If you’re accused of committing a felony, there are a couple routes you can take. You can try to prove your innocence, but that can be risky. If you lose your case, you can spend years in prison. Because of this, you might want to consider seeking probation instead. As always, don’t make any decisions before consulting a criminal defense attorney.
Probation is a type of criminal sentence. If you plead guilty to a crime, probation allows you to live in your home, work at your place of employment, and live your life without worrying about confinement.
However, because probation is a punishment, there are certain conditions you have to meet.
The rules you have to abide by depend on a variety of factors including the crime you were convicted of and the judge’s decision.
If you’re like most people, you can’t possess firearms or associate with anyone convicted of a felony. You also must seek and obtain full-time employment of at least 32 hours per week, agree to visits from your probation officer, and submit to searches without a warrant when there’s reasonable suspicion to believe you aren’t complying with the conditions.
Certain cases may require special conditions, such as attending alcoholics anonymous meetings, abstaining from alcohol, and submitting an apology letter to a victim who you may have harmed.
Some sexual offenses are eligible for probation. They come with their own conditions, which are split into three groups.
You can get probation as a compromise between you and the prosecuting attorney. The deal is that if you plead guilty, you can get a lesser sentence than you would if you pled not guilty and lost your case. This can happen if you are accused of a felony, but there are some exceptions, which we will get to in a later section.
Utah law actually outlines how probation works. The court will convict you, but then they’ll suspend the sentence and put you under probation. You’re put under supervision of either the court, the department you’re dealing with, or an agency — which can be governmental or part of a private organization.
If you end up getting probation, that doesn’t mean you won’t go to jail, and that’s especially true if you are pleading guilty to a felony. The court may require jail time of no more than one year as part of your probation.
You can also wind up in jail if you violate your probation. The time you serve depends on the situation, but it doesn’t count toward the total time you were supposed to serve.
For example, if you plead guilty to felony assault and are put on probation, you’ll be ordered to serve six months of jail time at the of the probation period. If your probation officer finds a firearm in your home during a search, you may serve one month in jail as a consequence to the probation violation. That month is in addition to the six you have to serve at the end of the probationary period.
If you don’t want a criminal record, a “plea in abeyance” may be another option for you. The way this works is you enter into an agreement with the prosecutor, and then you plead either “guilty” or “no contest.”
When this happens, the court doesn’t convict or sentence you. Over the course of a year, you complete certain conditions as outlined in the agreement, and then the charges can get dismissed. So in the end, you don’t have a conviction on your record.
This isn’t always an option. You can’t enter into this kind of plea if the case involves a DUI or a sexual offense against a victim who is under 14. The prosecutor also has to agree to it.
In Utah, there is a list of felonies you cannot get probation for:
Even if you’re only accused of attempting these crimes, you’re not eligible for probation.
As we said before, probation is usually the result of a compromise between you and the prosecuting attorney. However, there is one other person who should be by your side before you make any kind of deal, and that’s your own defense attorney.
While we respect the work of prosecutors, they aren’t on your side. Their job is to make sure justice is served. They aren’t too concerned about what happens to you. Because of this, they may come up with a deal that’s harsher than what you deserve. A good defense attorney will be able to call the prosecutors out and work out something that is mutually beneficial.
Your defense attorney will also be able to gauge whether probation is even worth it for you. They might have enough evidence that could get you acquitted, so you don’t have to face any kind of consequence at all.
If you’re accused of a felony, you’ll want to consult with someone who has a lot of experience with those kinds of crimes. You’ll find that in Brown, Bradshaw & Moffat’s Michael T. Holje. He’s been serving Utahns since 2003, and he would be happy to help you with your case.
Call (801) 532-5297 for a free consultation.
