Articles Posted in Criminal Cases

As Michigan criminal and DUI lawyers, my team and I know full-well that being placed on probation is a break from being put or kept in jail. In the real world, however, some people lose sight of this fact and go on to1` either do something they’re not supposed to, or DON’T do something they’re required to do while on probation. Then, they wind up facing a probation violation (PV). When that happens, the only thing that matters is, to put it bluntly, saving the client’s a$$.

That may sound raw, but the cold truth is that anyone who has to go back before the Judge for a probation violation (PV) is in real trouble. Often, though, the situation can be managed. There are, of course, many different ways one’s probation can be violated, and some are worse than others. Nevertheless, anyone who violates even a single term of probation has put themselves at a very real risk of being sent to jail. At this point, the only thing that matters is NOT getting locked up. To do that, the lawyer must convince the Judge to give his or her client yet another break.

In practice, very few probation violations are entirely without merit, meaning that the probation officer got it all wrong To be sure, we’ve handled plenty where we have been able to show that our client actually DID what he or she was supposed to (like attend a class), or did NOT do something forbidden (like when there is an error, or mix-up involving breath or urine test results). However, the simple fact is that these situations are far less common than those wherein the person on probation simply screwed up in some way.

It sucks to be facing a violation of probation. It may be  crass to put it that way, but dressing the situation up with nicer words doesn’t make it any better. If you’ve been violated, you need to protect yourself. As Michigan criminal and DUI lawyers, we avoid using scare tactics, but the simple truth is that a violation of probation IS serious, and requires the best legal help you can find. Being on probation means you’ve already gotten a break and avoided jail once. Now, you’ve got to do it again.

There are 2 ways to do that: Either you go back and prove to the Judge that the violation is wrong, or, despite a screw-up on your part, you manage to get yet another break. That really sums up the whole situation. Ultimately, the alleged violation is either correct, or it’s not. Consider the most common kind of probation violation – drinking alcohol. There are times when a positive test result is wrong. That doesn’t happen often, but it does, sometimes. If the result is wrong, then that must be proven to the Judge. Merely saying so is not evidence, nor is it enough to win.

If a person did drink in violation of his order probation order, then the Judge must be convinced that he or she deserves another chance to prove themselves. That’s a tall order, and getting that break requires a special kind of lawyer. Knowing the law and understanding the evidence is always important, especially when your case turns on proving it wrong. If the alleged violation is not “wrong,” however, then the thing you need most is a lawyer who can talk the Judge out of sending you to jail.

A regular part of being Michigan criminal and DUI lawyers is handling probation violations. Although it all means the same thing, the actual term used for this proceeding varies from court to court. In the Metro-Detroit area (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and the surrounding counties), it is most often called a probation violation, or “PV.” Some courts use the term “VOP” (violation of probation). Yet others call it a “show cause,” requiring one to appear and “show cause” to the court why he or she shouldn’t be violated.

Whatever the label, if you’re alleged to have violated probation, you need help to get past it and stay out of jail. A probation violation occurs in 1 of 2 ways. The first is that a person does something he or she has been ordered NOT to do. The second occurs when he or she does NOT do something he or she was ordered to do. That sounds straightforward, but it misses a lot of what actually happens to people in real life. Many probation violations occur because a person simply doesn’t comply with the Judge’s orders. However, there are plenty of exceptions to that, as well.

It is a simple fact that some PV’s are unintentional. Others are just plain wrong. Breath and/or urine test results can be inaccurate. Urine samples can get mixed up. Sometimes, as the saying goes, “$hit happens.” Unfortunately, in the context of a probation violation, that “$hit” can be rather deep. We always have to remember that just being on probation is, in and of itself, a break. Probation is always an opportunity to prove one’s self while staying out of jail. It is the alternative to jail. In that sense, a person has to do everything possible to remain in compliance.