Former NFL star Chad Johnson had his 12-month probation sentence converted to administrative, or non-reporting, probation by a Broward County Court Judge yesterday.
Johnson was charged last year with one count of battery in a domestic violence incident involving his wife.
Johnson entered a plea of no contest to the charge and was placed on 12 months of probation. The judge withheld adjudication.
The conditions of Johnson's probation included 26 weeks of anger management. Since Johnson had successfully completed the anger management and had paid all of his costs of supervision and fees and had not violated probation, he was eligible to convert the remainder of his probation to administrative probation.
Administrative, or non-reporting, probation does not require the probationer to report or fulfill any conditions. The only condition is that the probationer cannot get arrested during the term of administrative probation.
Administrative probation is an alternative to early termination, which permits the probationer to be off of probation completely. Sometimes, courts do not want to do that but are willing to allow the probationer to continue their probationary term without formal supervision.
Administrative probation often has a one-time setup fee but does not require monthly cost of supervision payments.
If you have been on probation for at least half of your term, you have fulfilled all conditions, paid all monies owed, and have not violated, you may want to consider a motion for early termination, or in the alternative, a motion to convert the remainder of reporting probation to non-reporting probation.
Eric Matheny is a criminal defense attorney serving Miami-Dade and Broward.