""Walt Felix"" <Walt@Walt-n-Ingrid.Com> wrote in message
>
> They do the same in CT. He wrote me up for "14-96 Light affixed to
license
> plate" Thing is general statue 14-96 has 28 subsections, none of which
> address a light affixed to a license plate. That's how I beat the ticket.
> But "DR CHALLENGER" is correct as far as, I was guilty of having non-DOT
> approved lamps. But the prosecuting attorney didn't know that so he just
> dismissed the charge. He also dropped the insubordination charge after I
> explained what had happened.
>
> I don't know how it is in other states but in CT, you usually didn't
> actually see the judge. What they did was you would go into a room with
the
> prosecuting attorney and state your case. Most often, to speed up the
> process, he would then offer you a reduced charge & fine. If you accepted
> it, you paid the fine and was on your way. Thing is, allot of people
would
> plead not guilty to every ticket they got to get a reduced fine. The
courts
> were overloaded with cases so they changed the system. Now, if you get a
> ticket, most of the time, if you just pay the ticket, they won't levy
points
> against your license. If you fight the ticket, most often, you'll get a
> reduced fine but now they nail you with the points and court fees. Quite
> frequently the court fees are more than the original ticket unless you
being
> charged with something like running down a nun and her seeing eye dog ;-)
>
> --
> Walt Felix
It's a little different here in IL. I've been to traffic court on a few
(several actually) occasions... You get your ticket and your court date can
be anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months from that date. Usually if you're in a
more metropolitan area it's a shorter wait until court. When you go, you
have to check in and they call you in the order you checked in. Usually
this isn't a big deal because there are like 25 people in the courtroom. On
one occasion however, I was issued a ticket for no valid insurance (i lost
the card) after being hit by someone running a red light, and I actually got
the truck back from the body shop before my court date. It was out in the
middle of a field, in a 4H Fieldhouse and there were over 200 people there.
Apparently they only have court quarterly in that county. I was lucky and
was about 10th to go through, however I had a friend come late and he was
there for 6 hours compared to my 20 minutes. There's always a judge and a
prosecutor, and if you're dismissed they don't make you pay anything. If
you've got to pay though, they sometimes make you pay the court costs. If
you're in a courtroom it's usually $50 and if you're in a fieldhouse or
something it's sometimes free (it was for me that day).
-- - Josh Lowered 2000 Dakota CC 3.9L Above Statement Not True ^^^^^ www.omg-stfu.com
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