Court date for expired registration... whoops

In My Humble Opinion
21

Rachelle,

I’ve been through enough automotive stupidity in my younger years to have been through things like this. Here is my advice.

Bring ALL documentation showing that your car’s documents are all in order. Registration, insurance, all of it. Better to be over- than under-prepared. Bring not only proof of insurance, but some kind of receipt from when you paid the insurance agent, et cetera.

Hopefully you got all of this resolved very soon (as in, within a couple of days) after getting pulled over.

We can cite laws and statutes and minimum fines and all that, but in reality, the judge has a lot of discretion. In his eyes you’re either A: a lowlife with no respect for the proper way of doing things and always drives questionable cars with improper documents, or B: a nice girl who got busy and forgot to renew her registration.

Hopefully your clean past and now-in-order car will already put in in category B, but I think that proper dress and in-court behavior will help you as well.

Anyway, I’m rambing a bit, but here are some things I think you should do:

—Have ALL pertinent papers related to this case all together and readily accessible. Don’t be fumbling around for this stuff.

—Get to court a little early, and find someone who will look at your papers and make sure you sit in the correct courtroom. If you can’t find anyone, go to the Probation Department and ask there.

—The acoustics of the courtroom are usually so poor it’s difficult to hear other people’s cases and the judge’s conversation. However, you’re still supposed to respect the court and behave a certain way. Don’t bring a newspaper or book. If you have a friend with you, don’t chat much. Just sit there and try to follow along with what’s going on.

—Dress decently. Not too sexy or sloppy.

—Make sure your cell phone doesn’t go off. Some courts don’t allow phones inside; allow time when you get there in the morning to go put it back in your car if necessary.

—Don’t tell long stories. The judge will ask questions; answer them. Don’t interrupt others.

—After you are called up, the prosecutor starts with a statement of what you are charged with. “At 10:00 AM, Officer Johnson was travelling southbound on Lincoln Avenue when he observed a red Pontiac with an expired registration sticker. He ran the plate on the computer, made a traffic stop, and cited Jane Doe for expired registration and failure to show proof of insurance.” Or something like that…you get the idea. Make sure you stand there and listen; don’t pipe up with “Oh no I didn’t!”

—The prosecutor will also often tell the judge what he/she recommends the judge do, which the judge is of course not obligated by. “We recommend dismissal upon $100 court costs” or something like that.

—The judge might ask you questions, or might ask the prosecutor questions, or might just flat out accept or deny the prosecutor’s recommendation.

—Be prepared for such questions. Don’t have a big long story, but do have a concise answer. I can’t tell you what you want to say, but keep in mind courts have a strong BS detector. But they might ask: “Why didn’t you renew your registration?” You said in your OP that you move a lot…don’t tell the judge that; it makes you seem unstable.

Also, again I don’t have a cite, but you are legally required to update your address with the DMV when moving, so keep that in mind. Never lie, but don’t offer up that you committed one more illegal act if they don’t ask you.

A simple answer like “I moved shortly before my registration expired, somehow the renewal notice didn’t make it to my new home, and I just didn’t realize it was about to expire.”

—I see you already posted you’d bring proof of continuous insurance and your new registration; that’s good. Because surely the judge will consider the current status of the car.

Like I said, these judges see marginal people all the time. Once they hear the answer “The car is parked in my cousin’s driveway until I sell my PlayStation to my other cousin so I can afford to re-register the car,” you go right into the “lowlife” category.

—Be aware that the court has everyone show up at 8:30. You may get lucky and be seen soon. If you pay attention to the other cases, you might discover it’s in alphabetical order and at least you won’t feel nervous if you have to run to the bathroom.

On the other hand, you might sit there all morning, that at 11:00 they take a one- or two-hour recess, and you have to go back and wait more. I’d make sure your work knows you have no idea when you’ll get there, or else you’ll be too nervous.

So yeah, it sucks but be prepared to sit there for what seems like forever, especially since you can’t read a book or play with your smartphone.

Have some cash in case you do stay a long time; there may be limited options to buy lunch near the court.

—I remember you were concerned about $75 minimum fine…all I can say is be prepared to pay. And to pay more than you expect.

The courts love collecting “court costs.” And in reality, it’s probably better to bribe the court than to suffer revenuing from the insurance companies.

If you can pay court costs and get the charges dismissed, that’s far better in the long run than pleading guilty to anything.

—You might hear phrases “continued without a finding” or some type of unsupervised probation.

If they say “continued without a finding for 6 months,” that means that A: If you commit no other crimes within the next six months, the case will be dropped. Also B: If you do commit another offense, say, three months from now, the original case against you may be still prosecuted.

In other words, continued without a finding is no big deal, as long as you don’t do the same thing again.

—Whatever the court costs are, you will be asked “if you agree to this, when could you pay?” Don’t be one of the lowlifes and say “I need six months to come up with the $300.”

The correct answer to that question is “today.”

They probably don’t take credit cards and/or checks. I don’t know how much cash you feel comfortable carrying with you, but at least know where the nearest ATM is.

Don’t worry; the department where you pay is outside the courtroom. You’ll have all day to leave the court and come back with the money.

—You’ll likely be asked “Would you like to resolve this today?” I assume your answer will be “yes.”

—Any type of agreement you make with the court will be explained to you by the judge. The judge will remind you that you have a right to a trial, that you’re not obligated to accept, and so forth. Stand still, pay attention, and don’t interrupt him. At the end he’ll ask you if you understand, and if you accept.

—Once you accept whatever it is, they’ll generally point to a certain person, tell you to talk to them, and that you can step down. “You can see Mrs. Jones over there about paying your court costs.”

ANECDOTE TIME:

Apparently, Judge Ruma (in Peabody, north of Boston), is famous for being irritable and not tolerating bullshit. I’ve seen him in action before.

There was this girl in court on a shoplifting charge, and she couldn’t behave herself in the courtroom, so the judge had her cuffed and thrown in the prisoner dock!

http://www.masscops.com/f11/judge-cited-cuffing-teen-11020/

They don’t say if she was found guilty or not, but you can only imagine that the judge wouldn’t have had much sympathy for her.

So anyway, like I said, the best thing you can do in there is look nice, act nice, be respectful, and show that you’re repentant for your “crime.”

Good luck.

22

I’ll just reinforce what everyone else has said, you’ve got nothing to worry about, provided you do have current insurance and registration at the time of your court date.

I got pulled over and cited for exactly the same thing (in Maryland) a few years ago, and I had the same concerns.

On my court date I showed up with all of my paperwork (proof of insurance and current registration). Before the judge came in there was a long line to speak with the State attorney, and when my turn came up she asked my name, found my file, quickly looked at my papers, then told me to go sit down.

I waited and when the judge came in they started calling names one by one and when mine was called I stood up, the State attorney simply said, “The State is satisfied that the defendant has current registration and insurance, all charges are dropped.” The judge said, “Defendant is free to go.” and I left. Except for giving the State attorney my name when checking in, I didn’t have to say a word the entire time. There was no fine for me, but in your state YMMV, obviously.

Good luck!

23

If this happens, get any and all documentation you can. Save all of it.

Courts sometimes have a habit of sending people home, and then not completing the paperwork and it goes down like you never showed up that day.

Save everything.

24

Wow, thanks for the information everyone, and especially Chris Luongo. I’m extremely unhappy to hear that everyone’s paperwork says 8:30 for the day. I thought they actually scheduled these things! I wasn’t planning on notifying my employer about it at all, because I thought I’d be in and out by 1030, at the latest. If I’d known that it could be anytime during the whole day, I would have requested that day off when I got the notice 2 weeks ago :frowning:

I notified my boss that if I’m late, this will be why, there’s nothing I can do about it, etc. I really hope I get called early, though. If I don’t make it to work on time, those hours will probably be unpaid AND I’ll get written up. sigh. Also, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do if I have to sit doing nothing for like 4 hours. AUGH. Can I bring in a pen and some paper and look like I’m making notes or something, but actually be doodling? I’m very bad at doing nothing, it makes me fall asleep.

Still, as bad as it was to not know this until now, it’s much preferable to finding out at court tomorrow. ugh. And if nothing else, this is a good lesson on not procrastinating in the future.

25

This kind of scheduling is VERY typical for routine first court appearances of many sorts, not just traffic. I seriously doubt anyone will care if you bring a book or whatever.

26

At least in my court system, bringing a book (and therefore proving that you know how to read and enjoy doing it) moves you out of the “lowlife” category.

27

You should tell the judge that since the American flag behind him has a gold fringe on it, he has no authority over you.*
*Don’t really do this. Good luck. :slight_smile:

28

Oh, yay about the book thing. I’ll stash one in my purse, but won’t be angry in case someone asks me to put it away.

After talking to my boss, I’m much less worried about this than I was. He said they won’t write me up. And if my time runs late, I can still come in later and make up all or most of the hours. Cool beans!

29

I venied, I vidied, I vicied. /fistpump

The way they do it in Downers Grove, apparently, is they tell everyone who’s scheduled before the lunch recess to come in at 830, and everyone after the recess comes in at 1pm. They didn’t have us sign in or anything. You just checked that your name was on the list, and went in to have a seat. The so-called “courtroom,” if it may so be called, was just a large room in an American Legion post. The seats were just rows of fairly uncomfortable chairs. Certainly not the official-looking courtroom with wooden benches like I’ve seen on television.

I’d say there were maybe 150 people in the room. Mostly violators like me and their family members, some lawyers, a few cops, a couple clerks, and the judge. I saw a lot of jeans, lot of shorts, and plenty of sweatpants. Seriously, sweatpants in a courtroom? I wore a white dress shirt and black dress pants and black flats. I was better-dressed than almost everyone who was there for a violation. It seems to me that if you’re going before a judge in a courtroom, dressing like it’s a serious occasion is the least you can do, and the easiest way to look like you’re taking this shit seriously.

We did the “all rise” thing when the judge came in. He started by addressing the room at large. He said that everyone in the room would have to pay $175 in court fees (he was nice about it though, said they were set by the county and he didn’t have any control over them), and fines started at $75. (cue massive sinking feeling in my stomach, urrgh, on the hook for $250 bux MINIMUM? uuuuurrrgh). He said we would have three choices. We could ask for a continuance(sp?), plead not-guilty and ask for a trial, or plead guilty and waive our right to a trial. (at this point I was freaking out a little, because I didn’t think it was going to be so formal! :O)

Next, a clerk started calling out names to line up. I’m not sure how they were ordered, it certainly wasn’t alphabetical. Maybe they sorted by severity of the offense, because my name was near the end. The very first kid that went up there was for “possession of” …something (I couldn’t quite hear, but he looked about 15). He got some hours of community service, and a fine of some kind. The first few guys talked to the judge for a few minutes each, but near the back of the line it was less than a minute per person. It was funny, the judge got a little belligerent with one guy because he wouldn’t answer a question directly (“do you have a job? Do You Have A Job, Sir? DO YOU HAVE A JOB?” (yes, he had a job).

I heard quite a few hours of community service being handed out, and court supervision. At two points, a clerk addressed the room, asking if anybody was involved in (or witnessed) an accident with this person driving x vehicle at x intersection on x date, and if so to please step forward (nobody did, in either case).

When I got up to the judge, he asked how I was. I said I was fine, his honor. He asked for proof of insurance for the first charge (which I handed to this fancy-dressed chick, she looked like a lawyer but maybe she was a clerk? or the prosecutor?-I dunno). Immediately after she confirmed the proof, he said that charge was dismissed. Then he looked at the second charge for the lapsed registration. I said I had renewed it, he asked when. I told him September 10th, three days after I got pulled over. I showed my new registration to the lady, and he said “Dismissed, you are free to go.”

On the inside, I was pretty much slack-jawed… “Wut. Free to go? What about all that stuff about fines and court fees? I didn’t even have to plead guilty or waive my right to a trial or anything!” So I talked to the clerk sitting next to him and confirmed I didn’t have to pay anything, I really was free to go. I skipped out of the courtroom with a happy bounce in my step, and I may or may not have been smiling like a serial killer. I was definitely the only one smiling when I walked away from the judge (except the lawyers, and we all know why they’re so happy).

Overall, I was very impressed with the speed they worked at. It was all very, very quick. I was near the end of the line of the 830 people, and I still got out of there before 9:30. So yay, I got to work on time. It didn’t cost me anything but some time and some gas. And I think I learned a lot! It wasn’t really the terrible experience I had anticipated, but I’ll still be careful to avoid it next year :wink:

30

Wow! What a great ending!

31

Your physical appearance and dress may have been a bigger factor than you can imagine.

I was surprised that you had to show up at anything resembling a court at all. Some municipalities, even though the ticket says “court,” have you line up only at a window, where unless you plead not guilty, you sign a form, you pay, you’re done. Not guilties (pleas) are shuttled to the actual courtroom.

In Los Angeles, I recall a highly automated procedure where you paid your fine (called a “deposit”) in advance, guilty or not. If you pled guilty, you were done. If not, you get a court date by mail, and if you show up and are dismissed, they mail you back your “deposit.”

32

That’s wonderful. It’s always nice to hear traffic court stories where a judge looks at the severity of the offense and responds appropriately.

You could have gotten Justice of the Peace Barney Fife (when Andy was out of town) who looked at the letter of the law and said that he had to find you guilty and fine you $250. But he did his job as a judge, saw that you were a decent citizen, and dropped it.

Now, if we could clone this guy and put him in traffic courts across America, we would be better.

Again, congrats.

33

Excellent! And you are no longer a court newbie.

I agree that your appearance and demeanor might have played a part in getting the thing dismissed. I’ve seen a judge order someone out of the courtroom for wearing very skimpy, torn cut-offs, and another judge admonishing someone for chewing gum. Certainly never hurts to show a little respect for the court.

Last March I was pulled over for the very same thing - expired plates on a truck I don’t drive that much. The cop was nice and let me go. I did have insurance and told her that I hadn’t expected to need to drive the truck that weekend, and being a weekend I couldn’t go get it registered. I dodged a $150 fine and first thing Monday morning was at the Secretary of State getting my plates renewed.

34

Yeah, I think the nice outfit (well, and my lack of priors) clinched it. I definitely saw what was mentioned above about two stratifications of attendees: trashy, and not-trashy.

35

Something you might want to check on: do you renew at your old date, or at the new one. I think it’s usually the old one, but it’d be good to be sure.

36

And I trust you noticed the population proportions of those demographics: A VERY large percentage of the people there looked low-lifeish, n’est ce pas? From what little I’ve seem of courtroom life, that is typical. Meaning that your decent apparel and demeanor really do stand out among the crowd.

Now, just wait until you get called up for jury duty!