Can You Appeal the Denial of Early Discharge from Probation
My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
A couple years ago I was convicted of a DUI and sentenced to 3 years informal probation and some fines. I was also going into the military at the time and as you can imagine the probation interrupted this, my lawyer and I were trying to work out a deal with the DA on getting the probation removed but my lawyer said when brought up to the Judge, she said no and that she was going to make an example out of me. Whether that's exactly what she said or if my lawyer was just summarizing, I don't know. At the time I thought oh well I'll just deal with it and join the military afterwards.
Recently I reached the halfway point of my probation and I had met all other terms of the conviction the court assigned so I filed a motion to terminate my probation early. When called by the Judge, the same one that had sentence me prior, she almost immediately denied the motion which I understood was a possibility because this matter is up to the court's discretion. However what she said as her reasoning was what struck me as odd. Her reasoning was "Because of groups like MADD and she doesn't want MADD coming after her".
The reason I'm questioning this is because to my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, but something like MADD shouldn't have any effect in the court room, I'm not being judged by MADD, MADD is not my jury, so why did my Judge state that she is basing her decision on that group? Then this reminds me back to when I originally got my conviction, when my lawyer told me that the judge was trying to make an example out of me. Why was she trying to make an example out of me, because the group MADD influenced her decision?
Don't get me wrong, I believe a lot of what MADD does is good, the amount DUI checkpoint has been increased is great, people not drinking and driving is better and I did mess up. However I believe MADD should stay out of the courtroom. Its one thing if they want to appeal to the courts to make a law stronger or change the sentencing of a crime, but when it comes to a case and the courtroom, its to my understanding that they should have no influence there, you should be tried on the current laws at the time and sentenced based on those as well. Your sentence should not be influenced by an outside party.
I don't completely know how to phrase what I'm saying other than this: I feel that I am/was treated unfairly because my judge had a bias towards the outside party, MADD.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
What makes you think you are entitled to an early termination? How is it unfair for you to have to complete your sentence?
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
What did the probation department and prosecutor say? You can appeal the ruling.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
You won’t get the conviction overturned for this. You either plead guilty to the DUI in a deal with the DA or you were convicted by jury at trial (very, very few criminal defendants that go to trial have the case decided by a judge, it is very unusual for both defendant and prosecutor to go for that). Either way, the judge did not decide your guilt. You can ask your lawyer if her comments might enable you to challenge her sentencing decision and in particular the decision not to terminate probation early, but I think that’s a long shot. Understand that many judges, though they will not say so explicitly, do consider the public impact of their sentencing decisions along with many other factors. There is nothing inherently wrong with that; the community has an interest in ensuring that cases are decided properly and that sentences are fair. Focusing on just one segment of the community (MADD in this case) — and explicitly saying that in the hearing — is unusual and raises more of a concern but still may not be enough for an appeals court to say the judge abused her discretion in denying early release from probation. Your lawyer will be able to review the entire transcript of the hearing and advise you of that might be done.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
Quote:
Quoting
cbg
What makes you think you are entitled to an early termination? How is it unfair for you to have to complete your sentence?
I think you're missing the part that I'm questioning. As I said I knew it was at the court's discretion to release me early or not. If they just said no, they don't think it would be a good move then I would live with it and that's it. At this point I'm not arguing that I'm entitled to early termination, but more that from my perspective my case was viewed in an unfair way, that the decision of my case was decided before I even filed the motion, by a party that is not involved in the case.
Quote:
Quoting
Taxing Matters
You won’t get the conviction overturned for this. You either plead guilty to the DUI in a deal with the DA or you were convicted by jury at trial (very, very few criminal defendants that go to trial have the case decided by a judge, it is very unusual for both defendant and prosecutor to go for that). Either way, the judge did not decide your guilt. You can ask your lawyer if her comments might enable you to challenge her sentencing decision and in particular the decision not to terminate probation early, but I think that’s a long shot. Understand that many judges, though they will not say so explicitly, do consider the public impact of their sentencing decisions along with many other factors. There is nothing inherently wrong with that; the community has an interest in ensuring that cases are decided properly and that sentences are fair. Focusing on just one segment of the community (MADD in this case) — and explicitly saying that in the hearing — is unusual and raises more of a concern but still may not be enough for an appeals court to say the judge abused her discretion in denying early release from probation. Your lawyer will be able to review the entire transcript of the hearing and advise you of that might be done.
You are correct about not changing the conviction status, I should have worded the title different, I'm not trying to change the conviction but more so bring the sentence and they way the sentence was decided into question. Thank you though for including that and explaining it as well in your answer. From what it sounds like is I'm SOL on this matter with my case which I was half expecting. As a follow up question is there a way to bring this type of practice into light? My reasoning is that it seems really unfair to defendants that an outside party should have any kind of influence on how a defendant is convicted/sentenced, especially when that defendant has no idea the outside party is influencing the decision at all. Isn't the point of the court process to determine if your guilty or not and sentence you based on the law, not based on whether an outside party will like it or not? As I said, if the outside party went through the process of making the law stricter beforehand then that's one thing, but to be sentenced based on a possibility that an outside party will not like it seems crazy to me. I've been trying to look up a similar situation to this and other than allegations on news sites, I can't really find much on it. I realize that my case in particular is unlikely to change now, and that's not what I'm after, I'm looking to see, if there is no law for or against this practice, if there is a way to question this practice in court, not just about my judge but for all. And yes I realize it's likely nothing will come of it, I'm still curious anyways.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
As I said, you can appeal her ruling to the appellate court. That court would review it to see if she abused her discretion. If probation and the DA didn't oppose early termination, the appellate court may find in your favor and order her to enter the order to terminate probation. Talk to your attorney.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
Quote:
Quoting
LegalWriter
As I said, you can appeal her ruling to the appellate court.
Not likely after a "couple" of years. From what I see online the appeal must be filed within 30 days if it's a misdemeanor or 60 days if it's a felony.
OP is out of luck.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
I think you're the one missing the point.
Re: Can I Fight a Prior DUI Conviction Because I Believe the Judge Had a Bias
Quote:
Quoting
Highwayman
Not likely after a "couple" of years.
The original conviction was a couple of years ago. The ruling on terminating probation early was made “recently.” How recently the OP does not say, but if it was very recently the OP may still have time to appeal that decision.