I beat a speeding ticket because the cop wrote that I was westbound. It was a north-south street. I merely said to the judge that the street does not go westbound, and then I shut up. Judge looked at the ticket and at me and said case dismissed. I agree with OP that this should be what your son’s judge says. Best of luck. (I personally think hiring a lawyer would be overkill, but maybe not. Depends on how serious the violation cited but not violated is in your state.)
I think the best defense goes like this:
Your Honor: I present to you my license which shows it was in effect at the time of this citation. I showed a copy of this to the officer, and he included specific reference to this license (its number) on the citation accusing me of not having been issued a license. Because no aspect of the cited law (46.2-300) applies to me, I respectfully believe I should be found entirely innocent.
There is no reason to make any mention of any law (e.g. 46.2-104) that is not included in the citation at issue.
That would not be my approach. My approach would be, “I am not guilty of crime A because crime A is not being licensed to drive and I am clearly licensed to drive, as evidenced by this here license.” No mention whatsoever of crime B. In court and audits you just answer the question being asked.
I have represented defendants in traffic court in similar situations, but not driver’s license cases and not in Virginia. Generally, it goes something like this: Once it is shown that the wrong statute is on the citation the judge will sometimes give the prosecutor the opportunity to amend the charges to the appropriate statute. If you tell the judge that you now need time to formulate a proper defense to the new charges the judge will usually grant a continuance. Or, if you are lucky, the case is dismissed because the court is too busy for such nonsense,
I think it depends on the state. I had a fender bender a few years ago, the person had a new car and backed into me. She couldn’t produce her license or insurance. I called the police. The officer told me she did not have to have a physical card in Oregon, a photo was fine.(Which she refused to show me.) And he didn’t ticket her for not producing the insurance. It was a whole clusterF.
I’ve once been caught with an expired license, and I know a couple of people who have been pulled over here in Chicago with a forgotten license. All of us were written up. All of were told just to go to court and show a valid license and the judge would throw it out. This happened to all of us, including me who did not even have a valid license (I missed the renewal notice, so I was only about a month expired.) I just needed to show I got a new one in the interim. This seems to be standard procedure here in Chicago. Can’t speak for your locality, but just showing up the court and begging forgiveness (actually, I didn’t even need to do that) should be fine here.
Umm no. He merely needs to show he is not guilty of the law he was cited for. If he admits to violating another statute it doesn’t help him and can only hurt him.
I believe the fine for the proper citation is $10. It wouldn’t be worth the time to come back to court for $10.
I was pulled over once and forgot my wallet. The cop could obviously look up my license after asking for my personally identifiable info. “Don’t forget your wallet again”. “Yes sir”.
Not sure why this cop would write him up for such a minor thing.
In the Ohio big-city court on which I once served as a magistrate, if people didn’t have their DLs with them at the time of the traffic stop, they could show it once they were in court, as well as proof of insurance, and they would, under the court’s longstanding policy, be found not guilty on that charge.
We would also do so if they weren’t properly licensed at the time of the ticket, but had since gotten a valid DL; we always wanted to encourage people to come into compliance with the law.
It might be worth fighting if it avoids points on his license or affects his insurance coverage.
I agree, but there is a risk in fighting it. You have to weigh the risk against the reward.
I’m finding it hard to believe that a $10 fine offense also carries a 2nd degree misdemeanor record and not points on your license. Is the misdemeanor record just an option the judge can impose if you piss him off? Don’t see you pissing off a judge just arguing your case in a mature manner.
That said, I’d say go ahead and fight by yourself and if you lose appeal the decision with an attorney next time.
It’s not. There’s two separate violations being discussed. The misdemeanor is for driving without having a license at all. The $10 fine is for having a valid license, but not having it physically on you when you get pulled over. The OP’s kid actually committed the second violation, but was ticketed (incorrectly) for the former.
Ah, So he just shows that he had a valid license on the day of the offense and walks away without mentioning that he didn’t have it on him. Worst thing is he gets a $10 fine.
Oh, $10? Yeah, I would many even bother going to court and just pay in that case.
No, if he doesn’t go to court they will find him guilty of the higher misdemeanor crime of not having a license and possibly put a warrant out on him for failure to appear.
Ah, then go and I hope it just gets thrown out as it does in many jurisdictions.
I’m totally not a lawyer, but I am an inveterate violator of traffic laws. This sounds very much like the violation where a person has valid insurance, but doesn’t have proof on them at the moment. If this kind of violation works how it does in Texas, have them go see the court clerk well before the summons date with their license in hand and explain the situation as politely as possible. In Texas, the court clerk often has the power to dispense minor violations, with normally very kind terms. If they don’t have the power to that in this case, you can at least schedule a court date to explain it to the judge.
In my experience, when arguing a case like this before the judge: as long as you’re courteous, they’re reasonable.
Perhaps the example of Justin Lee may help?
When Auckland resident Justin Lee received the above speeding ticket back in 2004, he noticed a typo…
Something similar happened to me in my state of Washington.
I was driving home one night and a cop pulled me over. He claimed I went through a yellow light “late”. I wanted to be sure that I had not run a red light (that is not something I do, especially not at night). The cop confirmed that. He then asked to see my license, registration, and proof of insurance.
I had the first two, but not the third. Because at the time my insurance company gave out the flimsiest thin little pieces of paper, I swear it was just barely thicker than tissue. It must have fallen out of my wallet, no surprise. I swore that I had insurance, and I was just outside my house, my (then-)wife could bring out my second card I had in the house as proof. Nope, cited for not having insurance.
I went to court and told the judge I was given a ticket for not having insurance when in fact I did. The judge asked to see my card, I showed it to him. He said I had to pay a $5 processing fee. I was not going to quibble over $5, so I handed the cash to a clerk and that was that.
Digital insurance cards weren’t really a thing yet back then. I definitely have one now. (I also have a different insurance company. A different wife for that matter, but that had nothing to do with any of this of course, LOL.)