Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: drug court

Thank you for your question and posting. This is actually a common question, and the answer is not as straightforward as you may think. The fact is, cases are jurisdictional, and nothing can happen on the case until the court approves to have probation monitor your daughter elsewhere (that's a distinct difference from having the case moved elsewhere, which will never happen).

Most courts require that your daughter visit probation where she intends to live, or seeks to live, and present a letter, after an interview, indicating that probation in the destination area promises to monitor your daughter and add her case to their inventory of existing probationers, and advise the court where the case will stay of any violations of probation, including not finishing a proposition 36 equivalent program.

After that is done, the court here may order probation to monitor your daughter. Your daughter may also reject drug court and accept a jail sentence, which on the whole may be less burdensome than seeking to transfer the case - but that is up to her and her attorney, as far as what may be best.

Thanks again, and feel free to email me at [email protected], should you have any further questions.

Re: drug court

You probably can't. Your daughter's case will be heard close to where she was arrested, so that witnesses and evidence won't have to be brought to some distant location and so that the costs are borne by the county in which the alleged crime occurred. Besides, you and the father are not parties to the case and have no standing to request anything from the court (this is why the judge would not talk to the father).

I empathize with your anguish over your daughter's plight, but if you are going to help you will have to do so where she is, not where you are.

Re: drug court

You don't, at least not without a petition to the court and a hearing on good cause. Your convenience is not good cause. If you want to pursue that, feel free to contact me.