[VOppER]

Unfortunately, this situation has arisen in FL. I honestly believe this young man may have finally learned a lesson...

The young man in question was placed on felony probation in 2004 on four charges for 10 years, sentences run concurrent.
He was re-arrested in 2005, but the charges were nolle prossed and probation re-instated.
Re-arrested in 2006, sat for 2.5 yrs in the county jail before going pro-se and having his dispositive motion to suppress granted. The State appealed and it has been in the appellate court for almost a year, all the briefs submitted about 3 months ago. He was transported to the court where he was put on probation and given a hefty bond. He was bonded out and continued to show up for VOP case management hearings.
Four months after bonding out and before his VOP was resolved, he was re-arrested. He sat for 6 months then accepted a felony plea. He will have both new law and technical violation as he was out of the county. He was then taken for first appearances and they gave him another bond, still hefty but this time a little less.

My questions are:
1. Can he be violated again for the new plea acceptance since he already had an open violation case?
2. Typically how long does it take for a violation of probation hearing? Are there any statutory guidelines?
3. He says his case fell under the old guidelines when score sheets were used, so will he be sentenced accordingly or can they take all the time he has served and give him ten years in DOC?
4.Is it likely they will re-instate his bond or does his history look too bad for that? What can he do to improve his chances?
5. How long does the appellate process typically take?
6. Can they conduct a VOP hearing with one of his VOP cases still being in the appellate court?

Thank you in advance, so much, for your truthful, non-judgmental responses!

[excon]

Hello VO:

This is an excellent place to get general legal information. The information you seek is case specific, and depends on lots of factors that we don't know about.

Generally, there is no statute regarding how much time they have to conduct a violation hearing... Appeals can take years, typically 2-3. I know nothing about those particular guidelines.

If you want to effect the outcome, instead of just inquiring about it, hire a lawyer for him.

excon

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, it appears he has learned his lesson, * to me he has learned that no matter how many times he breaks he law, he gets probation.

I would not expect the courts to keep doing this. This would appear to violate all the previous probations ( several? ) and he could be sentenced to all of the original sentences. And even if not, the new crime will most likely end up in jail or prison time.

I have seen probation hearings to take 1 to 5 months, sometimes they may even hold till the outcome of the sentencing on the new crime.

I have seen the court date for new crimes to take at least a year.

There is no good advice but hire the best attorney you can get, and be sure any plea will try and include all courts and probation also