Husband got 2 tickets on top of Grapevine in CA- question? Please read!!?!

Scenario #1: Pay tickets, lose license & job. Out ticket money, and no more money coming in.


Scenario #2: Hire lawyer, pay $1000.00, keep license and job. Continue to make money.

 

Yeah, but there's also Scenario #3....the one I'm afraid of:

Pay $1000 to hire lawyer. Lawyer can't get tickets dismissed. Pay tickets anyway. Pay court costs. Husband loses job anyway....*sigh* This could shape up to be a very bad year.

But...it's looking like if we don't get the attorney, he's screwed anyhow...at least an attorney provides SOME hope. It's worth a shot & if it doesn't work, we can at least say we tried our best.

 

An attorney will at the very least get the tickets droped to under 15 MPH over the limit. That will allow him to keep his license.

If the lawyer is from the area he should be able to do much better that that.

The local judicial system always likes to see each other make money. That is more important to them than what the offense is.

As long as they get their money spread between the officer, judge, and lawyer, then everyone is happy.

 

Not necessairly so. The court has the right to dismiss, but the court could also postpone the hearing.

 

One can reasonably believe that these citations will not be dismissed. One could also reasonably believe that the reasonable conclusion to these citations will be a conviction with a reduction in the miles per hour over the limit under a plea bargain agreement negotiated by an attorney. Under plea bargains, the usual procedure by the courts in most all states, is to issue a civil penalty (fine) in the amount of the original citation(s), however the court record and subsequent report on your husbands MVR, will show up as the lesser speed which the attorney has arranged. Therefore, you will still probably pay a civil penalty in whatever amount the State of California issues for the original accusation/citation (51 in a 35). But the MVR conviction will show up as something less thereby saving him from losing the CDL portion of his license under 383.51.

This is the manner in which most attorneys deal with [an] infraction(s) this serious. But hopefully an attorney may be able to lessen the charges to something much less serious such as a non-moving violation e.g. improper backing or some such type conviction.

 

Be wary of "friendly" cops. This happened to me in 1981 when I fell for the "friendly" cop routine. I was eastbound on the NY Thruway about 3 miles from the cashbox at the PA line. I was hammering at 73 mph. A plain blue wrapper clocked me at 71 in a 55. He was as friendly and likeable as can be. He wrote the ticket, turned the ticket over and pointed to one of the boxes. He said if you check that box, sign the ticket, and send it in with a check for the fine, you will be paying a waiver fine and won't have to show up in court, and no points on your DL. Well my dumb naive ##### beleived him. I marked the X in the box he pointed out, mailed a cashiers check to the town of Ripley NY and forgot about it. Six months later I received a letter from the State of New York informing me that my driving privileges had been revoked in New York for failure to pay that ticket. After hiring a lawyer and going through a whole bunch of BS, it turns out the box the cop told me to mark was the box that said "I plead not guilty and this cashiers check is for my bond". So when I didn't show up in court on my court date I was found guilty in absentia and my bond was forfeited. It seems the judge or jp or whatever he was in the town of Ripley NY, and this cop, also from Ripley NY, had been running this scam on truckers for a while. So I had to pay the fine and court costs again, pay a lawyer, and I had a suspension on my chauffer's license {no CDL's back then}. I learned an expensive lesson. Don't beleive any f'n cop no matter how friendly he is, and read the fine print. Get a lawyer!

 

Since they generally figure the first court appearance won't happen, as it's way too much trouble and expense for a trucker to go that far out of his way... I can see them figuring a postponement would be the nail in his case's coffin.

 

Let me add here: Don't believe ANYBODY when it comes to this type of thing. Take the time to read the fine print. ALWAYS.

 

That's a hard lesson to learn. Why would anyone check the box & sign anything before reading it?

 

As a general rule, CDL holders are not eligible for traffic school in the majority of states that have such a thing. As well, many states don't have it.