Back in late October/early November I got two tickets for expired tags on my car. (This is in California).
The citing officers said that this was a correctable violation, and that after taking care of the registration I only had to present proof of registration to the court, and just pay a $10.00 administrative fee.
To cut a very long story short, I got the car registration taken care of by 11/15, and then got 60-day extensions on both tickets because I was too busy to deal with them at the time. Now it turns out that one of the extensions somehow didn’t go through, so the court is now demanding $453.00 bail plus $250.00 civil penalty for failure to appear. Obviously I can’t prove that I had an extension. They don’t give you any sort of confirmation.
So I decided the best strategy would be to place the facts before a judge. How should I plead? Should plead not guilty because I corrected the registration problem within the original time frame alloted? Or should I say I’m guilty, but ask the judge to set aside all fines and penalties in view of the fact that violation was corrected in a timely manner?
Incidentally, after getting my court date I went to the courtroom and listened in on the proceedings. The judge seems to be a very impatient and shortfused man.
If the judge is impatient and tough you will have a tougher go. How should you plead? Tell the judge what happened. Plead guilty, but you think the fines are excessive in view of the facts. Be sure to tell him that the police officer said you would only be liable for a $10 fine.
Above all, tell the truth. The truth is you were guilty. But be sure to explain the extenuating circumstances and stress the fact tha officer said your liability would be limited to $10. Judges in traffic fines give much credence to the officers. They deal with them daily.
Maybe you could try “I’m not sure how to plead”. Then when he asks you to clarify, explain the whole story. I’m sure he’ll then tell you what to do. You might want to ask someone at the courthouse how to approach the judge in this kind of situation.
In my experience judges seem more than willing to dismiss cases brought about by administrative error (as an employee of the state they see plenty of examples I suspect).
My own was a car registration which was marked as “expired” despite the DMV’s having cashed the check (a new law required proof of insurance to be included has just passed, but statewide notification hadn’t been given to anybody). The judge dropped it like a rock.
Also, while waiting for my case to come up the judge also dismissed:
A speeding ticket where the police officer forgot to write down which radar gun he’d used.
A parking violation given on the owners own property.
A licence revoked because of the DMV (falsely) had the owner down as a “Deadbeat Dad”.
And, no. The judge I had wasn’t very nice. She was pretty nasty at times and refused to be lenient on some pretty mundane, but illegal, things.
This is more or less what I plan to do. But if I do plead guilty, then will I get a chance to explain what happened and why I think the fines are excessive? I think it really boils down to which plea would give me the best chance to offer an explanation. I’m afraid if I just say ‘Guilty’ then he’ll tell me to pay the $673 and call the next case. Do I get a chance to argue for a reduced fine before they send me on my way?
When I was in a fairly simular situation, the judge instructed me that if there was any explaining to do, that I was to plead not guilty.
If I understand it correctly, that’s the safe way to go. You can always go back on a not guilty plea, but not on a guilty one. If you plead not guilty, then you may have the opportunity for a deal, possibly to plead to a lesser offense.
Plead “guilty but with an explanation”, same as just about everyone else does in traffic court. Trust me, when you get there you will see, everyone has something to say, the judge is not going to just impose fine and say next without giving you a chance to explain.
Yes, plead “guilty,” but tell the judge you want to explain what happened. You are entitled to explain the circumstances in order to mitigate fines. You were guilty of not having the tags. Explain that you were so busy with school and work (or whatnot) that you overlooked it. Your busy schedule caused you to ask for a continuation, etc.
Be sure to bring in any documentation on the extension that did go through. That you took the time to get the one extension, while you had two tickets to deal with, makes it very plausible that you did try to get extensions for both, and that it was just an administrative problem.
Because it’s best to be honest. Plead guilty to failure to get the tags and not guilty for failure to appear. Be sure immediately after you plea that you ask the judge to allow you to explain.
Why not approach the prosecutor and try to swing a deal before your court date?
Also, back in November I was allowed to plead “Guilt with explanation.” That was in Michigan. Is there no similar plea in California traffic courts? (The judge dismissed mine, by the way, but I still had to pay the 100 bucks).
A few years ago my car broke down and I pushed it to the side of of road as best I could. I had to arrange to pick up my kid from day care and it took about 4 hours to get back to my car to tow it. When I got back there was a $75 ticket, I dont remember the exact law i broke. Mainly out of boredom I decided to not pay it, and try to beat the rap, and if anything, to do a personal review of our judicial system.
I showed up in the traffic court and watched dozens of people plead not guilty, with lame explanations. When I got up there I pleaded “Gulity Your Honor, I throw myself on the mercy of the court”. The whole room was aghast, and I think the judge never heard that before. He asked me to exaplain, and I started into an Alices Restaraunt kind of ramble, and he slammed his hammer down and said “DISMISSED!”. Everyone in the room was quite impressed.
My point is that based on my experience, at least some judges are human. Maybe yours will be too.