By Cynthia Hoang-Duong
WOODLAND, CA – A woman here agreed to spend nearly a month in county jail because she cannot afford the more than $4,000 fines and fees as a result of her “no contest” plea reached in Yolo County Superior Court Thursday.
Deputy Public Defender Cheyanne Martin asked Judge Stephen L. Mock to convert a woman’s probation fines to additional jail time for conviction of several driving offenses, including driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license.
“She is a single mother and she is working on call. She has a lot of life expenses and so she is more than willing to serve the additional time in order to handle those fines,” elaborated Martin.
After the judge read the mandatory advisements to confirm that she knowingly and voluntarily accepted the plea and a factual basis, he agreed to the plea deal.
The accused was ordered to complete three years of probation for her first case and four years of probation for her more recent case, subject to the standard terms of probation.
Upon these terms, the DPD requested the court consider converting the fines to additional jail time because the accused could not afford the more than $4,000 fine.
The judge stated that he was willing to convert all but $271 of the fine in each case.
The accused currently faces 26 days of additional jail time in lieu of the fines.
