presents clients through Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in the heart of Central Florida throughout Orange and Osceola counties.
Ms. Jocelyn Dopson-Rodriguez focuses on fighting allegations of violence cases in Orange County, FL. She is particularly familiar with the procedures used by the Winter Park Police Department, the Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office with investigating crimes of violence.
Call (407) 598-9011.
Law Enforcement Officers and Other Employees Covered by Section 943.10
Under Section 943.10(1), (2), (3), (6), (7), (8), or (9), F.S., law enforcement officers and specified employees under Section 843.01, F.S., include any of the following:
- Law enforcement officer
- correctional officer
- correctional probation officer
- part-time law enforcement officer
- part-time correctional officer
- auxiliary law enforcement officer
- Members of the Florida Commission on Offender Review or any administrative aide or supervisor employed by the commission
- Parole and probation supervisors
- County probation officers
- Personnel or representatives of the Department of Law Enforcement
- Other person legally authorized to execute process in the execution of legal process or in the lawful execution of any legal duty.
Intent for Resisting an Officer with Violence
Florida courts have clarified the scope of intent in resisting and battery-related offenses through several decisions focused on both the defendant’s ability to act and the surrounding circumstances, rather than requiring proof of a specific purpose.
In Kirkland v. State, 647 So. 2d.142 (Fla. 1994), the court found that verbal threats alone do not constitute “resisting with violence” when the defendant lacks the ability to carry out those threats. The example listed in that was involved a defendant who was hogtied and physically incapable of acting on them. As such, intent requires more than words. The words must be coupled with the capacity to act.
In Frey v. State, 708 So.2d 918 (Fla. 1998), the Florida Supreme Court determined that resisting arrest with violence is not a specific intent crime, meaning the defense of voluntary intoxication does not apply; the offense only requires a general intent to resist, not a heightened mental state.
Similarly, in Wright v. State, 705 So.2d 102 (Fla. 1998), the court recognized that a defendant charged with attempted battery on a law enforcement officer was entitled to a jury instruction on the justifiable use of non-deadly force, reinforcing that intent must be evaluated in light of the circumstances and available defenses.
This article was last updated on Friday, September 25, 2026.