If you’ve violated probation and now find yourself facing a possible conviction, you don’t deserve punishment due to an oversight or accident, regardless of why you’re serving probation. As your probation violation attorney, my number one priority will be convincing the judge not to inflict severe repercussions for a simple fault in judgment.
What can I expect from the probation violation process?
Although different than a normal criminal case, probation violations generally follow the same process:
- Your probation officer will inform the court that you have violated one or more probation requirements.
- The court will schedule a probation hearing and/or authorize a warrant for your arrest.
- If you’re arrested, there will be a hearing and a bond could be set.
- You’ll receive a Statement of Violations, where you’ll be informed of the terms of probation that you allegedly violated.
- You are entitled to a Probable Cause hearing to determine if there is a reasonable basis for the alleged violation.
- You are also entitled to an Evidentiary Hearing in which the State must prove that a violation did occur.
What are the possible consequences of violating probation?
- Perform community service
- The length of your probation may be extended.
- There may be additional restrictions added to your probation, such as an earlier curfew.
- You may be forced to have regular drug testing or ordered into drug treatment.
- You could be ordered to attend classes or programs based on the offense (such as anger management).
- Counseling with a therapist on a regular basis.
- You could be sentenced to serve time in jail.
Whichever judge assigned the initial probation ruling will also be the judge determining the appropriate punishment for the violation. This is important to note, since they may feel as though they did the defendant a favor when worse consequences could have been originally dealt. Because of this, the judge could decide a harsher punishment than is now necessary.
Therefore, it’s important to your case to have a probation violation attorney speak on your behalf, as this can make the difference between fulfilling a minor repercussion or serving jail time.
