If you have been found guilty, and have an agreement from the prosecutor for probation, and after your pre-sentence report has been completed, you receive a new misdemeanor charge, can probation be revoked before the final sentence is imposed?

A plea agreement is an agreement between you and the prosecutor to resolve criminal charges against you. When the agreement provides for a recommended sentence, such as probation, the judge is free to accept or reject the recommendation. This occurs at the sentencing hearing. If the judge decides to reject the recommendation for probation, you may or may not be allowed to withdraw your guilty plea. Usually, this depends on whether the agreement states the probation recommendation is binding on the court. Since a pre-sentence report has been ordered by the court in your case, the judge will want to review it before deciding whether to accept the prosecutor's recommendation of probation. If your pre-sentence report has already been completed, it's possible that neither the judge, the prosecutor, nor the probation officer will know about your new charge when your case comes up for sentencing. While it may be tempting not to tell them, that is very risky and not advisable. Probation includes conditions, one of which is that you not commit any new crimes during the probationary period. If you are subsequently convicted of the new charge, even though it occurred prior to sentencing, the prosecutor or probation department may try to revoke your probation when they learn of it. Without knowing the details of the charge for which you are being sentenced and the new charge, it's not possible to predict the effect that knowledge of the new charge will have on the prosecutor, the probation department or the judge. For example, if you advise the probation department of the new charge before sentencing, they may file an addendum to the pre-sentence report to include this information. Probation might or might not change their recommendation that the Judge grant probation. The prosecutor, when he or she learns of the new charge from the addendum to the probation report, might or might not seek permission to withdraw from the plea agreement. The Judge, upon learning of the new charge, might or might not decide probation is no longer appropriate. If the judge decides probation is not warranted due to the new charge, and the plea agreement is not binding on the judge, you would be stuck with whatever sentence the judge imposes, so long as it does not exceed the maximum for the crime for which you were convicted. You really need to have the professional advice of an experienced criminal defense lawyer for this predicament. He or she can review the language in your plea agreement to determine if the probation recommendation is binding on the court. An experienced attorney in your jurisdiction also can provide you with an informed opinion as to the likely effect knowledge of the new charge will have on the prosecutor, the probation department and the court. An attorney may be able to postpone your sentencing and get the new charge dismissed before the new sentencing date, so it has no effect on your current agreement. Alternatively, he or she may be able to convince the judge to accept the agreement despite the new charge, or negotiate a new agreement with the prosecutor that takes the new charge into account.