i was charged with a misdemeanor and ordered to do 100 hours of community service?

Question

i work six days per week and 100 hours community service is almost impossible to do. what are my other options? can i pay another fine or use my vacation time at work and spend a few days in jail in lieu of the community service.

you people think you know what the deal is but you don't. first of all i work m-sat and my only day off is sun. i spent 7 years being abused by my ex husband who followed me out of divorce court last year and started blocking my path to get to my car and refused to move so i pushed out of my way and he turned around and ran back into the courthouse and filed a restraining order and then went next door to the police station and paid two homeless people to walk inside with him and back up his bs story that i threatened to kill him and attacked him. none of which is true. three months later i get a letter from the city attorney saying that i was going to be arraigned on spousal battery and making criminal threats. i got a lawyer and had to take a plea bargain of those charges were dropped and i was charged with tresspassing. i am on three years summary probation and i am finishing up the 52 week program they made me go to and after that i am suppose to do the 100 hours of community

service. i already have a letter from my law firm i work at saying that i work 50 hours per week. my ex husband did this to me all because i would not take him back and i moved out while he was incarcerated for four months for felony spousal battery for breaking my nose and giving me two black eyes

I DO NOT HAVE A PROBATION OFFICER AND AM NOT ON FORMAL PROBATION

i had to take the deal because going to trial and risk losing and getting the maximum penalty (one year in jail) was not an option. i am a paralegal at a lawfirm, live on my own and have tons of responsibilities and have animals to take care of.

Answer 1

As stated above - it sort of depends on the particular probation department.

I am in charge of Community Service at my probation department (I assign people and track the hours, among my many other tasks). Misdemeanors in my county can buy their CSR for $7 per hour. Felony cases must perform it. However, some places allow the purchase of food, toys or gift cards (from Wal-mart). It just depends. I've also worked in counties that do not have any such service.

You need to contact your probation officer and see if there is an alternative...

I will say this - I have had guys who work 80 hours a week still managed to do CSR. Doing 1-2 hours twice a week is not impossible for most people. Maybe 1 hour after you get home from work. It will take a while, but it's possible (depending on how long you have to do them). While there is a set deadline on the hours usually (one doesn't automatically have their entire probation to get them done) - I am flexible and reasonable, and will work with people who actually try.

I must point out a simple fact, however - When you received your probation and stood in front of the Judge, that was really the time to speak up. Most people are so glad to be getting probation instead of jail, that I suppose all the little details doesn't always "sink in" until its all over, I suppose. But, don't take a "deal" when you know you can't fulfill all the requirements...

I wonder about that sometimes - as a probation officer...

Answer 2

yeah...hmmm. can an lawyer help? Or are they just saying just take care of it. You know judges are human beings and although there are some real humdingers out there, most are pretty understanding. If these are family related and you left Texas, chances are you are no longer in violation of the protective order because well, you left. I would pay a lawyer and get them to work a deal for you to stay with your mom until things are better or until she passes.

Answer 3

There is a legal Charity Called Uplifting Kids they help people all over the world they are a 501c3 Noprofit that help people that have last minute or current hours to complete either before going to jail or the due date or after there due date, this organization was soooo great they helped my brother and my cousin out all they had to do is make donation to the charity for the hours they were do so my cousin had 8 hours to do so he paid them $80.00 so its ten dollars for every hour, also they did an overnight because he was about to go to jail it was pretty costly but it was well worth it same thing for my cousin that lived in another state they helped her out to and kept her from going to jail they mailed a letterhead out to her address for her to bring to court or rather give to her attorney and she never had any issues anymore she and my brother was soo happy they are the only charity i know thats out there they can help you , you cant complete hours online its not legal to that and this charity verified my family hours , its not worth getting locked up call this charity they are even open on the weekends as well, they are legal i verified them with the irs for charities and i verified there ein number before my brother made a donation, this charity is very nice and they do alot of great things for kids and the community so why not pay off your hours instead of going to jail , and they help out with school hours I'm in college and i had to get some hours done and they helped me with that of course all of this took place at different times but we remember this charity so everytime we was in a jam we used them and the outcome was great and legal , remember they do overnight for your court or school papers its an extra charge to expedite it to you and an extra charge for overnight they will call you with a tracking number this charity is great man they got all kinds of programs that can help you in your situation you can also fundraise off your hours and do a fundraise just give them a call i see alot of people on here that need help and rather then them call the charity to find out what they can do they end up going to jail hoping for an extenstion and that dont happen that often because my brother almost went to jail for not doing his community service hours the charity contact information is upliftingkids.org there phone number is 1-855-581-9111 ask to speak to the person that handles community service hours or school hours. They work with any kind of hours school hours, community service court hours it dont matter give them a call again there open on the weekends make sure you have your school infomation ready or your court information ready with a case or docket number because they can't do anything to help you unless you have that give them a call today Good Luck!!! I wouldn't trust no other charity but this one the other ones were flaky i didnt like them.

Answer 4

You can't get out of this ONE. You do the CRIME you do the COMMUNITY time. Make it WORK. You can't pay your way out of community service. You better go sign up as soon as possible because their is a deadline to sign up or you'll be back in court.

Answer 5

You need to contact the prosecutor, or your probation officer with this question.

If you don't comply you will be jailed for contempt of court, and then STILL have to perform the community service.

Answer 6

100 hours in jail isn't going to interfere with work?

If you're working less than 80 hours a week, I've heard of people in tighter binds.

"If you do the crime, you to the time."

You can always try to work something out. I suppose it doesn't hurt. I wouldn't expect much though.

Answer 7

some counties will let you pay off the community service, like at the rate of $10 dollars per hour, so $10 dollars X 100 hours = $1,000 dollars,.....but i do not know if all counties do that,.....

Answer 8

Many times when you let the community service coordinator know whats up they will make other arrangements. Usually.

Answer 9

PUNISHMENT is not meant to be convenient. That said, ASK the court. ANY arraignment must meet the approval of the court.