Washington v. State
Washington v. State
Opinion of the Court
The appellant was serving a 15-year sentence of probation when he was charged with violating one of the conditions of his probation, specifically, committing a robbery. He was in. prison pending the trial on his robbery charge and, following the preliminary hearing thereon, a hearing was held in which his probation was revoked. This appeal stems from the appellant’s probation revocation hearing.
I
The appellant alleges that the State did not give him sufficient notice of the revocation hearing and, therefore, that he was unable to prepare an adequate defense. The record indicates that, at the probation revocation hearing, the appellant’s counsel insisted that he was not prepared and that because he did not represent the appellant at the preliminary hearing he did not have sufficient notice. The court stated that the appellant had already undergone a preliminary hearing notifying him of the charges against him and noted that the attorney who had represented the appellant at the preliminary hearing was present during the probation revocation hearing. The judge stated that, when probable cause was determined by the district judge at the preliminary hearing, the appellant was placed on notice that the court would then conduct a revocation hearing. According to § 15-22-54, Code of Alabama (1975), a person violating terms of his probation may be arrested upon is
II
The appellant argues that the facts presented by the prosecution were insufficient to warrant his revocation of probation. However, the record indicates that the State provided the testimony of a detective with the police department concerning the probationer’s commission of a robbery and the details thereof. “[T]he State may elect to prove the alleged subsequent offense as a basis for probation revocation, and either pursue the prosecution of that offense at a later time or forgo its prosecution altogether.” Powell v. State, 485 So.2d 379, 381 (Ala. 1986). “[T]he State is not bound to a standard of proof of reasonable doubt or the preponderance of the evidence; rather, ‘the State must submit enough substantive evidence to reasonably satisfy the trier of the facts that a condition of probation was breached.’ ” Id., quoting Free v. State, 392 So.2d 857, 859 (Ala.Cr.App. 1980), cert. denied, 392 So.2d 859 (Ala. 1981), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 990, 101 S.Ct. 2329, 68 L.Ed.2d 850 (1981). Thus, as no final conviction is necessary for revoking probation, Smith v. State, 445 So.2d 573 (Ala.Cr.App. 1984), and the State presented sufficient evidence that the probationer breached his conditions of probation by committing the crime of robbery, the trial court properly revoked the probationer’s probation.
AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Felix Ernest Washington v. State.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published