VI. YOUR OPTIONSMost of your
friends will suggest that you either simply pay the citation or ask for
traffic school. Those are VERY BAD suggestions...
If you pay the fine, you are pleading guilty. Your fine will be
collected, and a conviction will be recorded on your DMV record. The
conviction will stay on your record for 36 months and your insurance
will increase about $300 (minimum) EVERY year for the next three years.
Of course, your premiums could go much higher. Some companies may even
drop you. If your job requires that you drive a company car? You could
be putting your employment security at risk if your employer has a
zero-tolerance stance toward traffic tickets. Clearly this is the worst
option you can do. Unfortunately, 99% of the population chooses to do
this.
If it's your first traffic ticket, you should NEVER pay without
a fight. One ticket could end your job security as you know it. One
ticket could mean the end of your insurance coverage. Do you get it
yet?
If you take traffic school without a fight, you are wasting your
proxy. Sure this option keeps your record clean, but once you use it
you will have to wait for 18 months from the date of the citation. A
lot of things can happen in 18 months. Save your traffic school proxy
for the more serious alleged violations. Don't believe it when the
courts tell you that once you lose a trial you lose your chance to
attend traffic school. Submit a trial by declaration or show up to
court with a complete, well-argued, and cogent defense. Should you
lose, the judge will be more likely to award you traffic school...if
you make the effort. Be forewarned that your insurance company may know
about your traffic school attendance (definitely STS). Legally they
cannot raise your rates. It's important to keep the points away from
your record. If the chips are down and you have no other recourse than
to take traffic school to keep the point off, do it. But remember, it's
only a matter of time before you see the twin cherries again...
If you hire a lawyer, you are an idiot. The costs will be much
more than the ticket itself, and there is no guarantee that you will
get the ticket thrown out. The only time you should seek an attorney is
if you're contesting a two-point infraction or if the chips are down
and you're facing a suspension. If you already have points? You can
guarantee that your goose will be cooked unless you have a solid
defense. See section X.
If you contest the ticket in person, you will be required to
make two court appearances. The court will do anything in their power
to inconvenience you. That means you will have to wait until all of the
"guiltys" plea. The trial is a one-shot deal; if you lose, that's it.
The traffic court judges may (most likely will) be predisposed to find
you guilty, no matter how well you argue your case. After all, the
officer and the judge are on the same side. To fight the ticket means
you're telling the judge that the state (or city) hired an incompetent
moron (the officer).
If you contest the ticket through a Trial by Declaration, you
will be given a deadline to turn in your written statement. The officer
also has the same deadline to cite his justification for citing you.
There are numerous advantages to going this route:
1. The officer may not be able to remember you without seeing your face again.
2. Officers get paid overtime to show up to court, but get paid nothing
to do additional paperwork. Payback's a bitch, ain't it?
3. Because you are in the privacy of your own home, you will write a much better defense.
4. The best advantage is should you lose your case...
The Trial de novo. In California, you have the right to a new
trial simply because you were unhappy with the outcome of the first.
This only applies to traffic cases that begin as a Trial by
Declaration. By the time you get to a Trial de novo, 3-6 months after
your traffic stop, the officer may not remember specific details about
your case. By the way, if the officer does not show up or cannot
remember details, the case may be dismissed in the interest of justice.
Read more in section IX.
The Ticket Assasin has some excellent information and advice regarding the trial by declaration process.
ADVISORY: It is imperative that you follow up on your trial by declaration.
Some courts sit on these cases. They are also aware that if you know
how to fight by TBD (remember, less than 1% of those ticketed actually
fight, and even a smaller percentage requests TBDs), you know how to
request trial de novos. You have 20 days from the trial by
declaration verdict to request a trial de novo. By withholding case
disposition information from you, they hope that the odds of you
continuing the fight will be nil. It happened to me in one of my cases;
I had to personally drive to the traffic court to get the guilty letter
in my hand 14 days after the verdict because they never updated my case disposition. Call the court once a week if you have to. Get their direct number as they deliberately mask it to keep you from calling them. Also read chapter 10 in Atty. Brown's Fight Your Ticket in California. |
FAIR WARNING: COURT DISTANCE SCAM ALERT. Some traffic courts
will attempt to prevent you from seeking a trial by declaration if you
live a certain distance from them. These mileage based "rules" were
deliberately concocted in order to discourage out-of-town folks from
seeking a trial by mail knowing full well that they would have to go
out of their way for an in-person appearance. Insist your right to a
TBD as per CVC 40902. Remind the court that the rules adopted by the
Judicial Council take precedent over any rules adopted by local courts. |
READ AND HEED THE FOLLOWING. Reports from the auto enthusiast
contingent are confirming that many courts are now rubber-stamping
guilty verdicts on those using the Ticket Assasin to help write their
declarations. After having seen some of the declarations for myself, it
is quite clear why it is getting harder to win via Trial by Declaration:
1. In some cases the wrong vehicle code template was used (ie arguing CVC 22350 when the ticket was for CVC 22349a).
2. Some declarations were direct copies of the TA templates verbatim
with little change in arguments. The courts have probably seen these
templates enough times now.
3. Some defendants used the templates to argue more serious speeding cases.
4. Some of the templates on the Ticket Assasin's web site use the
"divine intervention" factor (especially for the 22349a arguments)
where the defendant hopes the judge will be sympathetic.
If you plan on using the Ticket Assasin, that's great.
But USE IT ONLY AS A GUIDE. If you like the arguments being made,
paraphrase it (of course, except for the CVC citations...those must be
direct quotes). Don't blindly copy the templates verbatim. The judges
have read the same thing a hundred times and will be pre-disposed to
find you guilty because they know where you got your sources from.
Last, NEVER ADMIT GUILT. The templates for CVC 22349(a) rest solely on
the 30% "divine intervention" factor where the officer won't respond.
Don't give the judge an easy excuse to find you guilty. If you need
more help in writing a cogent statement of facts, consult other
California-specific books such as Atty. Brown's
Fight Your Ticket in California. DON'T THROW AWAY THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR A VICTORY!
Did you know? The officer's declaration is nothing more than a pre-formatted form.
This is what it looks like (PDF).
All the officer has to do is check off a few boxes and fill in the
blanks. Nice to know that the officer has it easy while you're laboring
away on
your form, assembling your statement of facts, huh? By
the way, you'll more than likely be prevented from seeing page 2 of the
declaration as in my case - even after your verdict is a foregone
conclusion.
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