The Request Can Be Made by the City
Video Transcribed: What is an application to accelerate in Tulsa Municipal Court? I’m Tulsa Attorney James Wirth. I’m doing this series related to questions about Tulsa’s city court, and this one deals with applications to accelerate.
So if you’re charged with a municipal ticket or a misdemeanor, it gets resolved one of a few different ways. It could just be dismissed outright if you’ve got grounds to do so, can work out a deal for that, or there’s a plea deal that’s worked out, or it goes to trial. And at trial, whether it’s a bench trial or a jury trial, you’re either convicted or acquitted. Well, most cases get resolved through some sort of plea negotiation working out a plea deal. And there are various types of sentences that can be done that way, one of which is a deferred sentence.
And under a deferred sentence, you’d enter a plea of guilt or no contest. And the court would withhold a finding of guilt, and then push out sentencing for a period of time during which you’re on probation. And if you comply with your probation, don’t get into any trouble, you come back and the case is dismissed and expunged. But what if, while you’re on probation on that deferred sentence, the city is alleging that you violated the terms and conditions of your probation or they’re alleging that you committed another offense?
Well, then they file an application to accelerate your sentencing, to move up the sentencing on that. And then if they can show by a preponderance of the evidence that you violated your probation in some way by committing another offense or not doing what you were ordered to do, maybe working hours, paying court costs, things like that, then they can have you sentenced based on what the range of punishment is for the original offense.
So you don’t get any credit for the time that you’re on probation, didn’t get in any trouble, you can be sentenced as if you were getting sentenced on the original offense anywhere within the original range of punishment. So what is an application to accelerate? Well, that is a motion by the city to request that sentencing be moved up and that you’d be sentenced on the underlying offense anywhere within that range of punishment.
So if you have the motion to accelerate that’s been filed against you in municipal court, you’re going to want representation on that because that means that they’re trying to accelerate your sentencing, potentially throwing you into jail. And you’re certainly going to want to talk to an Oklahoma misdemeanor lawyer, at least get legal advice about your specific circumstances on how to handle that. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go to makelaweasy.com.
