Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

My boyfrind is in jail.. He is on probation and has a three year eight month joint suspicion. He had court yesterday and his charges are Two VOP's and he picked up a new charge when he got aressted of, Possession Of Paraphernalia. In court the DA offered him three years eight months and they would drop his new charge, but he didnt take it. So his next court date is on the 15th. My question is... Being that he has never been enrolled/offered any type of drug program, do you think their is anyway he could possibly be offered a program. For intance Dalancey Street?? Being that it is a two year program?


Asked on 12/05/09, 11:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Marshall Law Office of Robert L, Marshall

Your boyfriend's lawyer is in a much better position to answer this question than a stranger on the Internet who knows nothing about the case.

There are two ways a judge can place a defendant on probation. The first, and most common, is suspending imposition of sentence, which means the judge will set a prison term later, if the defendant violates probation.

The second, which you say happened in your boyfriend's case, is suspending execution of sentence, where the judge tells the defendant what he will be getting if he violates probation. There are a couple of reasons judges do this. If the charge is a wobbler that can be reduced to a misdemeanor, imposing the prison sentence prevents that from happening and the conviction stays a felony forever. Judges also use it as an indication that the person is much closer to going to prison if he screws up.

Sentencing is up to the judge. The paraphernalia charge, Health & Safety Code 11364, is a misdemeanor and won't increase his prison sentence. Again, there's no way to tell what the judge will do without a lot more information that only his lawyer will have.

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Answered on 12/12/09, 8:03 am


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