Recycling Probation Violations

Can a court respond to the same offending behavior by a probationer more than once? In this prior post I talked about the interplay between probation violations and new criminal charges based on the same behavior. Today’s post is focused on probation violation hearings alone. May offending behavior that has already been responded to at a prior hearing be re-alleged and responded to again? It’s helpful to start with a related question about timing. In talking to people over the years, it seems that there is some sense that when the court holds a probation violation hearing, the slate is wiped clean for any offending behavior that may have happened up to that point. That same logic would extend to barring reconsideration of offending behavior already responded to at an earlier hearing. The view makes some sense as a matter of judicial economy, but I don’t know of any clear authority for it in the probation statutes or case law. The case that comes closest to addressing it may be State v. Bridges, 189 N.C. App. 524 (2008). In Bridges, the defendant’s probation officer alleged six violations that were brought before the court in February 2007. The defendant moved to continue the matter until March. The court granted the continuance, but only after modifying the defendant’s probation to require him to pay a certain amount of restitution within 10 days. When the March hearing rolled around the defendant was revoked. On appeal, the defendant argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to [...]