Punishment Could Depend on the Severity of the Violation
Video Transcribed: Hi, this is Oklahoma lawyer, Stuart Ericson. And today we’re asking the question, will you be incarcerated or go to prison or jail for violating your probation?
There are two types of probation. There are deferred probation or suspended probation. A deferred, again to refresh is not a conviction, but you’re on probation. It can later be expunged and dismissed if you’re successful. A suspended sentence probation is a conviction that can’t be expunged based upon successful completion, although there are certain ways to get it expunged under new Oklahoma law, and we’ve discussed that in other videos. So again, all right, you’re on probation. Let’s just say it’s a misdemeanor for one year, and you’re supposed to report, get a drug and alcohol assessment and follow recommendations. Let’s say it’s for a DUI. You have to attend a victim impact panel and go to a DUI school. And of course, pay fines and court costs.
So the process is they file a violation report, and issue a bench warrant for your arrest based upon violating your probation. Let’s say you haven’t reported in and you’ve not gone to the DUI school or attended the victim impact panel, and that’s the grounds for the probation violation. So you’ll be picked up, go to court, and you’ll enter your plea. Usually, as with everything, you’re going to enter a not-guilty plea unless you have a plea agreement of some sort. But the chances of actually going to prison on something like that or jail are very small because they just want compliance. So generally what happens a lot of times is you can stipulate, make a deal with the DA’s office through your attorney, stipulate, and say, yeah, I haven’t attended the DUI school. Here’s why I haven’t attended the VIP. I admit that.
So in that case, you essentially stipulate and say, yep, I haven’t done it. And then you get a review date, say it’s six months off, say, Hey. So you go to court, you go to the judge, and say, Hey, we have a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office. We’re going to stipulate and say, yes, we are in violation of our probation, but we’re not going to be sentenced today. We’re going to push that offer of you to six months to see if you can get in compliance. So within that six months, generally speaking, if you’ve completed those things, went to the VIP, and did the DUI school, you’ll come back, show compliance with everything, and then that application to accelerate your probation will be dismissed.
Now, if you’ve committed a new crime and that’s a violation of your probation and it’s a violent crime or a big crime, there may not be a saving grace in that. Now, a lot of times these judges will trail that probation violation to see what happens with your new offense. And again, those can work out by plea bargain or not. And at some point in time, there may need to be a hearing on that probation violation and they would call in witnesses for the new crime. And if the judge believes with probable cause that, yeah, you violated your probation, he can sentence you, he can move your deferred to a suspended or all the way to jail time or prison time, depending on, if it’s a felony.
Again, so a lot of things can happen when you’re on probation and the state alleges that you violated it. A lot of things can happen and a lot of them can be good. A lot of it can just be, give you more time to get in compliance. But if it’s a bad situation where there are a lot more serious allegations involved, then yeah, you’re entitled to have a hearing in front of a judge to show that you are not in violation. So probably a lot of questions about this.
If you have questions for a Wagoner probation attorney, reach out to me, Stuart Ericson, at wagonerlawyer.com.
