I have a 20 year old son who plead guilty to a Theft less than $100.00 charge in Anne Arundel County District Court on 4/10/09. Because he had no priors, the judge granted him Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) and he was simply fined $507.00. He is on unsupervised probation for 2 years.

On 4/17/09, exactly 7 days after the above hearing, he was charged with Possession Open Container (drinking in public) and is scheduled to appear in court (again) on 8/8/09. Since this charge is a violation of his probation, what could happen to him in court on 8/9/09? In other words, based on the above circumstances, what do you think the outcome will be in court?

Based on the above,
The original charge will end up showing on his record, the probation before judgement would have allowed his probation to end and basically no record of the crime to ever show up.

I would supect that would go to a sentence and probation after the sentence.

They can of course revolk the probation and he could serve up to two years ( very doubtful that would happen)

I would guess he will end up with two probations going on, a fine for the new one, plus commuity service.

In any event he needs to report this second offense immediately to his probation officer. If the PO finds out, he'll more than likely violate your son for not telling him about the new incident. Depending on what his probation rules are, more than likely they include a rule that says no alcohol consumption. If he is found guilty on the new charge, he will be violating his probation and will have to attend a violation of probation hearing where his original judge will revisit his original sentence and judge him accordingly. He could end up with jail time or more probation. Everything depends upon the judge at that hearing.

He was given another chance by being placed on probation and now since he's betrayed that trust, it's hard to tell what his original judge will do with him.

Just because he is on unsupervised probation does not mean he can let this new charge slide with the probation dept. He must inform them immediately. If he has no idea just who his probation officer is, then he should go in person to the probation office and give them a copy of any paperwork he has regarding the new charge such as paperwork concerning his court date in August.