10-22-2010, 09:57 AM
My .02 - I've never had or dealt with a lawyer for traffic court, but I've also never paid in "full" either.
She'll go in, sit down, wait for her name to be called, spend 5 minutes in front of the judge, step to the side and wait to pay whatever she may have to, then leave. Payments are in the form of the infraction cost + a base court fee.
I can easily side with what Rex said. Dress nice, be respectful, admit guilt. Depending heavily on the judge, this attitude and respect may be enough to get her off the hook (except for court fees, probably...that is most always paid). These judges see all kinds of disrespectful, poorly dressed people on a daily basis and being "nice" will sometimes get you quite far. Thank the judge and shake the officer's hand and apologize to him.
One option she can exercise is her ability to delay the court date; this can be done up to three times in VA. The more she does it, the higher the chance that the officer won't show up due to conflicts in his schedule and it'd be thrown out.
My last ticket, I paid the ~70 dollar court fee, took the 8 hour class, and had no effect on my insurance. It sucked, but I saved money overall.
My 2nd ticket was a reckless during that whole $3500 reckless ticket fiasco here. The officer bumped it down to 1 below reckless, and stated his "adjusted" speed in front of the judge. I lucked out BIG time.
She'll go in, sit down, wait for her name to be called, spend 5 minutes in front of the judge, step to the side and wait to pay whatever she may have to, then leave. Payments are in the form of the infraction cost + a base court fee.
I can easily side with what Rex said. Dress nice, be respectful, admit guilt. Depending heavily on the judge, this attitude and respect may be enough to get her off the hook (except for court fees, probably...that is most always paid). These judges see all kinds of disrespectful, poorly dressed people on a daily basis and being "nice" will sometimes get you quite far. Thank the judge and shake the officer's hand and apologize to him.
One option she can exercise is her ability to delay the court date; this can be done up to three times in VA. The more she does it, the higher the chance that the officer won't show up due to conflicts in his schedule and it'd be thrown out.
My last ticket, I paid the ~70 dollar court fee, took the 8 hour class, and had no effect on my insurance. It sucked, but I saved money overall.
ViPER1313 Wrote:The problem with going to court on this ticket is that the cop will most likely tell the Judge the real speed that your GF was going, and I doubt any judge in the world is going to be lenient about 88 in a 65.
My 2nd ticket was a reckless during that whole $3500 reckless ticket fiasco here. The officer bumped it down to 1 below reckless, and stated his "adjusted" speed in front of the judge. I lucked out BIG time.
Current: '20 Kia Stinger GT2 RWD | '20 Yamaha R3 | '04 Lexus IS300 SD
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Past: '94 Mazda RX-7 | '04 Lexus IS300 (RIP) | '00 Jeep XJ | '99 Mazda 10AE Miata | '88 Toyota Supra Turbo
My MM Movies - Watch Them Here