Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Bad Checks written before probation

Being in a hospital does not immunize your son from the workings of the justice system. He can be charged, arrested and prosecuted before his treatment is complete, though the D.A. might agree to wait until the program is finished. Alternatively, your son's defense counsel might be able to get an order allowing him to finish the program before his prosecution begins. Don't count on this, though; a year-long delay is very unusual and would offer your son plenty of opportunities to flee. You might need to post a substantial bond as part of any agreement to keep him in his treatment program.

Bear in mind that the risk of new charges is not the only problem here. Passing bad checks is probably a violation of the terms of his probation, and depending upon his sentence he could be imprisoned on the original charges. Here again, the D.A. might agree to wait or the court might order a delay.

In either scenario, whether your son will be able to complete his program and whether he will be punished will depend upon the facts of his original case and of his new offenses.

Talk to the defense attorney who represented your son in the possession case to find out more about what can be done here.

Re: Bad Checks written before probation

Yes they can, but if they are small enough, and they don't all come into the District Attorney's Office at the same time, they sometimes get referred to the District Attorney's Bad Check Diverion Program which is up in Sacramento. They allow the person to pay back the amount of the bad checks and then charges never get filed. I don't know if every county takes advantage of that program.

Good luck,

Elena Condes