In John Bradley's article concerning the new law on state jail felony probation, he states that if a defendant is on deferred for a state jail felony and a petition to revoke is filed, the Judge cannot send him straight to the State Jail without first adjudicating him and the defendant committing a subsequent violation. What about CCP 42.12(b)that specifically states that upon adjudication of a state jail felony, the judge can either suspend the sentence or order the sentence to be executed regardless of whether he has previously been convicted of a felony?

Read CCP Art. 42.12 Sec. 15(a)(1) which says that upon conviction of a state jail felony ...

Obviously, when a person on deferred is adjudicated, the above statute would apply and require the person to be placed on community supervision.

Yes, generally, a more specific statute will control over a general statute. So, the language of art. 42.12 sec. 15 seems to control over the other more general probation language in 42.12. I'm not saying I like it, just that it was written that way.

At least in my district, the State will be attempting to convince the court that sec. 5(b) is the more specific statute and thus will permit the defendant to be sent directly to state jail upon adjudication of guilt (as argued by Judge Hervey in her former life). See Kesinger, 34 S.W.3d 644. If the Legislature wanted a new exception to 5(b) for certain drug offenses, they should have said so.