A Tampa Bay trial firm, built for high-stakes moments.

About Sanchez Vaughn

Trial lawyers for serious cases.

Sanchez Vaughn, Trial Lawyers is a Tampa boutique built for high-stakes criminal defense and serious personal injury matters. Clients turn to the firm when freedom, reputation, physical recovery, or financial security is at stake. The firm’s standard is demanding by design: investigate early, prepare thoroughly, communicate directly, and make every strategic decision with the courtroom in mind.

Nicole N. Sanchez is a former lead felony prosecutor and is Board Certified in Criminal Trial Law by The Florida Bar. Board certification is The Florida Bar’s highest level of evaluation of an attorney’s competency, experience, and professionalism in an approved specialty. Approximately 5% of Florida attorneys are board certified across all specialty areas. Nicole also serves on The Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Certification Committee and on the Board of Directors for the Hillsborough County Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Nicole has tried more than 50 jury trials to verdict and has presented federal appellate oral arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Her practice spans state and federal investigations, grand jury matters, target letters, pretrial litigation, jury trials, sentencing, appeals, and postconviction proceedings. That range matters because the strongest strategy often depends on understanding how an issue will develop at every later stage of the case.

The firm’s selected criminal case results include a complete jury acquittal on a first-degree-felony sexual-battery charge and every lesser-included offense, a federal jury acquittal on a methamphetamine-distribution count, dismissal of an entire federal superseding indictment, Stand Your Ground immunity dismissing two felony charges, dismissal of all 13 charges in a prosecution involving trafficking allegations, firearm offenses, and mandatory-minimum exposure, and exclusion of post-Miranda statements after the accused invoked the right to counsel.

The firm’s appellate and sentencing work includes an Eleventh Circuit decision vacating a 180-month federal sentence based on an attempted-murder guideline cross-reference, a five-level downward variance to the statutory minimum in a federal case involving approximately 60 pounds of methamphetamine and a firearm count, and resolutions avoiding seven-year and twenty-year mandatory prison exposure. These are selected outcomes, not guarantees. Some matters were handled with co-counsel, and some were obtained before the formation of Sanchez Vaughn.

Tyler K. Vaughn represents clients in criminal defense and personal injury matters throughout Tampa Bay. He has tried jury and bench trials in serious felony matters in state and federal court and has presented appellate oral argument before Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. His criminal practice emphasizes suppression issues, exclusion of improperly obtained or legally inadmissible evidence, and early identification of the legal issues that can change the direction of a case.

In personal injury matters, the firm represents people facing the consequences of serious crashes, trucking collisions, unsafe property conditions, catastrophic injuries, and wrongful death. The same trial-ready discipline applies: preserve evidence early, identify every responsible party, document the full harm, and build the claim to withstand pressure from an insurance company.

Nicole and Tyler remain directly involved in the firm’s cases. Clients receive honest advice, clear expectations, and regular communication rather than being left to guess about their own matter. Nicole is fully fluent in Spanish, and the firm serves clients throughout Tampa Bay and across Florida when the case requires it.

Whether the threat is a criminal prosecution or the aftermath of another person’s negligence, the objective is the same: protect the client, identify leverage, and prepare the matter for the result the evidence and law support.