Can you be cited for a probation vioation, if you are no longer on probation?
Question Details: I was on probation but violated and went to prison; I came out of on parole. Now the county in which I was on probation to begin with has re-opened my case for failure to pay restitution. However they are calling this a probation violation even though I am no longer on probation. Can you someone please explain to me how this is possible?
Actually, if your probation has expired completely then the State CANNOT revoke your probation, even for failure to pay. There is only one exception to that. If you received a probation sentence of, say, 5 years and 4 years into it the probation department realized that you were not going to pay off your restitution, they could have approached the judge at that time and sought a probation warrant and tolling order. A tolling order is a document where the judge basically says from this date forward the probationer is not getting any more credit for their probation case until they are brought back here to answer for this warrant. During the time between the tolling order and you being brought back to that county for the probation case, none of that time counted against your probation and you could still have probation time remaining.
An experienced criminal defense lawyer such as myself can determine whether probation still exists in your case or whether it has truly expired and if it has expired we can file motions to prevent your arrest and dismiss the probation warrant so that you don't end up going to jail for this.
David West
Attorney at Law
