Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California

Re: If a charge is greater than one canyou be charged twice and sentnced for

Sorry, but that's how it works. You were not sentenced twice for the same crime, but instead were sentenced once for each of two different crimes. When you were sent to jail the first time it was not as punishment for the probation violation, but rather as punishment for the first crime.

You got probation for your first conviction. That means that the judge allowed you to stay out of jail, but only if you met certain conditions. One of those conditions was not to use drugs. You violated that condition and thus broke the bargain that kept you out of jail. So when you were locked up the first time, it was for the original crime.

You were then tried and convicted of the possession charge, and sentenced on that count. This is how you ended up in jail the second time.

The fact that the second crime is also what violated your probation is not significant. If your violation had been the result of some otherwise legal act, then you would only have served the sentence on your first crime. Because your violation was also a new crime, you received a new punishment.

Let's say your probation had forbidden you to carry a knife but you were caught with one. You would be sent to jail to serve your sentence on the first charge. Because carrying a knife (usually) is not a crime, you would not get a second charge, conviction or sentence.

If catching you with drugs could only get you sent to jail for violating your probation, then you would get away with drug possession since you would serve only one punishment despite being guilty of two crimes. That way, committing a probation violation which *is* a crime would get you into no more trouble than committing one which is not a crime.

There is no reason the law should insulate you from punishment for that second crime, so sentencing you for that crime is perfectly fair. It is also fair to make you serve your sentence on the first crime, since you violated the agreement that originally kept you out of jail.