A first felony arrest in Broward can end with the charge dismissed and no conviction on your record. But PTI isn't automatic, the filing window is short, and ordinary early defense work can shut the door permanently.
You got arrested on a third-degree felony. It's your first one. Somebody told you there's a program that makes it go away, and now you're up at 2 a.m. trying to figure out whether that's real.
It is real. It's called pretrial intervention, and in Broward County it can end with your charge dismissed and no conviction on your record.
But it's not automatic, and it's not forgiving about timing. There's a filing deadline most people blow through without knowing it existed. And there are things a lawyer can do in the first two months of your case, ordinary things, that shut the door permanently.
Pretrial intervention, or PTI, is a diversion program for first-time felony offenders in Broward County. If you're charged with a qualifying third-degree felony and the State Attorney's Office approves your application, your case is pulled out of the normal court process and you're supervised for roughly a year. Complete the program and the charge gets dismissed. The program is authorized under Florida Statute § 948.08 and runs through the Florida Department of Corrections, with approval controlled by the State Attorney. Your attorney has to apply within 45 days of arraignment. If restitution is owed, you pay it in full.
The written rules and the real answer aren't the same thing, and you should know both.
On paper, you need a qualifying third-degree felony and a clean or near-clean history. That's the floor, not the ceiling. Meeting it gets your application read. It doesn't get you in.
What decides it is the facts of your case and, if there's a victim, what that victim wants. Two people charged under the same statute on the same day can get different answers. I've watched that happen from both sides of the aisle.
Possession cases, low-dollar theft, forgery, worthless checks: these are the charges that most often clear. The further your facts drift from that profile, the harder the sell.
The State Attorney's Office publishes a list, and it's worth reading before you get your hopes up. Excluded categories include second-degree felonies and above, any weapons charge, violent offenses, aggravated assault, robbery, attempted residential burglary, child abuse or neglect, fleeing and eluding, crimes showing an organized scheme to defraud, and restitution owed over $5,000.
DUI, driving while license suspended, and leaving the scene of an accident are also excluded from felony PTI.
Offenses against government entities get reviewed case by case, entirely at the State Attorney's discretion.
Forty-five days from the date of arraignment. Your attorney submits a completed packet by email to the State Attorney's Office, and everything has to be in it: the waiver of rights signed and notarized, the probable cause affidavit, the information, the initial data sheet, and the interview worksheet.
Then you wait. Processing typically runs 30 to 90 days from the date they receive the application.
Treat the 45 days as hard. Broward does not hand out extensions freely, and I would not build a plan around getting one. If you're reading this a few weeks after an arraignment, that clock is already most of the way down.
Yes, and this is the part almost nobody tells you.
The State Attorney's Office is explicit that taking depositions or having substantive motions heard will disqualify you from PTI consideration. Demanding discovery can do the same. And entering the program means waiving your right to discovery and your right to a speedy trial.
Sit with what that means. The normal moves a defense attorney makes in the opening weeks of a felony case, the ones that build leverage for a motion to suppress or a dismissal, are the same moves that can eliminate PTI as an option.
So the decision has to get made early and made deliberately. Is this a case with a real suppression issue worth litigating? Or is this a case where the strongest outcome available is a dismissal through diversion, and the smartest thing to do is keep the file quiet and get the packet in?
Get that call wrong in either direction and it's expensive. When I was at the Public Defender's Office in Broward carrying felony cases, this was a routine fork in the road, and it came up in the first few weeks or not at all. It's one of the first things I look at now.
More than a say. In cases with a victim, their input is usually the controlling factor.
The State Attorney's Office contacts the victim and asks their position. If the victim objects, that objection carries enormous weight, and it applies on both the felony and misdemeanor side. Restitution paid in full and in hand before the application goes in changes that conversation more than anything else you can do.
This is why theft and property cases sometimes resolve into PTI while similar-looking cases don't. Same statute, different victim.
PTI isn't the only path, and if you don't qualify for it you may still qualify for something. Broward runs several felony-side alternatives:
Whether any of these fit depends on facts the State weighs privately. If you're looking at a drug charge or another nonviolent felony, it's worth having someone walk the full list against your case rather than assuming PTI is the only door.
Your case goes back to the ordinary track and you defend it.
There's no meaningful appeal. A denial is normally the end of it, which is another reason the application matters so much the first time. You don't get to submit a stronger version later.
That's also why the packet shouldn't be a stack of forms filled in at the last minute. Treatment already started, steady employment, restitution paid, a clear picture of who you actually are: those things go in before anyone says no, not after.
One more thing before the questions: this page is about Broward. If your arrest was in Miami-Dade County, the program there runs on different rules, deadlines, and paperwork — read my guide to pretrial diversion in Miami-Dade County instead.
Yes, but the terms change. Florida residents who apply on time generally aren't required to plead guilty. If you live out of state, you have to plead guilty with sentencing deferred for a year, and you're supervised under the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision. Complete the program and the State agrees to let you withdraw the plea and the case is dismissed. Fail it and you're sentenced on that plea.
The charge is dismissed, but the arrest itself doesn't disappear on its own. The charge and the arrest record are two separate things, and clearing the arrest record is its own process under Florida law with its own eligibility rules. Completing a diversion program can affect what you qualify for later, so it's worth understanding those rules before your case closes.
There are program and supervision costs, plus full restitution if a victim is owed money. The amounts change, so ask about current figures rather than relying on numbers you read anywhere online. Restitution over $5,000 is an exclusion from the program entirely.
It works similarly day to day. You're supervised, you have conditions, you report. The difference is the ending. Probation follows a conviction or a withheld adjudication. PTI happens instead of that, and completing it results in dismissal rather than a sentence.
Then move now. The 45-day window runs from arraignment, and it's not a deadline Broward is generous about. Call an attorney today rather than next week, because the packet takes time to assemble properly and it has to land inside the window.
Not through standard felony PTI, which is limited to qualifying third-degree felonies. Some second-degree felonies are considered for the felony mental health diversion program or, in narrow circumstances, the OIC program. Those have their own eligibility rules and neither is a substitute for PTI.
This page is general information about Broward County procedure, not legal advice about your case. Every case turns on its own facts, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship.
Your first case strategy session is free and completely confidential. Attorney Tyler Williams answers personally, 24/7.