If You Are Sentenced to Probation in One State but You Live in Another What Can Happen if You Don’t Show Up?

Question by kingofchattanooga: If you are sentenced to probation in one state but you live in another what can happen if you don’t show up?
Over the holiday I was visiting some family and friends in the state I used to live in. While getting a ride home from a party at 3 am the driver swerved over the line and got the car pulled over. No one was drunk but I was arrested for a very small amount of marijuana(I was a passenger and complied fully with whatever the officer told). I went back to that state for my court date and was sentenced to fines and a year of “supervisory treatment”. I am now back home in the state which I currently reside(and have lived in for a number of years). I have received a letter from the probation office telling me to report there next week. My problem is that there is no way I can make it there. I am not trying to avoid or outrun the law and I don’t want any warrants issued or have the police in my town here looking for me. If i contact the probation officer is it possible that he/she will either transfer my probation to the state I reside or will monitoring by phone or mail suffice?

Best answer:

Answer by RangerEsq
Failure to comply with the terms of your probation will cause you to be charged with a Violation of Probation and a Warrant will be issued for your arrest. If the marijuana possession was a misdemeanor, the warrant will only be active in the state where you were arrested and convicted.

However, contact your probation officer. You’re not the first guy to get arrested out of state and cooperative interstate monitoring of probationers is a common practice. You will probably have to have the same sort of “supervisory treatment” in your home state but you can do it there and report to your local Probation department. It’s not a big deal. Don’t make it into one.

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