How can a judge put out a felony warrent for some one who violated misdomeanor probation?

Question

Back in 1993, I plee bargained from a felony down to a misdomeanor. I was put on 5 yrs paper. 4 1/2 yrs later I left state {Ohio} and violated by not reporting. The judge issued a felony warrent for my arrest. How is this possible?

Answer 1

I  see you already have the answer.He is right.Violation of your probation is a felony.Was there a reason you did not report?You knew they would look for you.Now you will probably have jail or prison time.

Answer 2

Sometimes, your felony does not get reduced to a misdemeanor until you have successfully completed your probation.  It would just depend on what the sentencing order says and how that jurisdiction handles those. Also, the warrant would have the original cause number (case number) which would be a felony number.  Even if your conviction was reduced, the cause # would remain the same. Of course, every jurisdiction is different and I can only go by my experience.  If you left the State, could it be possible that they charged you with Escape or something like that?  If you were on any kind of home detention, they could have charged you with that.  I know its kind of confusing.  Call your PO and get it taken care of ASAP.

Answer 3

Yes because you violated your plea agreement by not following your probation.  By breaking your plea agreement you allowed the court to charge you with the original felony.

Answer 4

Because violation of your probation is a felony.

Answer 5

You may be missing details of your plea bargain which would fully form this question.  It does not seem clear that you ever got that misdemeanor - three years probation is what people get for misdemeanors, not 5; people who get probation on felonies get 5 years, in NYS anyway.  You may have been promised 5 years of felony probation with the promise that you could re-plead to a misdemeanor and get time-served if you stayed out of trouble.  Depending on the facts of your criminal case, the history of the case and your record, that;s either a weird or apt way to dispose of a case.

The warrant, though related to your probation case may have resulted from a separate prosecution oft referred to (erroneously, evem though statutes do call it by this name): "Bail Jumping".  If you have a responsibility to come to court and fail to do that, you have committed that crime, even if you were not really on bail (the most oft cited defense is "I wasn;t obn bail" which of course is no defense at all).  Some BJ offenses are misdemeanors in NY, though they can be elevated to felonies if the underlying offense that you had been going to court for was either a misdemeanor or felony.  Other states may have other ideas of what aggravates BJ to a felony, namely how long you're out of contact.

Answer 6

Maybe violating probation is a felony?  Or maybe leaving the state without notifying the proper authorities is a felony?

*plea*

*misdemeanor*

Answer 7

Because you absconded, which means you stopped reporting and left the state.  That action, in itself, is a felony.  Also, they dropped the charges to a misdemeanor, but once you violate, that misdemeanor goes back to a felony and you get re-sentenced.

Answer 8

The plea to a misdemeanor, along with the probation, were both things you agreed to. You can not pick and choose which parts of the agreement you are going to honor.

If you break one agreement, you break them both. By violating probation, you also violated the plea to a misdemeanor. You are now looking at the original charge.