Los Angeles Criminal Lawyers Blog
What happens when you have a prior criminal record in California, and you are charged with a crime in a different state? This question becomes important when there is a potential probation violation due to the previous case. In order to better understand this process, it is best to define it through the use of examples.
David is a Los Angeles resident and works as a consultant for a company. His job requires him to travel a lot. One night while David was out with friends in LA, he was charged with drunk and disorderly conduct. David was drinking and him and his friends were causing some disturbances on the street outside of a restaurant, and were consequently too drunk to be allowed back in. This led David to be charged, and eventually convicted of a misdemeanor drunk and disorderly conduct.
As part of the sentence, David was put on three years of informal probation. Informal probation does not require that David check in with an officer, nor does it require that he not leave the state or the county. It does, however, require that David not commit any additional offenses while he is on this probationary period.
Unfortunately for David, he is still on informal probation when he goes on business to New York. In New York, he meets up with some of his college friends, and they end up going out and about on the town, which eventually leads David to be arrested for Disturbing the Peace.
He is arrested and charged before the New York State court. The question then becomes, will he be charged with Disturbing the Peace in New York and a Probation Violation?
A person may be charged with a probation violation when they are under probation and have violated the terms of their probation. In this case, David was under probation and was not to commit any other offenses during that probationary period. However, by being arrested and charged with Disturbing the Peace, he has violated the terms of his probation and can, therefore, be charged with the additional charge.
It will be up to the New York state court if they want to charge David with the probation violation. The probation terms are not theirs, and they are not required to uphold the terms. They may if they want to, but there is nothing requiring them to do so. Additionally, the prosecutor in New York may not even know about the probation pending in California. If they do not, chances are they will not even address it.
If you are being charged with a case in another state and are currently on probation in California, consult with a Los Angeles Criminal Defense attorney to assure that you are properly addressing the issues in the event that probation violation moves forward.