What everyone should know about TRAFFIC TICKETS!!!

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: notsure1
a reply to: Xcathdra

everywhere I have ever lived you get a ticket plus court cost.

And if you dont go to court and just payup you still have court cost.

court costs lol... there is literally hundreds of thousands of dollars payed daily to these city's for traffic violations and court costs.

How much does court cost?

Judges
Court clerk
Baliff's
records
attorneys
secretaries
process servers
victims advocate
supplies
etc etc etc

I thought that was all paid for by our taxes.

originally posted by: notsure1

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: notsure1
a reply to: Xcathdra

everywhere I have ever lived you get a ticket plus court cost.

And if you dont go to court and just payup you still have court cost.

court costs lol... there is literally hundreds of thousands of dollars payed daily to these city's for traffic violations and court costs.

How much does court cost?

Judges
Court clerk
Baliff's
records
attorneys
secretaries
process servers
victims advocate
supplies
etc etc etc

I thought that was all paid for by our taxes.

and court costs.

If a person is found guilty would it not be nice to have the convicted pay to offset the taxpayer dollars?

originally posted by: JoshuaCox
a reply to: crayzeed

I don’t expect to win by being found not guilty.. the point is you can only lose by pleading guilty..

They are providing no incentive for people to avoid a trial.

lol... No incentive?

The court system must be way more efficient over their in the US then.

Give me the choice forking out $150... Or standing in line for 40 minutes, then sitting in a court room listening to BS nonsense cases for 6 straight hours, waiting for my 5 minutes of fame, that I'll probably lose anyway... Then I'm taking the $150 blow every time.

... But maybe I'm just lazy, when it comes to trying to prove a pointless point.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

That's the most preposterous angle to this whole debacle of a thread.

"I want to plead guilty but the meany pants prosecutor and meany pants judge are supposed to cut me a break for pleading guilty because I'm doing them a favor by pleading guilty."

Pay the goddamn thing online if you want to "do them a favor." Jesus

a reply to: JoshuaCox

they also deliberately have one person working the reception at the court and one judge who is on the bench for like 4 hours total per day, such that the line is literally out the door and around the block.

to discourage this sort of thing.

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: notsure1

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: notsure1
a reply to: Xcathdra

everywhere I have ever lived you get a ticket plus court cost.

And if you dont go to court and just payup you still have court cost.

court costs lol... there is literally hundreds of thousands of dollars payed daily to these city's for traffic violations and court costs.

How much does court cost?

Judges
Court clerk
Baliff's
records
attorneys
secretaries
process servers
victims advocate
supplies
etc etc etc

I thought that was all paid for by our taxes.

and court costs.

If a person is found guilty would it not be nice to have the convicted pay to offset the taxpayer dollars?

Honestly no.. I dont want their jobs relying on fines and court costs ..

originally posted by: notsure1

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: notsure1

originally posted by: Xcathdra

originally posted by: notsure1
a reply to: Xcathdra

everywhere I have ever lived you get a ticket plus court cost.

And if you dont go to court and just payup you still have court cost.

court costs lol... there is literally hundreds of thousands of dollars payed daily to these city's for traffic violations and court costs.

How much does court cost?

Judges
Court clerk
Baliff's
records
attorneys
secretaries
process servers
victims advocate
supplies
etc etc etc

I thought that was all paid for by our taxes.

and court costs.

If a person is found guilty would it not be nice to have the convicted pay to offset the taxpayer dollars?

Honestly no.. I dont want their jobs relying on fines and court costs ..

They arent.. It offsets those costs.

The prosecutor isn't obligated to cut you any sort of deal. It's a traffic ticket. It takes way less than an hour of the court's time. Conpare that to a murder trial which stretches years. They don't care if you plead not guilty. Odds are you are guilty, and the case is solid! You're going to be found guilty. If you walk on a $125 ticket, the state shrugs.

Also, who wants to take a day off to spend all or half a day in court waiting if they don't have to? Not me.

But, if you are unemployed or otherwise have more time than money, Josh, here's some free advice if you just want to fight the man or make them at least work for it:
Let's say you got caught doing 58 in a 45. Officer clocked you on radar, visually verified, etc, etc

You (probably, there are a few states that resist this. Find out first) have a right to discovery. Use it. Often. (We talked about your rights to discovery in the DNC case against POTUS. You didn't get it then, but maybe you can get hands on experience to help you).

First, and far most importantly, send certified mail requests to the officer who wrote you the citation and the prosecutor if applicable. Ask for "any and all evidence" they plan to present at time of trail and "any and all records" related to your case. This includes notes, diagrams, witness statements, etc. This is your right as a defendant. This tells you what you are up against. Do this immediately.

Second, ask for training manuals for the dept re: radar gun and information about the model used. Follow up with another request. Copies of any certification or training he has had on the specific equipment. Then another. Documentation on when the radar gun was last calibrated. Keep copies of all your requests. Send them all at least two weeks before the trial date.

The officer/department has all this stuff. The odds that he is not trained, or the radar gun was not properly calibrated, or whathave you is next to zero. It will almost certainly not help you at trial, but that's not the point.

The real point is, they have to provide it to you. Officers hate paperwork. The odds of them putting you on the backburner because they already have a stack of paper work on more serious cases are decent. Particularly if you sent four and they already sent two in response. You might get lost in the shuffle, and they run out of time. Or you might hit the lottery and something is not in order.

The proper thing to do would be to request the judge compel them to produce when they fail. You can do this and file a motion to compel, but you're an amateur, so you probably get some slack. Depending on the time line, send a followup to both the officer and prosecution documenting that you have not received your discovery requests regarding: x, y, z.

When you get to court, the first thing you should do is immediately request the case be dismissed. "Your honour, the prosecution has ignored my lawful discovery requests regarding, x,y,z. I am unable to present an informed defense, and I move to dismiss on the basis of their failure to comply with discovery"-- or if they give it to you at the courthouse or a day or two ahead of time, mention the request date and the date of compliance and say, "the prosecution has failed to comply to discovery in a timely manner. I received my requests as I entered the courthouse, and I am not able to prepare a defense".

May or may not work, but judges typically hold officers of the court to a much higher standard than ticketed drivers. It can also get tossed more commonly because the officer fails to appear. You get to confront your accuser.

If he shows, and they comllied and you're into the trial, if they try to introduce anything they did not provide you ahead of time (not just a day or two), object and mention you already requested any and all evidence and this new evidence, witness, whatever, was not provided to you prior.

Will you still end up paying the fine and found guilty? Probably. Because let's face it, you were guilty. But using the rules and procedures against them gives you a better chance than presenting your lame ass excuse to the judge. He does this for a living. He's heard it all.

Or you could just pay the freaking $125 dollars and not expect a discount because you admit you're guilty.