So, uh, anybody ever been on probation?

Johnny Abruzzo

The Juggler wrote:

Johnny Abruzzo wrote:

My father-in-law was on probation and just didn't drink anything. It's probably not worth the worrying I would guess. Good luck man - that sucks. This country has never really let go of Prohibition.

how did he not die of dehydration?

this probation is due to a dui right? things have gotten waaaay more strict than when i got mine back in the '01/'02 days....

my brother got his 2nd recently. he had to serve some jail time then was on house arrest for 3 months where he was not allowed to drink. probabtion officer said no alcohol could be in the house and that he would conduct random searches/tests. my bro lives with my parents so this was no fun for them. also occured during the holiday season so it was not fun for me. ...............

for what it's worth, the house never got searched once and he was never randomly tested.

DUI, yup. Yeah they gave him all those rules too. It happened in Florida. But he came up to see us a couple times, and we certainly didn't clear out the house of alcohol. We were mad at him for his stupidity. He got wasted at home, and then went out and drove to a casino at well over .20. it's not like it was one too many over dinner or something. Then he ignored his lawyer's advice and ended up in prison for 2 weeks, and was complaining about how horrible it was. Duh! Also, my wife found out about this when she was 7 or 8 months pregnant.

He has gotten through the probation, so hopefully it doesn't happen again (2 times already). When he hangs out with us he's very reasonable, having maybe 3 or 4 glasses of wine and passing out. :?

Horos

I've been on probation and parole. It's seemed to be more at the discretion of the PO. Was your offense alcohol related? If so then I would think they would test you for it. None of my crimes were ever drug or alcohol related. I was only tested a couple of times during my stint and I am sure I was positive for pot. The PO never said anything.

Basically I think the POs deal with it on a case to case basis. So no one's experience is going to be the same.

Pretty sure booze is out of your system in a day or two.

pandora

I know a little about all this unfortunately... second hand

no they can't detect alcohol after 3 days time

yes they will test whether or not your offense was alcohol related... test for drugs too of course

someone asked what they will do if you test positive

they will toss your butt in jail and you will spend a few days to see the judge

but it would be the next violation of probation that you will then probably be denied probation
and serve out your time...
usually lesser than probation real time.

Some choose this to get it over with and get back to enjoying their life
hopefully with more caution and free from hassle.

Its a process of learning to be vwery careful ... drinking at all is not be vwery careful while on probation.

slightofjeff

Thanks for sharing, all.

Yes, my probation is going to be as the result of a DWI, though the official charge is going to get reduced to obstruction of a highway (sort of a standard thing they do in this county for first-time offenders whose cases just aren't ridiculously stupid).

To those who might know: How do they go about randomly testing you? Do they show up at your house? Or do they do it at the various meetings you are required to attend?

As you can tell, I know nothing about any of this. I am a complete amateur when it comes to breaking the law.

pandora

slightofjeff wrote:

Thanks for sharing, all.

Yes, my probation is going to be as the result of a DWI, though the official charge is going to get reduced to obstruction of a highway (sort of a standard thing they do in this county for first-time offenders whose cases just aren't ridiculously stupid).

To those who might know: How do they go about randomly testing you? Do they show up at your house? Or do they do it at the various meetings you are required to attend?

As you can tell, I know nothing about any of this. I am a complete amateur when it comes to breaking the law.

Once a month, it is when you go see your probation officer and you pay for the test


obstruction of a highway :?

sounds very lenient not so in the South

81

you already broke the law once with the dwi, no need to go and break it again so soon with a probation violation

slightofjeff

pandora wrote:

slightofjeff wrote:

Thanks for sharing, all.

Yes, my probation is going to be as the result of a DWI, though the official charge is going to get reduced to obstruction of a highway (sort of a standard thing they do in this county for first-time offenders whose cases just aren't ridiculously stupid).

To those who might know: How do they go about randomly testing you? Do they show up at your house? Or do they do it at the various meetings you are required to attend?

As you can tell, I know nothing about any of this. I am a complete amateur when it comes to breaking the law.

Once a month, it is when you go see your probation officer and you pay for the test


obstruction of a highway :?

sounds very lenient not so in the South

I actually am in the South. And I thought it sounded lenient, too ... until I looked into it.

My county has a big hard-on now about drunk driving, and for good reason I suppose. In the past several months several police officers have been killed or injured by drunk drivers ... it's become a big political issue, and of course, the district attorney is an elected position.

They established this "obstruction of a highway" business in order to reduce the backlog of cases to prosecute. But they still want to be seen as "tough on DWIs". So ... this obstruction deal, which you have 60 days from the date of arrest to accept, is the only deal you are going to get.

If you refuse, your only other alternative is to hire a lawyer for $10K, take it to trial, and try to beat the charge. During the trial, the DA won't offer any other deal -- be it OAH, or reckless driving, or public intoxication or anything else. You will either be found not guilty, or you will be convicted of a DWI.

If you take the OAH deal, they still hammer you pretty hard. You get a year probation, supervised, with all that entails. Plus, you have to install and pay for a breath machine on your car for six months. I'm sure there will be alcohol awareness classes and what not as well.

Plus, the conviction can never be expunged. It is on your record for life.

The only upside is, you don't have the letters DWI on your record, and you don't lose your license.

slightofjeff

81 wrote:

you already broke the law once with the dwi, no need to go and break it again so soon with a probation violation

I agree, in theory.

But I'm sure at some point during the next year, I'll also drive 57 in a 55.

norm

hire Lindsay's lawyers

The Juggler

your other thread should be merged with this one.

pandora

slightofjeff wrote:

pandora wrote:

slightofjeff wrote:

Thanks for sharing, all.

Yes, my probation is going to be as the result of a DWI, though the official charge is going to get reduced to obstruction of a highway (sort of a standard thing they do in this county for first-time offenders whose cases just aren't ridiculously stupid).

To those who might know: How do they go about randomly testing you? Do they show up at your house? Or do they do it at the various meetings you are required to attend?

As you can tell, I know nothing about any of this. I am a complete amateur when it comes to breaking the law.

Once a month, it is when you go see your probation officer and you pay for the test


obstruction of a highway :?

sounds very lenient not so in the South

I actually am in the South. And I thought it sounded lenient, too ... until I looked into it.

My county has a big hard-on now about drunk driving, and for good reason I suppose. In the past several months several police officers have been killed or injured by drunk drivers ... it's become a big political issue, and of course, the district attorney is an elected position.

They established this "obstruction of a highway" business in order to reduce the backlog of cases to prosecute. But they still want to be seen as "tough on DWIs". So ... this obstruction deal, which you have 60 days from the date of arrest to accept, is the only deal you are going to get.

If you refuse, your only other alternative is to hire a lawyer for $10K, take it to trial, and try to beat the charge. During the trial, the DA won't offer any other deal -- be it OAH, or reckless driving, or public intoxication or anything else. You will either be found not guilty, or you will be convicted of a DWI.

If you take the OAH deal, they still hammer you pretty hard. You get a year probation, supervised, with all that entails. Plus, you have to install and pay for a breath machine on your car for six months. I'm sure there will be alcohol awareness classes and what not as well.

Plus, the conviction can never be expunged. It is on your record for life.

The only upside is, you don't have the letters DWI on your record, and you don't lose your license.

ah ha not so lenient...
I don't think we have that here in GA .. you lose your license unless you can beat the charge.

A breath machine.... thats pretty expensive I think and we have that here
but perhaps only for the habitual offender...
I'm out of the loop since surviving the teen years
many of my kids friends ran into trouble and I was the step in Mom in a few cases
I've found teenage boys can be cop magnets a warning to the young folk here

81

slightofjeff wrote:

81 wrote:

you already broke the law once with the dwi, no need to go and break it again so soon with a probation violation

I agree, in theory.

But I'm sure at some point during the next year, I'll also drive 57 in a 55.

Little different consequences

loveontwolegs

FenwayFaithful wrote:

I was on double secret probation in college

+1

PureandEasy

My sister works for the prison system in PA with work release people. If they are caught doing anything, their ass is sent right to jail. And you wouldn't believe how many people are stupid enough to have that happen.

To be honest, I wouldn't risk it. I bet you'd be surprised how much you can have at PJ20 without a drop of alcohol and/or drugs.

slightofjeff

PureandEasy wrote:

My sister works for the prison system in PA with work release people. If they are caught doing anything, their ass is sent right to jail. And you wouldn't believe how many people are stupid enough to have that happen.

To be honest, I wouldn't risk it. I bet you'd be surprised how much you can have at PJ20 without a drop of alcohol and/or drugs.

That's probably what I'll end up doing.

Funny thing about me, considering the situation I find myself in, is that I'm one of those dorky rule-following goody-two shoes you probably hated in high school.

Always sat at the front of the class, always turned my homework in on time. In college, I'd go to classes even when the professor never took roll. As an adult, I'm the type who pays his bills as soon as they arrive in the mail.

I had this one screw-up, and what I want most is to put it behind me as painlessly as possible.

Mostly, I'm just curious how the process works, having never been anywhere near this predicament before in my life.

If I'm really going to be sent to jail for, say, drinking a Bud Light on my couch at home during a football game or something, then I won't do it. I guess I'm just curious how strict these things are.

mickeyrat

may I offer something here?


Dont stress it. Take it as it comes. Wait til you've been sentenced and have met with your P.O. before you freak yourself out. You could very well be fortunate to get a really laidback P.O. Your record being as clean as you say it is , works in your favor.

fife

I know you might not like to hear this but what if you just don't drink for that weekend. after all you are there to see pearl Jam.

on a more serious note, and i hope you don't take offense to this. if you can't go the weekend without having that drink then i think you should really think about what that means. sorry that was my little social worker coming out.

mickeyrat

fife wrote:

I know you might not like to hear this but what if you just don't drink for that weekend. after all you are there to see pearl Jam.

on a more serious note, and i hope you don't take offense to this. if you can't go the weekend without having that drink then i think you should really think about what that means. sorry that was my little social worker coming out.

prob better coming from you than the sober alcoholic!!!!

PureandEasy

mickeyrat wrote:

may I offer something here?


Dont stress it. Take it as it comes. Wait til you've been sentenced and have met with your P.O. before you freak yourself out. You could very well be fortunate to get a really laidback P.O. Your record being as clean as you say it is , works in your favor.

I agree with the sober alcoholic here, wait and see what happens before you stress yourself out.

Johnny Abruzzo

fife wrote:

I know you might not like to hear this but what if you just don't drink for that weekend. after all you are there to see pearl Jam.

on a more serious note, and i hope you don't take offense to this. if you can't go the weekend without having that drink then i think you should really think about what that means. sorry that was my little social worker coming out.

Isn't it possible that somebody just enjoys drinking beer? I, for example, don't drink soda. It's a kids drink that rots your teeth and gives you diabetes, and it's too sweet for me anyway. What's left then, besides water, which has no taste? Not much, other than beer. Just saying.