January 09, 2012

• Steven Topazio wrote this April 27, 2014 at 2:05 pm

The client, a 27 year old High School graduate, was arrested for possession of a class B substance, suboxone, who had defaulted several times during the course of his case, retained Attorney Topazio. Attorney Topazio realized that his client had suffered several substance abuse relapses in his fight against addiction and felt that it would be better to help his new client learn the skills to fight his addiction rather than risking that he be held in custody following a trial if he were committed. Attorney Topazio provided the names and addresses of both outpatient and inpatient substance programs to his client and helped him enroll in a substance abuse program prior to appearing in court. Today, Attorney Topazio convinced the District Attorney and the Court to place his client on a six (6) month period of pre-trial probation provided he remain drug free. Pre-trial probation is an agreement between the District Attorney and the defendant/client that occurs before a trial, plea or admission to sufficient facts; that results in a general continuance with an agreement that the case end in a dismissal. While pre-trial probation requires that the defendant be placed on either supervised or administrative probation monitored by the probation department, a successful completion results in a dismissal. A violation of pre-trial probation however does not cause the defendant/client to be surrendered and face potential jail time, which would happen if on regular probation, but rather only causes the case to be placed back on the trial docket.