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Probation Violation

Los Angeles Probation Violation Defense Lawyer 

For twenty-five years, I've been defending people who have probation violations in the Los Angeles court system and a bench warrant was issued for their arest. Typically, a probation violation can either be an internal or an external violation. An internal violation has to do with violating one of the terms and conditions of your probation that was set by the judge.

An external violation has to do with actually picking up a new case or a new arrest and the prosecutor is indicating that you violated your probation because of that new arrest. A lot of times the courts will just continue the probation violation to see what happens with the new arrest before they actually do anything about it.

Probation

When it comes to a probation violation though, the standard is different than it is for a criminal offense. All the prosecutors have to do is prove that you violated your probation by 51% and that will be a violation and you will be subject to the maximum term for whatever you originally pled guilty to.

A probation violation is also not heard in front of a jury. It's heard in front of the judge who took your plea – or whoever the judge is that's handling the case – once a probation violation occurs.

A lot of times giving the judge a solution as to how you're not going to get yourself in this position again is worth its weight in gold. I like to sit down, show the judge where my client is at, explain why whatever happened, happened and then we will come up with a plan and explain it to the judge – this is what we're going to do – here are the steps we're going to take so you don't see us again, so, my client successfully completes probation and can get out of the criminal justice system.

Because if you continue to violate your probation then your probation can be extended and if you're looking to get your case either dropped to a misdemeanor or attempting to get your probation terminated and then later getting the case expunged, if you're eligible for that – if you get probation violations this can end up stopping you from doing so.

Defenses for Alleged Probation Violation In Los Angeles County

The best defense is obviously to be able to show that you're innocent and that you did not violate your probation and the prosecutors basically have it wrong. Sometimes it's not the prosecutors who are claiming you violated the probation.

Sometimes it's the probation officer claiming that you didn't cooperate with him or her, therefore, they send the case into the court for probation violation and they write a report indicating how and why you violated your probation.

You, as a defendant, are entitled to have a probation violation hearing, at which time your attorney can cross-examine any witnesses that the prosecutors put up in order to establish the probation violation. I have cross-examined many witnesses, including probation officers, and once all of the facts are flushed out, a lot of times the judge is not going to violate your probation because he or she doesn't believe it's an actual violation.

Sometimes it's a clash of personalities between you and your probation officer or your probation officer thinks they have too much power than they actually do and are just trying to order you around to do stupid stuff that doesn't really have anything to do with your probation and is getting emotional and personal about things, and if we can point this out to the judge then we can avoid a probation violation.

What Can You Do If You Know You Violated Your Probation?

Just because you violated your probation in Los Angeles Court, doesn't necessarily mean that the judge has to send you to jail or prison. There are other alternatives. Sometimes the judge can just warn you – tell you if you do this again then I'm going to send you to jail.

Other times, the judge can come up with other solutions other than jail or prison. He could give you community service, Caltrans, Community Labor, a fine, extend your probation – there are all kinds of different solutions and strategies that can be utilized when it comes to a probation violation in Los Angeles County.

My job as the attorney is to try to come up with a solution before we go to the probation violation hearing. A solution that takes into account your job, your life, your family and all the things that are important to you and make sure we convey these to the judge, and also to explain to the judge exactly what happened – why you supposedly violated your probation, and what we're going to do moving forward so the judge doesn't see you again.

A lot of this that the judges are sick and tired of having people come in and out of their courtroom, so in order to prevent that, they can just send them away for a long jail or prison sentence, and then once the person serves their time then hopefully they're done with them and they don't see them again.

If they sent them to prison, then that particular person is no longer on probation, so the judge doesn't have to deal with him anymore. So, with this temptation in mind, you have to realize – don't violate your probation. If you do violate your probation, you better hire somebody like me who's been doing this for twenty-five years who can figure out a solution that works, that makes sense, and that can allow you to continue to lead a good life and do what you need to do to take care of your family and continue with your life.

Contact our Probation Violation Lawyers

If you or someone you know has violated probation and you want to avoid jail time, our criminal defense lawyers can help. Probation is what is received as an alternative to jail or prison time. You may receive a formal or informal probation.

Formal probation would require you to meet with your probation officer regularly and informal probation would require you to stay out of trouble and complete certain terms of the sentence.

A completion of probation may allow you to completely avoid incarceration. On the other hand, if you violate probation, an arrest may take place and you may be ordered to appear at a court hearing. As your probation violations defense attorney, we want to do everything we can to help you avoid any type of jail time.

In probation violation cases, the judge is the trier of facts and the prosecution must prove that there was a probation violation by a preponderance of the evidence, a standard that is way lower than the standard used in a criminal case. That is more of a reason to hire our aggressive, persistent, and knowledgeable attorneys.

There are many consequences to a probation violation charge such as extension of probationary period; community service; treatment programs; prison or jail time. Probation violation does have some serious charges and that is why it is important for you to obtain an experienced and well seasoned defense attorney if you are facing probation violations charges.

Our defense lawyers have handled probation violations cases and have received great results for our clients. Contact us for a free consultation and we can discuss things further.

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