How to defer A Ticket In King County
Traffic attorney explains how to beat a traffic ticket in traffic court
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hello Luke here with the law firm of
linkle's in green and I'm going to tell
you some of the things you need to know
about defending yourself in traffic
court now not everyone can afford to
hire a traffic attorney and not every
case requires a traffic attorney
sometimes it just makes sense to go in
and try to defend yourself so in that
situation happens here's some tips here
to help you out help things go a little
bit smoother and help increase your
chances of being successful when you get
a summons or a traffic ticket there
usually is a description that says the
name of the offense you're accused of
committing and the code section go and
look at code section up and read the
actual law a lot of people don't
understand what they've been accused of
doing they kind of understand it vaguely
but they don't really know what the
requirements of the law are read it find
out whether or not that's what you did
and then prepare arguments and defenses
about that law you see this problem
along with reckless driving by speed
somebody gets charged with reckless
driving when all they were doing was
driving seventy eight and fifty five
okay and nobody else was around there's
no weaving they were swerving they were
being dangerous and they were like I
wasn't being reckless and they go to
court and they spend all this time
arguing with the judge about how they
weren't being reckless but if they read
the law and looked up 46.2 dash 862 they
would see that the name reckless driving
is a bit of a misnomer the crime has
really nothing to do with whether you're
driving recklessly or not what it has to
do with is how fast you're driving
anyone going more than 20 over the speed
limit is guilty of reckless driving
that's what the law says so you got to
read the law and not just look at the
title of the law to know what you're
accused of well most every traffic
attorney I know including myself and my
law partner we do free consultations so
call a traffic attorney and get a free
consultation before you decide to go and
represent yourself you never know when
we might be able to offer you some
helpful tips or advice or when you're
facing a more serious charge and you
originally a thought for instance
reckless driving by speed a lot of
people think they've just got a speeding
ticket and then lo and behold when they
go to court turns out it's a criminal
it goes on their permanent criminal
record so it's a lot more serious than
they thought and because they're not
lawyers they didn't understand the
Virginia's weird traffic laws so call an
attorney for a free consultation to get
some tips and advice and to help avoid
dangers and common booby traps if you
want to fight your case but you can show
up to court write a letter instead a lot
of courts with minor traffic infractions
will allow you to do trial by letter
what you do is you write a letter and
include any proof you have and send it
to the court
the clerk's will include it in the file
and when the judge calls your case
they'll see it read it briefly and make
a decision
this works best with minor fix-it
tickets like window tint violations
broken taillights expired registration
things like that things like that go and
get it fixed get proof that you've
gotten it fixed either a photograph of
the car that's all repaired a receipt
from the mechanic shop a copy of the
passed inspection whatever it is said -
copy that to the court with a brief
letter saying I'm sorry I did this this
is what I was expired I got it fixed you
know please dismiss the charge send
something like that in a lot of judges
when they see the proof and they see the
letter they'll go ahead and dismiss it
on your court date
sometimes with poor costs sometimes
without so if you can't make the court
instead of just not showing up or pre
paying it try sending in a letter
instead
don't leave your evidence in your car
don't leave your evidence on your phone
most courts won't let you bring your
phone into court so if you show up the
court and you're like oh I got it on my
phone tough luck okay the judge isn't
going to stop the trial to let you run
back out to your car to get something so
make sure you bring everything you need
to the podium you have all your evidence
right there and you have it in a format
that the court can see okay if you've
got it on a phone and then you won't
like to bring it in the phone it's out
of luck so no print stuff off have hard
copies that's the safest way to do it
find out whether your case will be
assigned a prosecutor in Virginia not
every County assigns prosecutors to
traffic infractions some counties only
assign prosecutors to traffic tickets if
an attorney is representing the
so it really depends each county does it
their own way each state does it their
own way sometimes the officer can act as
a prosecutor and sometimes they don't so
call up the clerk's office call up the
prosecutor's office in your County find
out whether or not your case will have a
prosecutor and find out whether or not
you can negotiate with the police
officer then find out when that
prosecutor will be assigned to your case
in Fairfax County for instance
prosecutors are assigned to the case the
morning of trial so there's nobody to
talk to you prior to trial you go to
some of the rural counties of Virginia
they assign prosecutors in advance or
they have kind of a wild-card prosecutor
that you can call anytime to negotiate
so come up the prosecutor's office find
out if there's somebody to negotiate
with and when you can negotiate with
them negotiating with the prosecutor
usually doesn't have a downside because
if you don't like what the prosecutor
has to say if you don't like what
they're offering you you can always
reject their offer and take your case
straight to the judge so you're not
really losing anything by negotiating
with the prosecutor but you are gaining
one opportunity to convince somebody to
give you what you want a lot of people
try to play the continuance game they
try to get lots of continuances to see
if the officer won't show up this works
in some jurisdictions and it doesn't
work in others it doesn't really work
well in Virginia because in Virginia
each officer is assigned a court date
one court date per month or one court
date every two months and all the cases
that they have are prosecuted on that
day
so if an officer goes out and writes 150
tickets throughout the month they show
up to court and they prosecute all 150
tickets on that month what this means
then is that the officer has to show up
to that court date or a month's worth of
work or two months worth of work goes
down the drain so there's a lot of
incentives for officers not to just not
show up
additionally in Virginia you can be held
in contempt of court for not showing up
if an attorney doesn't show up if a
witness doesn't show up if a police
officer doesn't show up these people can
be held in contempt of court and I've
seen officers be issued warrants for
contempt of court for failing to show up
on the case it's a very serious matter
additionally police officers can lose
their jobs or they can be sanctioned
can have serious repercussions on their
careers if they simply blow off court
dates if an officer is sick or injured
or involved in an accident or delay
because of police duties they'll call
the court or their supervisor will call
the court and their cases will simply
get continued to the next court date
really the only time you see officers
not showing up in our cases being
dismissed is when they leave the police
force and that only happens in very rare
cases so less than 1% of the time does
simply officer not showing up ever
affect the outcome of a case in Virginia
in other states that might be a thing
that works but not so much here in
Virginia it's really common for the
information on people's summons to
contain typos or errors you'll get into
court and your name is spelled wrong on
your ticket or your date of birth is
wrong or your driver's license number is
wrong don't correct this don't feel a
need to tell the court oh you spilled my
neighbor on the up my date of birth
wrong you got my license number wrong
the reason why is this information that
information is how the DMV knows whose
record to put that ticket so if the
officer or the clerk or somebody writes
my name down wrong my date of birth
wrong or my driver's license number
wrong on the ticket or in my court
information and I get convicted of that
ticket that information is sent to the
DMV and the DMV uses that information to
try to figure out whose DMV record that
information goes on well I don't want it
on my DMV record so why would I correct
them to help them more effectively find
my record if they typo my name bad
enough or the typos on a driver's
license number bad enough they may not
be able to go and put it on my DMV
record that happens every once in a
while so if you see an error on there
it's not a defense it's not going to
fact your name spelled wrong using to
get your case dismissed the judge isn't
going to make any hay out but they're
just going to correct it and that your
tickets going to go on your record that
much easier so don't get hung up on that
sort of thing a lot of people come into
court and ask the judge to do something
that they do not have the legal
authority to do so don't waste your time
and energy
now find out what they can do and then
ask them to do that okay so for instance
in Maryland judges sometimes have the
power to be able to decide how many
points come with a given ticket Virginia
they do not have that authority the
judge has no control over how many
points you get for a given ticket so
don't pass them it just annoys them they
hear it all the time and you know this
doesn't do any good additionally certain
tickets come with mandatory punishments
so if you have an HOV ticket there are
mandatory fines your first offense is
$125 your second offense is $250 your
third offense is $500 the judge doesn't
have a choice that's what the law says
they have to do so if you want the judge
to do something for you you have to ask
him to do something that they have the
power and authority to do so read the
law ask around talk to the clerk's
office talk to an attorney
find out what the judges can and can't
do if you're going to try to quote case
law or statutes make sure you print it
off and bring it to court judges don't
have every law memorize they don't have
every case memorized and if you're going
to present them something new make sure
you print it off so they can read it
themselves they're not going to just
take your word for it or take your
interpretation for it and additionally
they're in a hurry so they can't stop
and do all this legal research while
there's a 150 people waiting to have
their case heard in the same court so
print off what you have bring it with
you to the podium and if you're going to
quote a statute or case law hand it up
to the court to hear I brought printed
off the case please take a look at this
you'll see that this case says this and
I take food as a vacation my case should
be dismissed so make sure you print it
off if you're going to quote case law if
you're going to try to read the law
bring laws to court make sure you
understand which laws control your
judges decisions and which laws do not
which cases control his decision-making
process and which ones do not
for instance here in Virginia Ohio
statutes are irrelevant and Ohio Court
decisions are irrelevant so if you come
here
with a court case from Ohio no one cares
this ain't no higher if you come in with
a federal court case most the time those
are irrelevant - unless they're dealing
with constitutional issues are some
special exceptions you've got to make
sure you have the laws that govern in
this particular situation
additionally published cases control
unpublished cases do not so don't come
in with an unpublished case and try to
argue that it's a law don't come in with
legal treatises or books written by
lawyers those things don't govern either
so if you're going to come in with cases
and statues make sure you understand
which ones control the judges decision
making process and which ones do not
come with the right ones
make sure your behavior and your
appearance support your arguments if you
want the judge to believe you're a
responsible citizen you're an honest
witness you're a good driver dress the
part act the part
if you come in really aggressive if you
come in making blanket accusations
against the officer that sort of thing
turns people off it makes it wow they're
really wound up though they'll say
anything thing to get out of this case
so keep calm keep professional dress up
nicely or it doesn't have to be fancy
doesn't even have to be a suit and tie
but just you know present yourself well
and that goes a long way
wearing a suit and tie or dressing up
won't make you win your case but if you
dress trashy if you act rudely if you
don't take it seriously that can
certainly cost you your case never lie
to the court if you can't tell the truth
exercise your right to remain silent but
never lie don't try to fudge things
don't try to exaggerate tell it how it
is and if the truth hurts you keep your
mouth shut oh I can't tell you how many
times people have ruined their case
because they tried to fudge or
exaggerate about something little the
judge caught them and then he thought
they're alive and they disregarded all
their other testimony so just tell the
truth tell it like it is don't
exaggerate understand how trials
proceed okay a lot of people get
confused and they get in arguments with
the judges because they don't understand
how trials work okay
in Virginia the way a basic trial works
is the prosecutor officer gets to speak
first they tell their story then you get
an opportunity to ask them questions but
only ask them questions you can't make
statements just get to ask them
questions
after you're done asking them questions
then you get a chance to tell your story
and the prosecutor the officer gets to
ask you questions once that's done the
judge decides whether you're innocent or
guilty and then they move on to the
sentencing phase this is where you talk
about things that don't have any bearing
on whether you're guilty but in fact how
serious or harsh your punishment should
be so that's when the mitigating
evidence comes in and first the
prosecutor officer gets to speak and
then you get to speak the biggest the
most common way people irritate the
judge is by trying to explain things
when they're supposed to just be asking
questions or when it's the other
person's turn to talk
understanding how we take turns in a
trial is important just to keeping on
the good side of the judge get to the
point quickly traffic court moves
quickly the judges don't have a lot of
time to deal with any one case Fairfax
County for instance a single judge may
have to hear 200 cases in three to four
hours that's seconds per case so if you
think the judge is going to spend 15
minutes listening to your defense that's
not going to happen make sure that you
can say everything you want to say in
seconds not minutes before going and
standing up in front of the judge write
down what you want to say put down a
little note card a piece of paper have
it there so you can either read straight
off it or use it to keep yourself on
point don't be afraid to do that this
isn't drama club it's not a theater the
important thing is communicating quickly
and effectively and if having notes and
writing down what you want to say helps
you do that that's great do it
understand the difference between
mitigating evidence and a defense a
defense is an evidence or argument that
you
innocent mitigating evidence is an
argument that even though you're guilty
you shouldn't be punished harshly you
should be shown mercy defenses happen
during the trial mitigating evidence
happens during sentencing common problem
is people who are representing
themselves get the two confused and they
start offering mitigating evidence
during the trial and they offer defenses
during sentencing don't do that so
here's a really common example arguing
that the officers radar isn't calibrated
that's a defense okay that should be
brought up during trial not after you're
found guilty evidence that your
speedometer is inaccurate so you didn't
realize you were speeding
that's mitigating evidence not a defense
you're admitting you're guilty but
you're trying to explain why you didn't
mean to do it why you shouldn't be
punished for doing it that should come
up during sentencing in the state of
Virginia there's only a handful of pleas
you can do there's guilty not guilty
no contest and there's guilty with
explanation plead no contest or nolo
contendere is essentially the exact same
thing as a guilty plea in the state of
Virginia in other states there's
important legal significance between no
contest and a guilty plea but not so in
Virginia it's all the same thing
if you plead guilty but you want to
explain why you should be punished
lightly or you have some explanation of
why you like the judge to still not find
you guilty even though you are guilty
then you say I'm clean guilty with an
explanation and the judge will let you
explain what mitigating evidence you
have but the important thing to remember
is they plead guilty you're not going to
have a trial the judge is not going to
hear defenses okay if you want to offer
defenses if you want to explain why you
are not guilty make sure you clean not
guilty in most places in Virginia in a
lot of other states as well if there's
an accident case or there's a case that
involves witnesses your trial may not be
at the first court date it's a very
common practice here in Virginia for the
first trial date to simply be a hearing
they don't subpoena the way
this is they don't inconvenience the
civilians and witnesses by bringing them
to court when 90% of the cases work
themselves out so what they do is the
first court date they come to court they
ask you what you're going to plead and
if you plead not guilty they say okay
they give you a continuance they set a
new date and then they bring the
witnesses so if you were involved in a
car accident ticketed because of that if
the prosecution or the police officer is
going to be bringing witnesses to court
there's a really good chance that your
first court date is not a trial date and
that if you plead not guilty you're
going to make you come back to court
another day
to have your trial so if you want to
know if that's the case in your
situation call the clerk's office and
ask them whether witnesses they're going
to be subpoenaed on that first court
date hopefully these tips and
suggestions have been helpful but if you
have a ticket or a criminal offense in
Northern Virginia and you would like
some free consultations for free advice
give us a call we're happy to talk to
you happy to help out thanks for
watching and have a good day
