What, you want him deported?
As for the actual OP, the ‘worst’ thing I ever got pulled over for was when I first moved to Oregon. Well, I’d been here like a year. But money was tight, really tight and my tags and license from California were still valid. I knew that I was supposed to change both over to Oregon ones within 30 days of living here but financially I couldn’t. On top of that, I also couldn’t afford insurance. I managed that way for like, 6 months? I can’t remember. But I finally got pulled over.
So I was driving with an invalid license, invalid tags and no insurance. I corrected all of those things before I got to court and got the charges dismissed. However, I’m not sure it would be that simple for you. What in the world have you done to get insurance at $950 a month?? Maybe lie and say you’re married and have a Masters in Math lol That tends to help me when my insurance is too high.
An illegal reason.
I’m sure the insurance/registration laws in whatever state don’t have exemptions.
Because a Class A misdemeanor carries the threat of jail time, you may be eligible for a public defender. The prosecution can sometimes avert that by promising to take jail off the table but as long as the charge exists, the possibility of jail time does, so if money is an object for the lawyer, insist on appointed counsel.
Then FOLLOW THE ADVICE OF YOUR LAWYER, and stop posting admissions against your own interest on internet sites.
This is not legal advice. I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client.
Is there any way to meet or at least speak to a public defender pre-arraignment? Would they care to negotiate a deal for me? I have my doubts. I have $1500 saved up, so I was planning on getting a lawyer. Or do you think that it would make no difference?
He’s under 30 and lives in NYC. Two high-risk factors as far as insurance companies are concerned. That’s leaving out his driving record and whether he’s had any accident claims.
You should contact the court office in the jurisdiction where your violation occurred. Really, that’s better information than you’ll get from a bunch of strangers on a message board, who may not even live in your state or be familiar with its laws.
I am not a lawyer but I really think you shouldn’t go into court relying on what you’ve gathered after talking to a couple of lawyers for a few minutes. You really should have a lawyer whom you’ve hired sitting there representing you.
…Or he was hired for chump-change to do something Stupid… like drive some Howard Stern junker for some Funeral auto-harassment.
Here’s a quarter. Call your Mother. Tell her you won’t be graduating this or any other year… and that all the money she paid for you… you just PISSED AWAY.
Post a PO box & we’ll ship you some vaseline… along with a bag of dicks for snacks.
This post is vaguely insulting and over the top for this forum. Dial it back.
But why would a police officer run the plate number on a whim? The OP wasn’t charged with any sort of moving or parking violation, and even here, in a state with very little crime, the cops don’t seem bored enough to run plates hoping to find a mismatch to stop someone over.
The cop had to have at least noticed a lack of current inspection sticker, right?
Happens here all the time- traffic agents drive slowly down the street running the plates of each car to see if the registration is expired, if there are so many unpaid parking tickets that the car can be towed, if the car was reported stolen etc. And actual police officers run plates of cars they see while driving, looking for expired registrations and stolen cars. I work for a state agency and when our plates are run, no information comes back ( although DMV headquarters notifies my agency that there was an inquiry - for each car, it’s a couple of times a month.) At least half of the time I’m in one of these vehicles, we get pulled over. No ticket, the driver didn’t violate any laws and sometimes the cop even says he pulled us over because no info came back when he ran the plate.
Well-funded departments have automated license plate scanners.
Not all of the do an automatic look-up, but many do.
So the cops were these two really hot chicks and based on the conversation I had with them after I got released from the precinct they pulled me over because one of them used to live in Delaware (that’s the plate I had on) and she just likes to randomly check cars with these plates on. (This was an informal convo,) the actual reason for the stop as she stated when I got pulled over was because the frame of my plate was obscuring a part of the plate - (it wasnt).
To the OP, I’m sensing that this hasn’t even been to a first appearance yet. I’m certainly not your lawyer so take my advice or not. It seems to me to be the type of case a public defender can handle pretty easily. If you have not been to a first appearance before a judge generally you don’t need a lawyer there. The judge will just explain the charges and ask if you are represented. It’s then that you ask for a public defender. In my jurisdiction there is a form you fill out and the judge will determine if you qualify. Then you will be given another court date. Then listen to your lawyer. The plate was reported stolen at some point. How you are going to address that should be discussed with your lawyer.
As to the motor vehicle stuff those are also some pretty serious charges. Often they will merge the charges together and let you plead guilty to one. You are probably looking at some fines and a license suspension. I lawyer can help work it out to be as low as possible.
I run the plate of just about every car I get behind. It’s a random inquiry function that doesn’t give personal information unless there is an issue. I’m driving around for 10 hours at a clip. It’s not all filled with calls for service. And as mentioned we also have a couple of automatic plate readers though not on what I normally drive. Mostly we get unregistered vehicles or suspended drivers but I’ve caught a couple of car thieves that way. I was also in on the take down when my partner found an out of state murder suspect from a plate inquiry.
It’s not going to help if you get insurance now. There’s still the stolen property charge to be dealt with. I mean, I suppose a judge might impose a lower fine if you got insurance now , but the maximum fine for a Class A misdemeanor is $1000. And it’s unlikely you’ll get that for a first offense.
I’m assuming you got a desk appearance ticket and have not yet appeared in court. So far as I know, you will not be able to meet with a Legal Aid attorney before arraignment. If you are eligible for a public defender (and you may not be) , he or she will be able to “negotiate” a plea , but it won’t be like anything you’ve ever seen on TV (unless you’ve seen one of the very few TV episodes that shows an arraignment court). It’s not going to be back and forth - the prosecutor will make an offer and you will either take it or you won’t. If you don’t take the initial offer, there may be some back and forth later on but probably not at the arraignment
But really, take Bricker’s advice and stop posting admissions- and stop making them to all your friends and relatives while asking for advice. And if you feel the need to explain why it was that you were driving an unregistered car with no insurance , edit your explanation so that it doesn’t involve driving the car for four years while only having a license for two. Sure, they can’t convict you based on your uncorroborated admission, but it can affect what sort of plea arrangement you are offered.
OK, I’ve read enough right there.
While of course it’s bad to be admitting to crimes on the internet in reality the chances of it actually impacting him are ridiculously small. Even if the prosecutor happens to be member here and is reading this thread there are several legal steps that would need to be taken to prove the OP is the Jim Smith that was arrested. Those steps are way too time consuming for busy NYC prosecutor to bother with on a case like this. But still don’t do it, not a good idea.
That still sounds rather nuts to me, and I was wondering the same thing. Granted, it was about 20 years ago, but my insurance was more like $100/month when I was 22 living in Chicago, and that wasn’t even the bare bones minimum insurance. $950 seems crazy high to me.
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I wouldn’t recommend you use any part of that in your defense.
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Two really hot chicks who happened to be NYC cops on patrol together happened to be looking for someone from Delaware? :dubious: Maybe you can get their phone numbers when you see them at the trial.