Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

In September 2007 a judge sentenced me to supervised probation, a fine and 100 hours of community service. My probation officer was actually shocked at the sentence. Allow me to explain....Twenty years before this I was young, stupid and stole money from someone. When I got into trouble the only thing I was thinking when it was over was that I could start my life over again,not even worrying about the charges and whether they were felonies or not. For 20 years I was in NO trouble , started a family and was a productive citizen. In 2005 it was Christmas, my son was 16 and wanted to go hunting with his grandfather, so I went to buy him a rifle for a present, I was denied getting the rifle and given a number to call. The next day I called the number and got nothing but a recording and so I thought nothing more about it. Then, nearly 2 years later I was called by an officer and told that I needed to come and turn myself in for violating the law. I was told I would be released the same day, well, I wasn't. I complied and was put in jail until seeing a judge 3 days later and he released me on my own. I was given a court appointed lawyer and he told me that because of my offenses 20 years ago and they were felonies, I was looking at adding another one onto it. could not understand why I was being punished again. Anyway, I ended being sentenced to the time I told you in the beginning of this letter. The point is, my husband was permanently disabled right before this court date and I was taking care of him and trying to work to provide for my family.My lawyer was explained this before we went to court. I was the only source of income we had. Because of that I have been trying to get the Community Service done, but it's been hard. My probation officer even felt for my circumstances and knew they were true because of the physician letters I gave to him. He tried to write a letter to the court asking them to release me from the community service hours due to my issues and the fact that I paid in that 1 1/2 years time my 975.00 in court fines in full. He was sent a letter back by the court stating that I had to complete the 100 hours. What can I do to get them to release me? I can't get off supervised probation until it is done and that is hard to do as well, not to mention it has been 2 years and I was told it was a 1 year Supervised Probation period. Is there anything I could do to be released from the supervision and get the Court to understand my circumstance and maybe have me pay another fine amount in the place of the service?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Jackie Baker

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