Trying To Resolve An Old Misdemeanor Case

[hyfroj]

A friend of mine was pulled over in CA in 2003 and after arguing with the police over whether or not he was legally pulled over was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor of resisting an officer. After pleading no contest He was order to write an apology, serve 9 hours of community service, 15 hours of anger management, 3 years probation, and a 250 dollar court fee. He agreed even though his PD told himhe was only going to have to write a letter and do anger management.

He moved later in 2003 to another state and forgot about the rest of the case (he wrote the apology and paid part of the fine). When he realized he had a bench warrant he contacted the court and started to complete the rest of the reqirments. After the req were changed serveral times without his knowledge until later on (PD repped him in court), he completed 11 of the 15 anger management hours, 50 hours of community service online after asking his PD if online community service was acceptable and was told by his PD that any type of community service was acceptable as long as he got acertificate. He also paid half of the fee which went up to $300. He asked if the extra community service (it went from 9 hours to 18 hours) could cover the remaining anger man. and a reductionof the fee. He was also in violation of probation for not showing upin court/moving. He's not committed any crimes or been arrested before or since the 2003 arrest.

After his court date the PD told him that the judge rejected the community service because it was online and he would have to do 56 hours of community service to cover everything. Since his state does not have the same type of court community service approval as CA (he asked the localcourt and they said they didn't have anything like that. He also talked to community service places and they all said they can't find anything for him to cover 56 hours), he requested paying the court fees in stead. He wrote a letter to the judge with a copy to the PD requesting this and called the PD serval times but the PD has not returned his calls. His next court date is in a few weeks and he doesn't know what else to do, since he can't complete the community service.He was told by his PD before writing the letter and requesting the court fees instead of cs that if he didn't complete cs the judge would issue a warrant. The judge is angry that the case is so old.

He wants to complete the req and doesn't understand why the online service was approved by the PD and then rejected by the judge. Since he can't complete the cs and wants to pay the court fees instead, can he do that since he wrote a letter requesting it, even though the PD won't return his calls so he can discuss it?

[Mr. Knowitall]

The judge decided online community service was not sufficient. It's the judge's call to make.

Why doesn't he simply (and finally) obey the terms of his sentence, and do his community service?

[hyfroj]

Thanks for the reply.

He attempted to do the community service serval times. It has been rejected.
Now where he lives they do not offer court-approved community sevice. Court-approved was the stipulation, not just any community service. he's contacted serveral places and they don't have anything for 56 hours.

Paying the court fees is not acceptable? Isn't it the same thing, since the 56 hours covered everything, so the court fees should cover everything. It's a misdemenor for yelling at a cop, why make it so difficult to complete and continue to throw out his attempts to finish everything.

And why would the PD not return a clients phone calls? The court date is in a week now so he should be able to discuss his case. If everything is on a judge whim then why can't the PD suggest new terms. This way at least the PD and court get paid and since he doesn't have a lot of money its not like this is an easy alternative. He still has to come up with the money.

Anyone with some legal knowledge on this, your reply would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[Mr. Knowitall]

He has to complete his probation. He doesn't get to decide what that means. That's the judge's job.

His PD is probably tired of hearing him ask the same question a billion times, while ignoring the answer:

He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation. He has to fulfill the terms of his probation.