VOP|Violation of Probation|Community Control Lawyer

If you have been placed on probation, you may be required to fulfill certain conditions. You may have to attend educational sessions, complete community service, maintain contact with probation officers, or attend drug and alcohol counseling. If you fail to meet any of these conditions or fail to appear at a probation hearing, you are violating the conditions of your probation.

If you have been arrested for a probation violation, you could be facing serious consequences, including jail time. The government only has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than that of a normal criminal trial, that you violated your probation. It is important that you have a lawyer with experience defending clients in these cases.

Community control violations

Community control officers perform routine checks of people on probation. They often will stop by your house at a time when you are supposed to be there. You may not even know if an officer drove past your house. Even if you were home and the control officer failed to see you, they will report it as a violation. If you have mistakenly been arrested for violating the terms of your probation, contact our law firm immediately.

However, there may be cases where people placed on probation do violate the terms of their probation but have a justification for doing so. If you are supposed to arrive home at 6:00 and you arrived at 6:20 a control officer will have reported your absence as a violation. The question we ask is, was this a "substantial violation?" If the violation was not substantial, the government cannot sustain a jail sentence. We will fight to get you out of jail as soon as possible.

Another important, but often overlooked aspect of defending a Violation of Probation involves forcing the court to grant the proper credit for time served, especially in cases where jail time is spent on new charges and a VOP.  For more information on credit time served issues on VOP charges, check out my article "Orlando Court Forced to Give VOP Credit Time Served".

Contact a probation violation attorney

If you have been arrested for violating the terms of your probation, contact the law offices of John P. Guidry II, for a free initial consultation. We can be reached by telephone, fax, or by filling out the client intake form on this Web site.

Aggressive, quality representation since 1993