I have never been , but i have to go tuesday for a speeding ticket. So what happens, what do they ask and how long does it take? Im a little nervous because its court. Is there a lot of people in there? I was hoping to get my points dropped or price reduced.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You will be offered a plea deal.. the procesecutor will take you out in the hallway and offer you lower fine and less points if you plead guilty. The courts are so clogged they just want to get everybody out of there.
There will be like 50 other people there, usualy takes like an hour or two of waiting.
Your first court date is not a trial, only an arraignment. Your name is called, and you stand up and the judge asks you whether you want to plead guilty or innocent.
If you plead guilty, you are found guilty right there and sentenced. You have a chance to speak for yourself, and if you tell the judge it’s your first offense, that you respect the law and just didn’t realize how fast you were going, and that you have economic hardships, or whatever your story is, he has the power to reduce your fine. I believe speeding is one point no matter what, but that might be different where you are.
The arraignment takes only a couple of minutes, but there are usually many cases there and they take them one at a time, so you might be watching the process for a while before your name is called. It might be half an hour, it might be all morning.
If you plead innocent then you have the opportunity to have an actual trial. It might even be a jury trial, but most often it is only before a judge. The policeman who stopped you tells his story and then you get to tell yours. Basically you have to prove you were not speeding, which is not easy when a cop just appeared and said he caught you speeding.
Actually different states do things differently. Depends on whether the particular violation is considered a misdemeanor or infraction.