What happens if an important state witness doesn’t show up to my parole revocation hearing?

If a “material” (essential) state witness fails to attend your parole revocation hearing and the hearing cannot fairly proceed without the witness, the court can postpone the hearing or dismiss the case against you.

To decide whether the witness’s testimony would be “material,” the court should balance the importance of the witness’s expected testimony against the availability and reliability of another source of the same information. Also, if the state’s material witnesses fail to appear, but your witnesses are present, you and your attorney may want to ask that the judge take the testimony of your witnesses before postponing the rest of the hearing.