Motion to Revoke

Question: What happens to me after a motion to revoke probation?

Answer:

In Texas, if you are on probation or deferred adjudication and the court has a motion to revoke, what that usually means is that a warrant will be issued for your arrest. You’ll be arrested and processed in the jail. You’ll bond out, and then you’ll have a hearing about whether the judge is going to take away your probation or take away your deferred adjudication. If you believe that one is going to be filed because you either picked up a new offense, failed to report, or you tested positive for alcohol or drugs while on probation, call a lawyer. Call somebody with experience in this area, and what they can do is go and talk to the judge to see if they can get the motion to revoke withdrawn. If they can’t it withdrawn, they’ll try to process the individual in a satellite office. What that means is the processing to get you booked, get you out, will take two hours, approximately, versus all day if you get arrested and taken to jail.

Your lawyer will talk to probation and the DA at your hearing to see if it can be resolved without them revoking your probation or deferred which it very often can be for minor violations. Minor violations would be things like missing an appointment, or picking up a very minor offense. What becomes more difficult is if you pick up what the state refers to as a new number one which is a new criminal offense. However, in most cases, the state won’t try to revoke your probation if the only allegation is you picked up a new criminal offense. They don’t want to try that new offense in a motion to revoke, so they usually will hold back on that motion to revoke until your new offense is resolved. What’s really important on a motion to revoke is to get a lawyer, get a bond set, and get out of jail or get processed, so you can start preparing a defense.