A Petition to revoke a sentence occurs if you fail to complete all of the conditions of the sentence. For example, the sentencing court might sentence you to pay a $1,500.00 fine, take classes regarding alcohol, attend a Victim Impact Panel and not be charged with a crime during the period of your court supervision or conditional discharge, (usually a 1 year period). If you fail to complete all of the conditions, say you don’t pay your fine in full, the prosecutor (usually the State’s Attorney) can file a “Petition to Revoke” and the Judge after a hearing on whether you did or did not comply with all of the conditions of the sentence, can re-sentence you all over again.
If the condition you failed to fulfill is pay the fine or court courts in full, the Court will usually give you more time to pay. However, it the Court gives you another 3 months to pay, you will remain on the Court’s supervision or conditional discharge for the additional 3 months. In other words, if you get arrested during the Court’s three month extension, there will be another reason to have another petition to revoked to be filed.
However, if the reason a petition to revoked is being filed in because you were arrested for another offense, (picked up another case) then the Court is likely to require you to post a bond on the petition to revoked, i.e., you will need to post money to go home from Court. How much you have to post is dependent on your background, the type of new offense, the Judge, etc. I advise my client’s in this type of situation to bring as much to court as they can. Usually $300. to $1,000. is the range.
Whether you will need to bring an attorney with you to court is dependent upon why the petition to revoke was filed in the first place. If the petition is based upon you not paying your fine in full, you will generally not need an attorney – – all you need is money. Likewise, if you failed to attend the VIP or complete treatment and the Court has not previously given you additional time, you do not likely need an attorney- – just need to finish the treatment. However, if the reason for the petition to revoke is based upon you being charged with another crime, you should have an attorney with you.