duistatelaws.com Key takeaways
- The Monroe County Clerk has three offices: Key West, Marathon and Plantation Key (Tavernier).
- Fla. Stat. 316.193: a conviction for boating under the influence under 327.35 counts as a previous DUI conviction.
- Pretrial Services interviewed 2,927 defendants in 2025 and recommended release for 787 — across all charges, not just DUI.
- Of 904 people who left pretrial supervision in 2025, 85% completed it; most failures were technical violations.
- Court-ordered random urine tests cost $10 each, at the defendant’s expense.
- Florida’s license clock: 10 days from the notice.
from the date you were served with the notice to demand a hearing from Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The request goes to the department, not to the court, and no judge in Monroe County will make it for you. Fla. Stat. § 322.2615(1)(b)3.
Monroe County is the Florida Keys, and its Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller serves the length of the island chain from three offices: 500 Whitehead Street in Key West, 3117 Overseas Highway in Marathon, and 88770 Overseas Highway in Tavernier on Plantation Key. All three are open weekdays from 8:30am to 5pm.
Two things set a Keys DUI apart from most of this site’s Florida pages: how much driving and boating overlap here, which the statutes link by counting each as a prior for the other, and the detailed annual report the circuit’s Pretrial Services publishes through the clerk. The state penalties are on the Florida DUI law page.
The same diagram as a table
| Step | Criminal case — decided by a court | License case — decided by a state agency |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrest and booking, hour 0 | Notice of suspension served, day 0 |
| 2 | Charge filed by the prosecutor | Deadline to demand a hearing: 7 to 30 days in the eight states on this site that use an agency hearing |
| 3 | First court setting, on a date the court picks | Hearing held if the request was filed — whether the suspension waits for the ruling is set by each state's statute |
| 4 | One or more pretrial settings | Suspension takes effect automatically with no hearing |
| 5 | Trial, plea or dismissal | — |
| Clock | Weeks to months. No filing deadline runs against the driver. | Counted in days from the notice, and fixed by statute. |
Three clerk offices along the Keys
The clerk’s office lines are 305-292-3458 in Key West, 305-289-6027 in Marathon and 305-852-7145 at Plantation Key; its contact page lists County Criminal (Traffic) in Key West on 305-292-3553 and County Criminal (Misdemeanor) on 305-292-3545. Criminal case records are reached through the clerk’s website, which also publishes the Pretrial Services weekly register and annual report.
Civil traffic citations in Monroe County must be dealt with within 30 days of issue, and a driver who wants to contest one must request a court hearing, which can be done by email to the clerk. The clerk also takes payment of boating citations online. A DUI or a boating-under-the-influence charge is different: it is a criminal offense, not a citation to pay.
Monroe County Clerk, Key West office
- Hears
- Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller for Monroe County
- Building
- Key West
- Address
- 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm
- Phone
- 305-292-3458 (office); County Criminal (Traffic) 305-292-3553
16th Judicial Circuit Pretrial Services
- Role
- Interviews arrested defendants for release and supervises those released before trial
- Building
- College Road office
- Address
- 5503 College Rd., Suite 205, Key West, FL 33040
- Detail
- Five full-time employees at the end of 2025, per its annual report
The 16th Judicial Circuit’s Pretrial Services office is at 5503 College Road, Suite 205, Key West. Its 2025 report says the program had five full-time employees at the end of the year and was paid for entirely from county funds, $580,868 for 2025.
Not sure which court your case is in?
Enter the ZIP code where the arrest happened and the full form opens with it filled in.
Pretrial release in 2025, by the numbers
The Pretrial Services annual report for calendar year 2025 counts everyone it assessed, for every kind of charge — the figures are not limited to DUI.
- 2,927 defendants assessed and interviewed for pretrial release; Pretrial recommended release for 787 and recommended against non-secured release for 2,140.
- 761 were granted non-secured release and 197 secured release (financial bond with pretrial supervision); 2,389 of those assessed were declared indigent by the court.
- Of 904 who left the program during the year, 768 (85%) completed it successfully and 136 (15%) did not.
- Among the 136 unsuccessful exits, 84 were technical violations of random testing or check-ins, 29 were new arrests, 12 were failures to appear, 5 were bond revocations and 6 were other.
The report sets out what supervision costs the defendant: a court-ordered random urinalysis at the court-operated lab is $10 a test, and electronic monitoring $4.25 a day or $1 a day. Of the 768 successful exits, 278 cases ended in charges dismissed or not filed, and 155 in an adjudication of guilt.
The license. Florida gives 10 days from the notice to request review of the administrative suspension from the department.
| What happened | First time | With a prior | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failed the test | 6 months | 1 year | Fla. Stat. § 322.2615(1)(b)1.b. |
| Refused the test | 1 year | 18 months | Fla. Stat. § 322.2615(1)(b)1.a. |
Boating under the influence counts
Section 327.35 of the Florida Statutes makes it a crime to operate a vessel while impaired or with a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or more — the same threshold as on the road. A first conviction carries a fine of $500 to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
The two statutes are tied together. The paragraph at the end of section 316.193(6) says that any conviction under section 327.35 is also considered a previous conviction for DUI; section 327.35 says the same of a DUI conviction. Because Florida’s DUI penalties step up with each prior — the jail minimums, the vehicle impoundment and the interlock periods all depend on it — a boating conviction can turn a later road DUI into a second offense, and vice versa. Section 316.193 also counts an out-of-state conviction for DUI, DWI or a similar alcohol- or drug-related traffic offense as a prior.
The release rule is shared as well: after an arrest under either statute, the person may not be released until no longer impaired, under 0.05, or eight hours after the arrest — section 316.193(9) for DUI and section 327.35(8) for boating.
The Monroe County Clerk’s offices
Addresses and phone numbers from the clerk’s website.
| Clerk office | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Key West | 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL 33040 | 305-292-3458 |
| Marathon | 3117 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL 33050 | 305-289-6027 |
| Plantation Key | 88770 Overseas Highway, Suite 2, Tavernier, FL 33070 | 305-852-7145 |
Call the clerk to confirm which office has your case.
Other Florida pages on this site: Miami, Naples, St. Petersburg and St. Augustine.
Common questions about Key West DUI cases
Does a boating DUI count as a prior DUI in Florida?
Yes. Section 316.193 treats a conviction for boating under the influence under section 327.35 as a previous DUI conviction, and section 327.35 does the reverse.
Where are the Monroe County clerk offices?
Key West (500 Whitehead Street), Marathon (3117 Overseas Highway) and Plantation Key (88770 Overseas Highway, Tavernier), weekdays 8:30am to 5pm.
How many defendants does Monroe County Pretrial Services see?
Its 2025 report counts 2,927 defendants assessed and interviewed, across all charges, with release recommended for 787.
What does pretrial supervision cost in the Keys?
The 2025 report lists $10 for each court-ordered random urine test and $4.25 or $1 a day for electronic monitoring, at the defendant's expense.
What is the legal limit for boating in Florida?
The same 0.08 as for driving: section 327.35 covers operating a vessel while impaired or at 0.08 or more.
Can I pay a Key West DUI like a traffic ticket?
No. The clerk's online payments are for civil traffic, parking and boating citations; a DUI is a criminal charge that goes to court.
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More for Florida
- Florida DUI law — the full penalty matrix, the statutes, and the rules on priors and interlock
- Miami — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Fort Lauderdale and Broward County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- St. Petersburg and Pinellas County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Lakeland and Polk County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Orange County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Panama City and Bay County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Naples and Collier County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- St. Augustine and St. Johns County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Sarasota — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Tampa and Hillsborough County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Refusing a breathalyzer — what implied consent costs here against what it buys
- How long it stays on your record — three records, three clocks
- SR-22 insurance after a Florida suspension — what the filing certifies and how long it runs
- Ignition interlock providers and costs in Florida — what the device costs and who installs it
Sources
- Monroe County Clerk, home page (office locations) — read October 11, 2026
- Monroe County Clerk, criminal — read October 11, 2026
- Monroe County Clerk, contact (department lines) — read October 11, 2026
- Monroe County Clerk, traffic instructions — read October 11, 2026
- 16th Judicial Circuit Pretrial Services, 2025 annual report (PDF) — read October 11, 2026
- Fla. Stat. § 316.193 (previous convictions; release from custody) — read October 11, 2026
- Fla. Stat. § 327.35 (boating under the influence) — read October 11, 2026
- Fla. Stat. § 316.193(1)(b)–(c) and the rest of the Florida statutes cited on this page — read in force 2026
Court addresses, hours and phone numbers were read from each court’s or office’s own published page on October 11, 2026. Those change without notice; confirm before you rely on them. No judge is named anywhere on this page, because a roster is exactly the kind of detail that goes stale silently.