Posts Categorized Probation

OK, so you got a great deal. Maybe you didn’t get a great deal, but hey, your lawyer said it was a good idea, so you went with it. Case over. Now you’re on probation. No sweat, right? Guess what, now the work is up to YOU, not a lawyer. Minnesota, relative to other states, has a pretty generous sentencing structure. First and even second time offenders can often have most or all of their jail time stayed pursuant to certain “conditions.” Our justice system views this as a “second chance”, a chance for the defendant to reform their ways and demonstrate law abiding behavior. Unfortunately, sometimes a probation violation can happen faster and easier than one thinks. Once a person is arrested or summoned on a probation violation, the very real danger of jail time is at hand. Jail time was stayed on particular conditions, and if those conditions have been violated, it is presumed by many courts that jail time will no longer be stayed. It’s a system of second chances, but it does not tend to be a system of third and fourth chances. So if you’re on probation, here are some very concrete steps you can take to avoid probation violations, or empower an attorney to beat a probation violation if one is filed. These steps can mean the difference between freedom and jail. 1. They keep a file with your name on it, so make a file of your own. One of the greatest problems lawyers face when representing someone in a probation violation is a lack of memory by the defendant and the absence of a timeline. Too often we hear from clients “I called and called my probation officer, and told him about my situation, but they never got back to me.” This is an actual problem. We hear it too often for it to be just manufactured out of thin air, and the fact is probation officers, like attorneys or anyone else, sometimes get too busy, or they just get lazy and don’t do their job. But in order for us to put the probation officer in their place, we need to be able to ask “isn’t it true that my client, Steve, called you on this day and this day?” Keep a running file on everything relevant to you probation. It should serve as a detailed journal of sorts. Log every phone call you make to your probation agent by date and time. Look at your phone. Screen capture the outgoing call. If you want to be REALLY proactive, download an app to record your calls, and notify your probation officer that you record calls. In order for it to be admissible, you have to notify them in advance that the calls are recorded. Save every piece of mail they send, and every letter you reply with. What’s that? You don’t write to your probation officer? That’s a shame, because while voicemails can be ignored and deleted, paper mail should be… Read more {+}