Traffic court... Talking to the solicitor?

nduffey said:
Wow.....did either of you get kissed? I know things are harsher for juveniles these days, but dang, I don't think they could have done worse if she fought it and got found guilty. Now I'm comparing that to the courts that I testify in, each jurisdiction has some latitude in punishment so that they can have an impact on their particular problems, but that wasn't much of a deal.
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Nope, no kiss, no dinner and a movie, nothing. That's what Cobb County now requires for teens in order to not have points. And the points system they use is brutal...her wreck would have been 6 points against her license. If she had another one within that year...I think her license would have been restricted suspended. The bad part about it is she was about 6 weeks from her 18th birthday. By the time we went to court, she was 18. And in response to rsparso, the fine we paid was the FULL fine for the moving violation she got. Plus I paid another $85 for the state driving course...not to mention she had to drive to community service when, in truth, she was still a little scared to be back behind the wheel. I told the solicitor that she was not driving and didn't want to drive at that time...didn't matter, said she still had to do the community service. :tsk:

The truly ugly part is that even though she had no points from the accident - it mattered not in terms of insurance. They hit us with an immediate increase since our insurance was up shortly after the wreck...then waited a year and hit us with a HUGE increase at the next renewal. I called and asked why the double increase...and they said it is an 'incident' charge that would stay on the account until the wreck was off her record. I told them that the wreck would never make her official record since the court expunged it...they response was "well, it's on their records, and the charge would be there for 5 years". I said thank you very much and went and found other insurance at the rate we were paying after the accident. Screw them...it's the only accident anyone in my immediate family has had in almost 30 years. And it's the only one the daughter's had, thankfully!

Oh...and I didn't feel too bad after the end of the ordeal. There were 3 kids in the courtroom they day we had our hearing who were being represented by lawyers in hopes of not losing their license until their 21st birthday!!!
 
Junior_357 said:
Nope, no kiss, no dinner and a movie, nothing. That's what Cobb County now requires for teens in order to not have points. And the points system they use is brutal...her wreck would have been 6 points against her license. If she had another one within that year...I think her license would have been restricted suspended. The bad part about it is she was about 6 weeks from her 18th birthday. By the time we went to court, she was 18. And in response to rsparso, the fine we paid was the FULL fine for the moving violation she got. Plus I paid another $85 for the state driving course...not to mention she had to drive to community service when, in truth, she was still a little scared to be back behind the wheel. I told the solicitor that she was not driving and didn't want to drive at that time...didn't matter, said she still had to do the community service. :tsk:

The truly ugly part is that even though she had no points from the accident - it mattered not in terms of insurance. They hit us with an immediate increase since our insurance was up shortly after the wreck...then waited a year and hit us with a HUGE increase at the next renewal. I called and asked why the double increase...and they said it is an 'incident' charge that would stay on the account until the wreck was off her record. I told them that the wreck would never make her official record since the court expunged it...they response was "well, it's on their records, and the charge would be there for 5 years". I said thank you very much and went and found other insurance at the rate we were paying after the accident. Screw them...it's the only accident anyone in my immediate family has had in almost 30 years. And it's the only one the daughter's had, thankfully!

Oh...and I didn't feel too bad after the end of the ordeal. There were 3 kids in the courtroom they day we had our hearing who were being represented by lawyers in hopes of not losing their license until their 21st birthday!!!
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Car insurance is such a freaking scam!

I am amazed at the fact that your insurance fees can go up if your credit score goes down!

The correlation between credit and safe driving has about as much in common as Hillary and honesty.
 
coach482 said:
The last time I went to court, the Judge came in and told everyone he would knock off all points and reduce the MPH to everyone that would plead guilty right now. The line formed to a side office and emptied half the courtroom.
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the judge was probably sick of dealing with speeding tickets without a death or server injury involved, whine there was drug abusers/sellers and bail jumpers to deal with (bigger fish to fry so to speak)
 
First off - dress appropriately, slacks and collared shirt at minimum. I always go in a proper suit. It really does make you look like less of a piece of **** than the people showing up with jeans and do-rags on. It "shows respect for the court" - no one really wants to kiss the court's ass when they're about to ask you for money, but it's better to let solicitor/ADA so and so get their power fix given they decide how much you pay and what charge sticks.

Second - you almost always have at least one opportunity to talk to the solicitor and make a plea deal. In my experience, muni courts are so desperate for money, they typically offer a deal up front. Either you meet with the solicitor before appearing in front of the judge, or the judge comes out, "all rise," he states that if you plead guilty no points and no reporting to the state. Counties like Gwinnett tend to throw you to the wolves and have you make a plea in front of the judge before the solicitor comes around. A lot of people just assume they won't have an opportunity to make a plea deal so they just plead guilty. If you have to talk to a judge first, plead not guilty. 9 times out of 10 they'll ask you to take a seat and then the solicitor pulls you aside. They typically offer some crappy deal where they say they'll reduce the fine by $20 for a guilty plea. This is your chance to negotiate - request that they reduce the charge to something that won't be reported to the state (i.e. lesser charge, county/city ordinance, reduced speed, etc.). 14 or less over is no points and not reported to the state. County ordinances never are. I typically something to the effect of "let me level with you. I don't think I'm guilty of this charge. BUT... to avoid BOTH of us having to come back repeatedly, I'm willing to plead guilty to a reduced speed/less charge/etc." As long as your driving record isn't atrocious (and yes, they WILL pull it up), they typically bite. You pay your fine, leave and go on about your life. They may try to convince you to enter a no-lo plea - don't do it unless they won't negotiate the charge. You're better off saving the no-lo.
 
AKguy said:
First off - dress appropriately, slacks and collared shirt at minimum. I always go in a proper suit. It really does make you look like less of a piece of **** than the people showing up with jeans and do-rags on. It "shows respect for the court" - no one really wants to kiss the court's ass when they're about to ask you for money, but it's better to let solicitor/ADA so and so get their power fix given they decide how much you pay and what charge sticks.

Second - you almost always have at least one opportunity to talk to the solicitor and make a plea deal. In my experience, muni courts are so desperate for money, they typically offer a deal up front. Either you meet with the solicitor before appearing in front of the judge, or the judge comes out, "all rise," he states that if you plead guilty no points and no reporting to the state. Counties like Gwinnett tend to throw you to the wolves and have you make a plea in front of the judge before the solicitor comes around. A lot of people just assume they won't have an opportunity to make a plea deal so they just plead guilty. If you have to talk to a judge first, plead not guilty. 9 times out of 10 they'll ask you to take a seat and then the solicitor pulls you aside. They typically offer some crappy deal where they say they'll reduce the fine by $20 for a guilty plea. This is your chance to negotiate - request that they reduce the charge to something that won't be reported to the state (i.e. lesser charge, county/city ordinance, reduced speed, etc.). 14 or less over is no points and not reported to the state. County ordinances never are. I typically something to the effect of "let me level with you. I don't think I'm guilty of this charge. BUT... to avoid BOTH of us having to come back repeatedly, I'm willing to plead guilty to a reduced speed/less charge/etc." As long as your driving record isn't atrocious (and yes, they WILL pull it up), they typically bite. You pay your fine, leave and go on about your life. They may try to convince you to enter a no-lo plea - don't do it unless they won't negotiate the charge. You're better off saving the no-lo.
Click to expand...
Excellent info, thank you!
 
If they wont even discuss it on the phone, you might wanna get a lawyer,

they usually ask for a suspended sentence and no points.

couple hundred for a lawyer is way cheaper than a couple hundred extra for your insurance every 6 months for the next 3 years.
 
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