Got a speeding ticket in a small town in UpState NY. I pleaded innocent and i was informed by the judge that the DA would not listen to any negotiations unless i completed a $70 online test first and he gave me the details and a deadline to complete the test and the negotiations. My question is, is this even legal?I am innocent until proven guilty but in essence in order to have my right to petition the government in my own defence be considered, i have to pay a fee of $70. What if i didnt have $70? Should i have less rights in my defence to the DA than someone who does have $70? The Court made zero effort to do any means testing, so opinions?
Not my area of expertise, but ISTR reading about various moving violations - perhaps red-light cameras - where the practice was for you to pay the fine and THEN pursue efforts to get the fine waived. Which - of course - it rarely is.
Strikes me as BS, but ISTR it having been upheld as adequate process.
You are innocent until proven guilty - but this is a traffic infraction, not a crime and the standard of proof may not be “beyond a reasonable doubt”. In any event, negotiations with the prosecutor are regarding a plea bargain - and you don’t have a right to a plea bargain. The prosecutor is perfectly free to prosecute you on the original charge without giving you the opportunity to plead guilty to a lesser offense.
I’m not at all sure what sort of online test you are talking about - is it perhaps actually a defensive driving course ? ( which is available online )
“The prosecutor is perfectly free to prosecute you on the original charge without giving you the opportunity to plead guilty to a lesser offense.” Yes but is the prosecutor allowed to only consider pleas from people who paid $70?
[Moderating]
Requests for legal advice go in the IMHO forum, as a way of emphasizing that you don’t know any of our qualifications, and we’re all just random people on the Internet. For actual professional advice, consult a lawyer. Moving.
You said something about a $70 fee for an online test. You aren’t describing a requirement to simply pay $70. As I said , are you certain it isn’t a class? Do you have the website where you are supposed to take this “test” ? And, yes, they absolutely can require the completion of a class to negotiate a plea, just as they can require someone charged with DUI to complete treatment before allowing a plea to a lesser charge.
I’d be pretty surprised if every aspect of what you have experienced hadn’t been challenged - and upheld - by someone sometime and somewhere. It is not at all uncommon for folk who become enmeshed in the legal (public income generation) system to consider various aspects unfair. Which they very well may be. But there is no reason to believe the jurisdiction is terribly concerned with “fairness” or much other than whether they can get away with what they are trying to do.
I suspect any efforts to challenge this process would likely be quite expensive and fruitless. But you are free to try.
I was in the passenger seat when a friend got pulled over in western NY. Given we were both from out of state & only local for an event, he tried to plead guilty; however, they wouldn’t tell him what it would cost him. He had to plead guilty, then they would review his record & only then give him a cost. It’s my understanding that it was a non-revokable guilty plea, too. How the 'ell can you plead guilty if you don’t know what it’s going to cost you. If it’s $50, sure, that’s easier than hiring a lawyer or taking time to drive all they way there to fight it. If it’s $1000 or jail time (highly unlikely, but…) I’d want to put on a defense.
I once had an officer illegally look through my garbage and found a film canister of marijuana seeds. The lawyer I hired got me off. I later read something on the internet about getting restitution from the police for lawyer fees. When I asked my lawyer about it she said “I’m not doing it… You can probably find someone that will for enough money, but you’ll never win”
It’s called “pleading open”, or an “open plea”, as opposed to pleading to a stipulated plea.
You do know what it will cost you - no more than the statutory fine (which will be based on how far over the speed limit you went)
As for why it’s done this way? Because trials are done in stages. First they decide if you did it (the guilt phase). Then, if you are found to have done it, they decide what to do about it (the penalty phase).
Friend has a CDL so the cop gave him a ‘break’ & only wrote him for the air freshener / windshield obstruction so it was an equipment violation, not a moving violation.
In my state the fine is printed on the bottom. If you want to plead guilty just mail the ticket in with a check, or more likely, go online & pay by card.