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I disagree. When I went to court, I was fortunate not to be called for about an hour after the proceedings began. Every kid that pleaded no contest got the same thing, slightly reduced fine, and no reduction in points. I, on the other hand, was of the mind to have the points dropped, and the fine reduced. I watched as the more mature people pleaded 'not guilty', and they were being assigned to come back for a meeting, not a court 'trial', and this is what I did. It was the correct course of action.

Do what you want, but do NOT plead 'no contest'. Trust me on this.

 

My wife actually went though the ticket assassin way of fighting her ticket and won. Here is a brief summary of what it entailed:

- Request for Trial by Declaration as mentioned by Rasetsu99.
- Trial by Declaration basically means that the trial will be handled through mail, where both parties (you and the cop) will submit their side of stories of how the event took place. Once submitted, the judge will rule based on the facts documented in the declaration. However, if the cop failed to submit the report, the case is dropped.
- If the cop submits the report, it's likely that the judge will rule in his/her favor, but since the cop doesn't get paid doing it, there is less incentive for them to submit the report.
- Even if the judge ruled against you based on the report submitted by the cop, you still have the chance to appeal and appear in court. The trick here is to delay the process by postponing the court date as many times as you can, which can lower the chances of the cop showing up. Even if he/she shows up to the court, it'll be very unlikely that he/she will remember what the ticket was about and very likely that the judge will drop the case.

Eric

 

Plea not guilty and go to court. for 10mph, they will lower the fine and point to something else. I once got ticket for 41mph over going 86 on 45zone. Went court and they lowered the fine and point to 20mph over.
good luck...

 

Is this your first ticket? If it is just pay the fine and take driving school to erase your point. Usually if you go to court the judge will lower ur fine and askes if you plead guilty or not. You can decide then if you want to fight it or take the lesser charge.

You can fight it if you want but I must warn there is no such thing as guarantee win and if you lose you won't be able to take driving school to erase the point. Your insurance might go up and you might end up paying more at the end.

 

wokuku is absolutely correct.

Do what I do - pay the damn ticket and go to traffic school so you get no points on your record.

Why should taxpayers have to bear the cost of your court appearance? You are guilty - by only 10mph - but you are still guilty. Courts aren't cheap. And we are also paying the salary of one CHP officer who has to waste half of his day in court because you want to get away with something. The courts are too cluttered already with so much BS, people who are guilty of their crime shouldn't be trying to get out of doing their time.

The ticket will be less than $200, if you want traffic school it's an additional $20-30. The traffic school will be less than $100. By fighting the ticket you are probably costing us taxpayers a few thousand in court employee wages, the salary of the judge, the salary of the CHPer... [/rant]

 

[QUOTE=Not Sure,Sep 30 2008, 01:08 PM]Why should taxpayers have to bear the cost of your court appearance?

 

^^^ He's correct, court fees are included in judgements....and in this case a finding of "not guilty" is not an option. He will be guilty, just hopefully on a lessened charge.

 

I've never tried this idea.. but when I was in traffic school, the dude that talked to us was a retired cop and he gave us pointers in getting out of tickets.. and he said lots of people have gotten away with speeding tickets by stating that it was late at night and there were hardly any cars on the road. idk, just a thought

 

In that case he's better off paying the ticket and going to traffic school. Unless he goes to traffic school the ticket will go on his record, and his insurance company will raise his rates, and if the court fee includes EVERY cost incurred by fighting the ticket, he'll be charged over $1000. If it doesn't include EVERY cost incurred, he's ripping off the taxpayers.

mszalli, by saying you were speeding because there were hardly any other cars on the road, you are admitting guilt. I think maybe a retired cop who has to teach traffic school is bitter and wants you to incriminate yourself.

Not admitting guilt is important and cops know it. What's the first thing they ask when they pull you over? - "Do you know why I pulled you over?". Depending on your answer you've admitted guilt. It seems like an innocent question but when the cop goes to court he can say "Yes, Your Honor, the defendant admitted guilt."

 

[QUOTE=Not Sure,Sep 30 2008, 05:17 PM]In that case he's better off paying the ticket and going to traffic school.