My question involves criminal law for the state of: California (Santa Clara County)
I have been on felony probation since March of 2005. I was convicted of felony assault with a deadly weapon with intenet to cause great bodily injury. I was innocent of the crime, took it to trial, lost and was charged. I was sentenced to 1 year in county jail, 5 years of supervised probation, 5 year suspended sentence, anger managment, community service and $74,000 in restituion fines. I have been in compliance with my probation for 4 years and 9 months and have never violated. I received a letter saying Im due in court on January 28 of this year for "failure to pay fines". I have been on monthlly payments for restituion paying, $200 monthly but still owe $68,000 in fines. There have been some times where I couldn't pay, but always followed thru and paid the following month. I have been working minimum wage for the last 3 years, am a single father, and going to school to earn a degree as a pharmacy technician. Due to me being a "felon" it has been impossible for me to find a good, high paying job, so I turned to higher education with hopes of making better money to pay off this fine. I am scheduled to be off probation in March of this year.
What will happen at the probation violation hearing on January 28th? Will the 5 year suspended sentence be brought back into play? Will they take me into custody on that day? Will I be able to plead my case? What can I do to avoid jail/prison? I have been doing all I can to try and pay this bill and am still currently working on it. What are the chances of them extending my probation to give me more time to pay off this fine? I have never had any problems on probation and I am a law abiding citizen. Just stuck in a financial "rut". I'm not a criminal, just workingm going to school and raising my daughter. What can I do? Please help me. Thank You and God Bless.

