Rome Municipal Court Hearing Results in Felony Arrest

Floyd County Courthouse

Rome, Ga. - According to reports from Rome Municipal Court, a man who showed up for a hearing for his speeding ticket was arrested for a felony probation violation.

However, the story gets more interesting from there. Police say that the man said that he needed to use the restroom. Instead of going to the restroom, the man ran out of the building and into the parking decks. He then jumped into a nearby river and attempted to swim away. He then ultimately surrendered to police by grabbing onto a log and police threw him a line and pulled him to the bank.

As a Floyd County DUI Lawyer, I will focus on one of the offenses the man is facing in today's post - violation of probation.

Probation Violation in Georgia

Many people are confuse about what probation means. The reality is that if you have been sentenced to probation, you are very much serving a jail sentence outside of custody. If you violate your probation, your punishment might be to serve the remainder of your sentence in jail.

There are many reasons why an individual can be put on probation in Georgia. These reasons include being convicted of a DUI in Georgia. Sometimes the probation period lasts for 6 months, but other times an individual may have to deal with probation for several years.

There are many drawbacks to being sentenced to probation - although people tend to rejoice when offered probation over jail time. Probation includes monthly supervision fees along with strict requirements such as random drug screenings. Keeping up with probation conditions are very difficult. Moreover, violating probation in Georgia is serious business.

As exemplified in the story above, probation violation in Georgia for new offenses are often treated more harshly than probation violations than any other type of violation. This means that even if an individual is complying with the conditions of his or her probation rules, if he or she commits a new crime during his or her probation period, there will be a violation.

If you commit a misdemeanor, you could face a penalty of 2 years of the probation term being revoked and having to serve those years in jail. If you commit a felony during your probation period, you will have to serve the rest of your probation term in jail.

Your probation officer has the discretion to request a warrant for your arrest if they believe you are not complying with the probation terms.

Practice Note

If you or a loved one has been arrested for violating probation, contact our attorneys today. We can defend your case. We handled everything related to DUI - include violation of probation in Georgia.