Norwalk Evading Responsibility Alternative Sentencing

In Norwalk, if a person charged with evading responsibility is not eligible for the accelerated rehabilitation program and is a first time offender with nothing serious on their criminal record, they will typically receive probation instead of a sentence that includes jail time. For anyone interested in seeking Norwalk evading responsibility alternative sentencing options, it may be critical to discuss your case with an established hit and run attorney prior to trial.

Evading Responsibility Rehab Program Application Process

Applying for Norwalk evading responsibility alternative sentencing begins with understanding the eligibility requirements for programs applicable to one’s case. If someone is eligible for the pre-trial accelerated rehabilitation program, this means that they have no past criminal convictions on their record. The person applies for the program and the office of probation runs a background check on them to make sure that they have no conviction.

There is a small hearing in which the prosecutor and the defense attorney will make arguments to the judge as to why the person should or should not be admitted into the program. Once they are admitted into the program, the judge will grant a period of time that could be up to two years, and at the end of that period of time, the charges will be fully dismissed from the person’s record as long as they successfully complete the program.

How Can Previous Convictions Impact a Hit and Run Case?

Any previous convictions would make a person ineligible for the pre-trial accelerated rehabilitation program, so there would be a lot more negotiation with the prosecutor that would be needed to reach the best possible disposition for a client in an evading responsibility case.

All courthouses in Connecticut, including in Norwalk, have the pre-trial accelerated rehabilitation programs. Prosecutors are sometimes willing to drop the charges in exchange for certain things. Community service can be one of those requirements, meaning that there are some occasions in which a person charged with evading responsibility might receive community service rather than jail time.

How Applying for a Program May Impact an Evading Responsibility Case

If the person successfully completes the accelerated rehabilitation program, the charges will be fully dismissed from their record, which means that they will be expunged and under Connecticut’s erasure law the person can swear under oaths that they have never been arrested.

In Norwalk, having a person’s record expunged could take up to two years at most. Once the charges are dismissed from a person’s record at the end of the accelerated rehabilitation program, then the evading responsibility charges are fully expunged.

A person’s record will be expunged either from the charges being dismissed due to the pre-trial accelerated rehabilitation program or from the prosecutor entering a nolle prosequi on the case. Thirteen months after the nolle prosequi was entered, the charges will be fully dismissed and then expunged.

How a Hit and Run Defense Attorney Could Help

A criminal lawyer can help a person seek possible Norwalk evading responsibility alternative sentencing if they are interested in applying for programs they are elligble for. The criminal lawyer can usually work with the prosecutor to try and convince them that the person was not drunk. They also can show the prosecutor that all the damages have been fully paid for, that the person who is driving was fully insured, and that their insurance will take care of payments to reimburse property damage and personal injuries.