AboutRobin Sexton Expertise Questions dealing with Police and investigative procedures, criminal investigation for all classifications of crimes, Interview and interrogation techniques, crime scene procedure. Police techniques and procedures. Can not answer specific questions about specific cases.
Experience Member of the Michigan State Police for over 30 years. over 20 years as a Detective. Conducted numerus investigations from Homicide to dog bite. Internal investigations. Investigations in prison enviorment.Majority of career has been spent in rural areas of Michigan
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Science degree. Long list of professinoal training schools
Expert: Robin Sexton Date: 7/6/2008 Subject: technical violation of probation
Question QUESTION: My son was charged with possession of drug paraphenelia in AZ in 2005. this was a prop 200 case, which means no incarceration- automatic probation. but now he has a technical violation of probation. Can he be sentenced to jail or prison on this violation since this is a prop 200 case? I checked the AZ Revised Statutes online, and here is what it says-A person who has been placed on probation pursuant to this section and who is determined by the court to be in violation of probation shall have new conditions of probation established by the court. The court shall select the additional conditions it deems necessary, including intensified drug treatment, community restitution, intensive probation, home arrest or any other sanctions except that the court shall not impose a term of incarceration unless the court determines that the person violated probation by committing an offense listed in chapter 34 or 34.1 of this title or an act in violation of an order of the court relating to drug treatment.
Does this mean he will be placed on probation again? I appreciate your help- Susan
ANSWER: Susan,
What the statute means is that if the judge determines that the violation was significant enough then they can change some of the conditions of probation. A lot would depend on what the violation is. If it is staying out after curfew, or some other minor issue I would suspect the violation would not amount to much. If it is a substance abuse violation then the judge could be more strict. Since it does not appear to be another crime he should be in good shape.
Good Luck
Robin
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QUESTION: well, the violation is very minor, however now he is afraid and is avoiding them- absconding basically- is that a criminal charge and will they charge him with that?
Answer Susan, Not sure what you mean by absconding, that is usually a bond term. If you mean that he is not contacting his probation officer what would happen is the probation officer would issue a detainer which would subject him to arrest anytime he is found. He would then be lodged until he is brought to court on the underlying probation violation. By not contacting his probation officer he is compounding his trouble. If he is that concerned about a minor probation and will not contact his probation officer he really should contact an attorney and try to mitigates some of this before he causes himself some real trouble.
Good luck
