My sister is in jail in Florida. Our family has been trying to see if they could plea bargain her charges down to misdemeanors, and have her serve her probation in Maine, where we live, instead of Florida, where she ran away to. I have not been talking to her lawyer, and only know what my father and grandmother have told me. Her charges are grand theft, identity theft, and credit card fraud. All three are felonies, but could be possible to plea bargain down. Is it likely that she can even get a probation transfer like this?
Why would the state of Maine want to take over the costs of dealing with your sister’s crimes in the state of Florida? There’s no incentive for Maine to do that.
ETA: http://www.interstatecompact.org/About/NavigatingTheCompact/CommonQuestions.aspx
She committed the crimes in Florida, fairly serious crimes from what you’ve posted elsewhere. Florida is responsible for keeping tabs on her, not Maine.
What is she doing with her pregnancy?
Judging from the answers there, it certainly seems that the OP’s sister would be a good candidate for transfer. Her entire support system is in Maine. I don’t know how long she was in Florida before the crimes were committed, but I would think she’d be better situated in Maine to change her life.
The flip side of that would be that her support system may not be important to her. Still, it’s worth looking into.
She is going to keep the baby and our grandmother is going to help her if she can get back to Maine.
The way I understand it, the crimes were commited shortly after she arrived in Florida, but she was not caught for about 4 months. The date on her arrest warrant was a few days after she moved to Florida in October. She was caught in January and has been in jail since.
No, it is not likely. The court system does not care about anyone.
Another question I have is, how can I check to see if she has any outstanding warrants here in Maine? This is not her first run-in with the law, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she had a warrant out up here.
So your sister R-U-N-N-O-F-T to Florida in October. While there, stole a car and someone’s identity and committed credit card fraud. She somehow evaded capture until January, where she is currently incarcerated. And somewhere along the way got knocked-up.
Has she plead yet?
Does she have an attorney?
Was she afforded bail?
Is she guilty?
Is she remorseful?
Her court date is on St. Patrick’s day. She does have a court appointed lawyer, and was not bailed out. Our grandmother actually offered to bail her out and buy her a plane ticket home. She refused so that she could still see her boyfriend when she got out. He is the one who knocked her up and helped her commit these crimes. She doesn’t seem remorseful, and I don’t know enough of the specifics of her crimes to know if she is likely to be found guilty or not.
She did the crimes in Florida, she serves her time there, period.
This Mainer would not want her here in Vacationland, sorry to be so blunt, but that’s how I see it.
She can get a probation transfer; whether she will or not is another question. For starters, she’s going to have to want to come back to Maine, but if she’d rather stay in jail in Florida than be bailed out and come home, that’s not a good sign.
Given the brief length of time she’s been in Florida, she probably still qualifies as a Maine resident for Interstate Compact purposes. If she is a Maine resident and is convicted of a felony, she stands an excellent chance of being approved to come back to Maine if she wants to go. Florida would need to give their approval, but most state probation/parole departments are sufficiently overworked that they’re only too happy to send somebody home, and Maine must accept the transfer of supervision for a Maine resident. (By a quirk in the rules, Maine does not have to accept transfer for most misdemeanor convictions, so this is something that needs to be discussed with her attorney.)
If she no longer qualifies as a Maine resident, any transfer would be considered discretionary on the part of both states, and approval would depend mostly on how compelling a case she can make and how stretched Maine’s probation officers are.
In either event, SHE is going to have to make the decision and submit the paperwork, and I wish you good luck.
(And her lawyer would likely have access to better resources for active warrants than non-law-enforcement people can get. You can try checking with each county; some make the information fairly readily available, and some don’t.)
Is your sister a minor? If so, her legal guardian could certainly try and get her transferred (and, if she’s a minor, maybe even succeed). Otherwise, it’s up to your sister to initiate things.
Look, before anything else happens, you need to talk to your sister and her lawyer. That’s where you need to start. Your sister has made some awful choices but you and the family can’t run around behind her back and try to arrange things for her. She wants to be in Florida, where her child’s father lives. That’s an understandable choice, even if the father is a dirtbag - even if the rest of her family wants her back. It’s not your place to try and force her back.
If you want a relationship with your sister and future niece/nephew, you need to start by working with her.
She is 18, so not a minor.
Your “want” or “not want” really doesn’t matter. The law does. The law, as cited above, provides for discretionary transfer of probationers and parolees in some circumstances, more specifically:
Sorry to be so blunt, but that’s how it is.