Probation Violation Proceedings

Upon conviction for a misdemeanor DUI in California, the defendant is placed on three to five years of probation. Apart from in isolated jurisdictions, probation is informal court-supervised probation as opposed to formal probation supervised by a probation officer. The standard conditions of probation are that the defendant must obey all orders of the court and obey all laws, only drive with a valid license and insurance, and submit to any tests including field sobriety tests and any breath or blood test if requested by a police officer following a traffic stop. It is also a condition of probation that the defendant must not drive with any measurable amount of alcohol in his or her system. This is also a zero tolerance law with the DMV that would lead to a one year license suspension even with a .01% blood or breath alcohol level.

Common causes of a probation violation include the commission of a criminal offense during the probation period, or a failure to perform penalties such as failure to pay a fine or file proof of completion of an alcohol education class.

The court has discretion to impose anything up to the maximum jail term for any probation violation. For a first time DUI in California, this is six months in county jail. In Orange County, it is typical for judges to impose sixty to ninety days for a probation violation. However, judges have the discretion to re-instate a defendant on the original terms and conditions of probation without any additional penalty. This would normally happen for a minor probation violation such as missing a fine payment.

If a person is arrested for a serious offense while on probation for a DUI, the court will sometimes terminate probation without any additional penalty if the defendant is serving a lengthy jail or state prison sentence for the new offense.

If you are facing probation violation proceedings for a DUI, you will need to retain an experienced DUI Lawyer in order to take the steps necessary to stay out of county jail.