Proposition 36 and Failure to Appear
My question involves criminal law for the state of: Los Angeles CA
My boyfriend was arrested last year on the charge of posession of a controlled substance (an empty baggy of cocaine left in the pocket of a jacket he was wearing from a friend ..true story....the police scrapped as hard as they could to identifty the absolute minimum ammount to be convicted of) :(
he failed to appear on the charge and a warrant was put out for his arrest. He was picked up mid december and spent 9 days in the Twin Towers Correctional facility in downtown LA before being transferred to Sanbernadino county where his charge was filed.
at his preliminary court date he chose to enroll in the prop 36 programme in order to avoid any more jail time and time away from me (I'm an Australian citizen and work between Australia and LA and was visting for xmas) i had spent a total of 2 weeks alone in downtown LA while he was locked up..i spent christmas and newyears alone in a forgeign country..needless to say the entire situation had me pulling my hair out. I promised myself i was going to try to help him as best i could from the other side of the world... needless to say the Prop 36 programme is extremmly hard to succeed at. The waiting list alone for him to enroll was months. 5 NA classes a week... my boyfriend was orphaned at birth, relies on friends for accomidation and hasnt held a stable job in more than 3 years...he is a 25 year old black male who nobody seems willing to employ after a background check.... *sigh* its hard to make a new start with no family, no housing and no income. I could make excuses all day but bottomline is i need help and advice.
Last week he was picked up once again on a bench warrant for failure to appear. He simply didnt want to go back to court without being enrolled in a programme... theres no logic to it except that he didnt do what he was meant to do ..through lack of available options and didnt report to court because of it.
He is now once again in the Twin Towers. from what i understand from the googling ive done- his probation has been revocked and his prop36 has been terminated.
what is his best options from here forward? ive read that its a strong possibility he could serve some jail time.... how long though? min max lengths?
will he be able to appeal to his public defendant and explain his homlessness and lack of income as to why he's had such trouble? would he be able to come out here to Australia as i can set him up with multiple jobs :( but im guessing they dont forfeit probation and jail time to allow you to move countries.
what can i do from over here to help him? obviously i cant communicate with him. I work a fulltime job but struggle to support myself as it is without huge lawyer bills *sigh* im trying my very best to stay positive but i just dont know what im dealing with an really appeal to anyone out there for any kind of insight.....
here is a link to his case details to clarify anything ive misworded
http://170.164.31.10/openaccess/CRIMINAL/default.asp
case#FWV902794
Please sombody out there..... provide me with some help and hopefully put my mind at ease..although i know its not a misdemeanor case.
Gday from down under....
thanks in anticipation..
Re: Aussie Needs Help Prop36 Fta
First, YOU should know what the immigration rules are for your country. Why would you ask us? However, any country I am aware of would not allow him to immigrate. There is no way he could work in any country I have ever heard about. He would be lucky to visit as a tourist.
You SERIOUSLY need to forget this loser and be involved with someone who has their act together. I thought women want to have men that have a future
There is NOBODY here that can put your mind at ease. He is a convicted felon and will be sentenced to whatever was withheld when he got the deal. Sure the public defender will tell the judge the extenuating circumstances, which the judge has heard a million times.
He is likely to go to prison. No big black ....... for you.
Re: Aussie Needs Help Prop36 Fta
I keep logging in - in the hope that someone somewhere will be able to answer or shed some light on my situation.... Please people....
Re: Aussie Needs Help Prop36 Fta
A person's best bet in a situation like this, having chosen to throw away their best and likely only chance at avoiding a conviction, is to work closely with a criminal defense lawyer.
If you are interested in whether he can emigrate to Australia with his drug record, I suggest asking on an board that deals with Australian legal or immigration issues. This is a U.S. board with no experts on Australian immigration law.
Re: Aussie Needs Help Prop36 Fta
He might be better just taking a plea to time served or see if he can do a month or two in jail to avoid probation then just be done with the whole thing and take it from there. Maybe he can work out a plea to a misdemeanor at least. I'm not one to talk,being locked in jail even for a week is probably hell. It's a very small amount of cocaine so he probably not looking at a lot of time,he in jail more because he skipped court and the drug program. He probably could plead to time served and be done with it,that may affect him moving to Australia.