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Long Beach, Probation Ended Early Despite Probation Officer
In 2019, our client and his wife were not on the best of terms. Our client, then age 37, suspected that his wife was having an affair with a man she knew from high school. Our client and his wife had four kids and lived in Long Beach.
Making matters worse, our client’s truck that he used for his moving business (furniture moving) was stolen and our client had to turn away work while his insurance investigated the claim.
One night, the two argued and the wife told our client not to return home. However, he did at perhaps midnight (from a long day of work), only to find all the doors were locked and he did not have a key. Normally, the back door was left unlocked for him to enter, but this evening it was locked, our client assumed, by his wife.
Frustrated at being locked out of his own home, he broke the glass window near the door and opened the door. The noise of the window breaking caused his wife to get out of bed and scold our client with certain four letter words. Enraged at his wife, he then strangled her for about fifteen seconds before letting go. However, he left bruises on her neck and a small cut to the skin on her neck. The wife then called the police and our client was arrested.
Our client had a prior conviction for auto burglary from 19 years earlier, but otherwise no criminal history.
The client retained Greg Hill & Associates and we were able to resolve the case, which was filed as a felony, with no jail (or prison), but the client was placed on five years of formal probation with an obligation to attend the 52-week batterer’s program, perform 40 days (320 hours) of PAWS community service, make a $500 contribution to a battered women’s shelter and pay $220 in court fees.
After the client finished half the probationary period, Greg emailed the client to ask if he had finished all obligations except waiting for a further two and a half years to pass – and if so, was the client interested in early termination of probation and expungement? The client stated that he had not finished the PAWS obligation yet, but would contact me when he did finish.
Our office then prepared, filed and served a motion for early termination of probation, explaining that the client sought this because he was currently unemployed and unable to find work while on formal probation. The motion included a declaration from the client stating this.
Our office served the Long Beach Probation Department with the motion to elicit a probation officer report and the probation department’s position on ending probation early. The District Attorney’s Office in Long Beach was also served.
The court then set a hearing date for the motion and on that date, both Greg and the client appeared before one of the judges known to be one of the most conservative and having a reputation for being difficult for defendants.
Much to our client’s surprise, his probation officer submitted a report to the judge stating that she was opposed to early termination of probation “because the crime involved great violence and bodily injury.”
At the hearing on the motion, equally surprising, the prosecutor stated to the judge that he was not opposed to early termination of probation.
The judge, who Greg had a great deal of experience before, then asked permission of Greg to speak directly to the client. Greg certainly allowed this. She asked our client what he learned from the batterer’s program classes and the past four years of being on probation.
The judge granted the motion, which made our client extremely happy.
