Hi there, my fiancé has been on unsupervised probation for a non-violent, non-drug-related charge in California since June 2006. He never met his probation officer, but was maintaining contact through the mail. I'm not sure if he thought his probation was over, or he flaked out about it, but he and I moved to another state and he did not maintain contact with his PO. He was arrested about two weeks ago, and the charge ended up being thrown out, but they kept him because of his probation violation and the judge ordered him extradited to California. So he is currently waiting for them to come and pick him up.

My question is, what sort of time will he serve once he gets to California? Will they be easier on him because of the nature of his crime and the time he already served, and the fact that he has not had any new charges brought against him? He doesn't have a good feel for what his PO is like, since he never had any face-to-face contact... so I'm sure it depends on how she generally handles things. I know that he MIGHT have to serve out the remainder of his probation in jail, but what's the chance they'd let him off lightly? Thanks.

Chances of getting off lightly are slim.
He will likely serve any remaining portion of his prior sentence, plus any added for violating probation. If his probation was fulfilled, he would have known. The court in Ca will not look kindly on him for skipping since the only way he's coming back was being caught committing a crime in another state.