Probation Violation Hearings after Expiration: The Importance of a File Stamp

In general, a court only has jurisdiction to act on a probation case until the period of probation expires. There is a limited exception to that rule in G.S. 15A-1344(f). Under that law, the court may act on the case after it expires if the State filed a violation report with the clerk before expiration. The law is essential when a hearing cannot be held before a supervision period ends because, for example, the alleged violation happened near the end of the supervision period or the probationer absconded. I refer to this grant of additional jurisdiction as “holding the case open” for hearing. Some people say the filing of the violation report “tolls” the period of probation, but that can be misleading. Tolling has a special meaning in the probation context, referring to the now-repealed provision (first codified in G.S. 15A-1344(d) and later in G.S. 15A-1344(g)) that kept a person on probation during the pendency of a new criminal charge. Unlike tolling, the filing of a violation report does not actually keep a person on probation, it just preserves the court’s authority to respond to a violation alleged during the term of supervision. Timelines become important when it comes to holding a case open for hearing. The probation officer must be careful to file a violation report before the case expires to satisfy G.S. 15A-1344(f). The standard way to establish that the report was timely filed is to show that the report was file stamped by the clerk before expiration. Under [...]