People. v. Sem
Annotate this CaseRestitution for crime victims is a California constitutional right; Penal Code 1203.2 (a) provides that restitution shall be consistent with ability to pay and that probation cannot be revoked for nonpayment of restitution unless the defendant has willfully failed to pay and has the ability to pay. The length of felony probation may not exceed the maximum possible sentence, except that where the maximum sentence is five years or less, probation may last up to five years. Defendant was placed on probation for three years in January 2004 after pleading no contest to felony welfare fraud. Her original probationary term would have expired in January 2007. Based on an allegation that defendant had not paid victim restitution of more than $60,000, her probation was summarily revoked in November 2006. She implicitly admitted that she had willfully not paid in full. Her probation was formally revoked in April 2007. The superior court kept defendant in revoked status until January 2013, while monitoring her restitution payments/. When defendant’s attorney questioned the legality of her status, the court reinstated probation and extended it through July 2015, so that defendant would be subject to probation for 11½ years on a felony whose maximum sentence is three years. The appeals court reversed, concluding that the order was unauthorized by the probation statutes. Defendant is not estopped by long acquiescence from challenging the extension of her probationary status.
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