What Are the Legal Procedures After a Probation Violation?

You may first want to hire our legal services so that we may negotiate a plea deal with the prosecutor of your criminal charges and possibly get you probation instead of jail or prison time. From here, we may continually guide you to stay in accordance with your probation’s terms and conditions, as overstepping this court order may lead to serious criminal consequences. In short, you do not want to undo all the hard work put in up to this point. Without the need for further introduction, please continue reading to learn the typical procedures in response to a probation violation and how one of the experienced Clarksville probation violation lawyers at Fendley and Birch can help you should you ever face this pending legal issue.

What are the standard conditions tied to a probation order?

The rules the Tennessee criminal court may set out for your probation may depend on the criminal offense you were originally convicted of. But generally speaking, you can expect any arrangement of the following conditions:

• Mandatory reporting to your assigned probation officer every week, every other week, every month, etc.
• Attendance at mental health counseling sessions, anger management classes, rehabilitation programs, etc.
• No illegal drug or excessive alcohol consumption, with mandatory random drug and alcohol testing.
• Compliance with “stay-away orders” from certain individuals or places relevant to your conviction.
• Compliance with restrictions on traveling outside the state or outside a specific radius.
• Mandatory completion of a set number of community service hours.
• Mandatory payment of restitution and fines in regular increments.
• Keeping steady employment or actively seeking steady employment.
• No commitment of any new misdemeanor or felony offenses.
• No ownership or possession of firearms or other weapons.

What are the standard legal procedures after a probation violation?

While you may feel quite restricted with the strict conditions imposed on your probation order, you cannot argue that it is more limiting than serving your sentence in jail or prison. This is why you must do everything possible to stay in line with them.

If you do not, your assigned probation officer may respond with a warning. But if your violation was more than just a missed meeting with the officer, and it entails a more serious offense like committing a crime, they may pursue an arrest warrant.

With this warrant, the officer may only have to present the court with a preponderance of evidence that you violated your probation, which is lower than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used in typical criminal trial proceedings.

This means it is rather likely that the court will have you pay the consequences of violating your probation order. In the best case, they may tack on rules or extend the duration of your probation. But in a worst case, they may send you to jail or prison.

Before you step into a Tennessee criminal courtroom, you must seek one of the skilled Montgomery County criminal defense lawyers to stand by your side. Please contact our office, Fendley and Birch, as soon as you are ready.