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Early Termination of Probation in Los Angeles – Penal Code 1203.3

What Does It Take To Get Your Probation Terminated Early In Los Angeles County?

I have a lot of clients who are on probation in Los Angeles and they obviously want to get off probation as soon as possible, so they ask me how they can get their probation terminated early, or I have people call or on the internet trying to get their probation in Los Angeles terminated early.

California Penal Code 1203.3 allows a judge to terminate a defendant's probation ahead of schedule. This statute says: “The court shall have authority at any time during the term of probation to revoke, modify, or change its order of suspension of imposition or execution of sentence. The court may, when the ends of justice will be served, and when the good conduct of the person on probation shall warrant it, terminate the period of probation, and discharge the person so held.”

There are a lot of factors that go into whether or not you're going to be able to get your probation terminated early, but the first thing to know is – yes, it is possible.

Factors Considered to Early Termination of Probation in Los Angeles

If you're on probation, a motion can be filed with the judge. Obviously, you're going to want to get an attorney to do it if you want the best chance of success. You ask the judge to terminate the probation early.

Obviously, in order to do that you would have to have all of the terms and conditions of probation met, done everything that you're supposed to do, not had any new arrests, not had any violations, and then you'll have the best chance to get that probation terminated early.

Probation Termination

One roadblock that there could be is the prosecutor. When you work out a deal with the prosecutor through your attorney, a prosecutor is going to expect the benefit of their bargain.

In other words, they're going to expect that you have to serve the full three years of probation, for example, if that's how much probation you got.

That was their deal. If they didn't give you any jail time and they gave you a deal and now you're trying to get out of the deal by shortening your probation.

They're going to say, wait a minute, we didn't give him any probation because we thought they were going to do the full three years, five years, whatever it is of probation, and now they're trying to get out of that.

They're trying to go back on their word. They're trying to go back on the benefit of the bargain, Your Honor. We think that you should deny the motion. A lot of times they take that position.

Sometimes if you're doing great on probation, had no problems and you have a reasonable prosecutor, then they may take a different position and it's obviously up to your attorney to be able to convince the prosecutor and the judge to terminate the probation early.

Judge Makes Final Decision to Terminate Probation Early

That's the important thing – that the judge ultimately decides. The prosecutor can argue against it all they want. If the judge feels that you did a great job on probation and you deserve to get your probation terminated early, then you're going to have the best chance to get that.

But obviously, having the prosecutor on-board with that would be wonderful because then there's a high likelihood that the judge is going to grant your probation being terminated early.

You also have to look at the type of case that you have. That's one big factor in determining whether your probation might be able to be terminated early. If you have a serious sex crime or some sort of violent felony, it's a lot less likely your probation in one of the Los Angeles courts is going to be terminated early because they want to keep an eye on you.

They want to make sure that you're doing what you're supposed to – you're not picking up any new arrests – and that's a big hammer hanging over somebody's head. A lot of times, potential prison time is hanging over a person's head.

They don't want to take that away early. They want the person to prove themselves. Show that they cannot have any more issues and then they'll terminate the probation.

Reduce Felony to Misdemeanor in Los Angeles  – PC 17b

A lot of times you can get your case reduced to a misdemeanor under California Penal Code 17b, as well if it's a wobbler, and even expunged off your record.

There are all sorts of issues that surround whether or not a probation can be terminated early. One thing that I've done in a lot of cases is, I will ask the prosecutor, if they want my client to be on prison, they want my client to plead to a felony,

I'll say, how about after half the probation you guys agree not to object when we come in and try to get this thing reduced to a misdemeanor. That helps out a lot because once it's reduced to a misdemeanor, then you don't have the felony conditions – you don't have to report to the probation department.

You don't have to pay money anymore and no travel restrictions. The next step is obviously going to be to get that probation terminated early. But it's going to be a misdemeanor probation that you're trying to terminate early.

Really what you need to do if you're serious about trying to get your probation terminated early in Los Angeles, you need to sit down with an criminal defense attorney.

Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney

I've been doing this since from twenty-five years. I have you come in and we go over everything. What I'm trying to prove to the judge is that you're reformed. You're not going to have any more issues, and not only that, you're doing great in your life.

If we have some sort of reason why we need your probation terminated early, that's going to give us the best chance to do it. We can say listen, they got a great new job. We just can't be on probation anymore, so we need to have the probation terminated and we can show why.

We've got proof of it. Judges will consider that sort of stuff. They want people to succeed. They want people to get off probation and be out of the criminal justice system, but they also want to make sure that society is protected and the best way to do that is to keep you on probation.

So, you need to sit down and talk to somebody who's been down this road before and had success.

For more information on Early Termination Of Probation In LA County, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (213) 542-0979 today.

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