Early Termination From Probation Rule 35(c)

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ENDING YOUR PROBATION EARLY?

(See self-assessment below)

The Rhode Island Superior Court Rules allow someone serving probation in the community to seek approval from the Superior Court to end their probation early if several criteria are met. Rule 35(c) of the R.I. Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure contains the criteria and the process.

If you are interested in finding out if you might qualify to have your probation end early, please review the statements below as they will provide you with some guidance. To be eligible for a Certificate from the Department of Corrections, which you must receive from the Probation Unit before you can ask the Superior Court to end your probation early, all of the following statements below must be TRUE:

  1. You have been on probation in the community for at least three (3) years.
  2. During the past three years, you have not been declared by the court to be a violator of your term of probation.
  3. There is no active no-contact order against you as part of the probation.
  4. You have completed all the terms and conditions of your probation, such as counseling requirements, community service orders, paying restitution orders, and paying all fines (NOT court costs).
  5. There are no pending revocation proceedings filed against you.
  6. You are currently not on probation or parole in any other state/jurisdiction.
  7. You are not on probation that may be concurrent or consecutive with your current case that was imposed on a different date than the case that you are looking to terminate.
  8. You do not have any pending charges in Rhode Island or any other state/jurisdiction.

If any of these statements are not true, then you will not be eligible at this time to end your probation early. If all of these statements are TRUE, then you may want to contact the R.I. Department of Corrections Office of Adult Probation and Parole to request that a probation officer review your file and if you meet all the criteria, a certificate may be issued stating that you satisfy all of these criteria. Please contact Jenn Donovan at (401) 462-2242 or email her at jenn.donovan@doc.ri.gov to request the review.

If you receive a certificate, you will need to follow the process in Rule 35(c) to have your case assigned to a calendar before a sitting judge.

The Probation Unit of the RIDOC, either at a defendant's request or administratively, MAY review the defendant's case history and process the motion to request a sentence reduction for the defendant.

If the Probation Unit finds that you meet the criteria for early termination, then the Victim's Services Unit will reach out to the victim/victim's family to inform them of this procedure.  They may choose to appear at the early termination hearing.

The Attorney General's Office will also contact the victim/victim's family and proceed with their own investigation as they will also be present at the hearing and may provide testimony as to their opinion on this motion.

The Court may grant the motion to discharge the defendant from probation, after the hearing, if in the discretion of the judicial officer, s/he finds that the defendant has demonstrated that the defendant no longer requires supervision.

THIS SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL ADVICE; IT IS A COURTESY NOTICE

You do not need an attorney to file a Rule 35(c) motion to terminate your probation. You can represent yourself.