§ 16-93-1102 - Procedure generally.
16-93-1102. Procedure generally.
(a) Any consenting eligible offender who is convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, or who enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a felony or misdemeanor, may upon recommendation of the court be sentenced under this subchapter.
(b) The sentencing court may suspend imposition of the offender's sentence for a period not to exceed the period of years that is the maximum penalty for the offense convicted upon condition that the defendant be either incarcerated in a county detention facility or, at the discretion of the court, reside at his or her principal residence under the supervision of a probation officer and participate in a community work project. The length of such community work project service and incarceration shall not exceed eighteen (18) months on a felony with work incentive credit or, in the case of a misdemeanor, the maximum length of incarceration provided for the misdemeanor reduced by the work incentive credit.
(c) In the event that during an offender's service under a community work project sentence pursuant to this subchapter, the offender withdraws his consent to participate in the project, the sentencing court shall have the offender brought before the court within a reasonable time after receiving such notice from either the sheriff of the county wherein the inmate is incarcerated or under probation, or the prosecuting attorney of that county, and the court shall make inquiries of the offender to determine whether or not consent to proceed under the program is being withdrawn. In the event that the court finds that the offender is withdrawing consent to participate in the community work project, the court shall remand the offender to the Department of Correction if the offense was a felony or, in the case of a misdemeanor, to the sheriff of the county wherein the offense was committed, to serve the remaining portion of the offender's sentence. The offender shall be entitled to all good time and parole eligibility considerations as provided for by law. Any portion of the sentence which was suspended by the court at the time of the original sentence shall not be affected by the court's removal of an offender from participating in the community work project.
(d) In the event that the offender's conduct while participating in a community work project is unsatisfactory, the court may upon petition filed by the prosecuting attorney schedule a hearing to determine if the offender should be allowed to continue to participate in the community work project. This hearing shall follow the same format and accord the offender the same safeguards as the revocation procedure as outlined in 5-4-309. The burden of proof necessary for revocation of a sentence under this subchapter shall be a preponderance of the evidence that the offender's conduct has not been satisfactory while participating in a community work project. If the court determines that the offender's conduct has not been satisfactory, the court shall remand the offender to the department if the offense was a felony or, in the case of a misdemeanor, to the sheriff of the county wherein the offense was committed, to serve all or part of the remaining portion of the offender's original sentence. The offender shall be entitled to all good time and parole eligibility considerations as provided for by law.