How can I modify my sentencing?
my son and I was arrested for domestic battery plea deal was for a 12 month diversion and $249 in court cost. I was unable to pay the court cost due to loss of employment. I went 12 months without any extra charges, and then I couldn’t pay the fine. I caught a charge of DUI causing injury After the 12 month period and went in for the DUI hearing with a court appointed attorney and was sentenced on the domestic battery case because I caught a charge because not paying the fine left it open I was sentenced to 180 days in jail without any Notice the lawyer I had did not attempt or try to help me. He was two hours late so what is your best suggestion in order for me to get released? I have been doing all kinds of classes getting certificates and was doing drug treatment and alcohol treatment willingly on my own as well as submitting to drug test at the correction center I live in West Virginia. This is taking place in Taylor County.
Unfortunately, there is nothing you can really do. Plea deals are extremely difficult to appeal, and it does not sound like there is any way to really appeal it.
The "diversion" sounds exactly like a Deferral. The way a deferral works is you sign a guilty plea, and that guilty plea is held in limbo until the end of that 12 months and when you pay all the court fees, once you have paid all the fees and completed the 12 month period the Domestic Charge would likely have been dismissed. The fact that you did not pay the court costs/fees can extend the 12 month period for the dismissal. So because the fees had not been paid he 12 month period is extended, so when you got the new charge of the DUI causing injury, the guilty plea signed for the Domestic charge is automatically entered because the new charge violates the terms of the deferral (which is something like "you shall not violate any law").
So there is nothing the attorney could really do at that point to help.
