traffic tickets- what should I do?
I got three summons, one for speeding 117/55, one for reckless driving and one for riding my motorcycle with only a permit. I showed up at court on the date and the judge said she was entering not guilty pleas and also suspending my license until at least the next court date which she did and took my license. I was going to plead guilty for only having a permit but don’t believe I was guilty for the other two I don’t think I was going that fast but he said he had me on radar. Now I have to go back in a few weeks for what I guess is the trial, and don’t know what to do. I don’t have any money for a lawyer. I’d like to go in there knowing whats going to happen and what kind of punishment I’ll probably get
Your next appointment is probably not a trial, it will be a meeting with the prosecutor where he will probably negotiate a deal to avoid trial.
The next court date should be your arreignment, where they ask if you can afford any attorney or give you a court appointed. The attorney will give you advise from there.
It is your word against the police officer’s as to whether you were speeding.
Once I beat a ticket because the officer admitted that he might have made a mistake.
Another time I saw the officer in court, so I ran down the hall to a pay phone and requested a postponement. When they reset the trial, the officer wasn’t there, so the case was thrown out.
You don’t need a lawyer. You can defend yourself.
Your punishment will probably be revocation of your license unless you can convince the judge that you were innocent. However, you may get off with just a fine.
Trooper 3 is right and you should beg that prosecutor for a Deferred and promise to slow down, you could lose that license for awhile for double the speed limit.