I went once for something similar - maybe registration - i can't remember. I got there early and asked the clerk what to do. Before court started someone came out and made a deal for me to pay half the ticket, plus court fee (like $30) and get it resolved. Went with my DIL who had her license suspended many many times. Clerk helped us get the hardship paperwork and the judge was firm about following the rules but nice about explaining them.
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
275 points (100.0% liked)
No Stupid Questions
40509 readers
1190 users here now
No such thing. Ask away!
!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules (interactive)
Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.
All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.
Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.
If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.
Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.
If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.
Credits
Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!
The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
There's lots of resources online specifically about your state, that will be important, as every state is different.
In one state where I lived, you had the right to transfer moving violations to criminal court (the court for tickets was generally a Justice of the Peace, which is an appointee, so a legal education isn't required to be one).
Criminal court has higher requirements for everyone involved, so it can be useful for defense purposes. It also costs more, both for the state and for you in court fees (fines will be the same). The advantage is the state is motivated to plea your charge down to clear the docket. I've seen this many times, for everything under the sun. But, every state is different.
I assume since you have court it's because this is your first ticket, and you're young - not sure why they do that, but it's not uncommon. I guess they want to put the fear of the legal system in you. Had the opposite effect for me, saw it was just a process, that goes on all day, every day. Later tickets you just pay.
Actually I'm not young. Im 35 but I drive like an old man so never even get tickets much less had to go to court for anything.
I'm assuming my chance of going to jail over this is low but I'm still worried about it. Ive never been to jail and that would cause me to miss work and I need my job.
I don't know if criminal court would be a better option because I can't think of something lesser than letting my license expire accidentally.
You aren't going to go to jail. This is an administrative ticket, you didn't even do anything wrong like speed or run a stop sign.
Agreed - they want your money here, not your liberty.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Dress fairly nice. No shorts, no wacky t-shirts
Also works for the other kind of courting.
Pls update us with the result tommorrow
Get there as early as you can. They may have free legal aid on hand.
Country?
Put on “nice dinner with grandma” clothes. Try not to show up inebriated.
load more comments
(1 replies)
A cop giving a ticket for a simple expired license is a dickhead. Don't say that in court.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Ok, here's what you do. Basic step 1, and I can't believe I even have to say this.......but you GOTTA show up 45 minutes late, and completely wasted. Wearing clothes that have been worn daily for years, but never once washed.
Then, you INSIST there's no drugs in your system, and you'll give them a free urine sample right now! That's when you whip out your cock, and power wash the judges face with your urine from 10 feet away.
Next.....you need to INSIST you know the legal proceedings of a court better than the judge, the baliff, the cops in the courthouse, any public defenders or lawyers in attendance. YOU get to tell THEM what to do. Rememer, you're entitled to everything you demand. They'll respect you so much more for knowing how these things work. You'd be surprised how many disrespectful assholes show up in a suit, with combed hair, and brushed teeth, totally sober! It's a disgrace that they would accept responsibility by saying they made a mistake, and plead no contest. How do they expect to have anal sex with the judge, and super models, and do cocaine, when there's no reason for them to fear you. That's how the world works!
With this new solid advice, I had an idea and wanted to check with you.
When they call my name should I ignore it, as to not seem too desperate.
When they call my name again should I say "daaaaamn I heard you the first time! My license is expired not my hearing. Chill you're shit nigga" (to clarify I'm unambiguously white)
Are you sure what this is? 20 years ago I had a ticket for an out headlight and when I went to check in they said 'why are you here, just go to the clerk and pay your fine'. No fine was on the ticket but the clerk could looh it up. I did go to the judge and explained that I just didn't get the fix verrified in time and ask the judge for mercy because I was a student. Got my $70 fine reduced to $35.
your milage may vary but I expect something like this.
Do you have a valid reason for not receiving mail re: renewal of license? Move recently? It's not an excuse but it is an explanation for why it happened.
I'm housing insecure. I've always worked hard but it's never been "my place" it's always a roommate or girlfriend and I move around A LOT. Plus one of the symptoms of my ADHD is "time blindness" it's hard for me to judge how much time has passed between two events. That's why I didn't think about my license might be expired. 1 year, 7 years, 12 years... It all feels the same to me.
"I'm sorry your honor. I have a medical condition and it can be hard for me to keep track of dates. I don't have a doctors note for that but I could get one if I need to. I've also moved residences so I didn't get the notification to renew. I'm going to get my renewal as soon as I can."
Find out what level offense this is in your state. Likely is not a crime (misdemeanor or felony) but a violation for the first offense.
If it is a misdemeanor, get a public defender and ask for a plea to a lesser charge.
There is likely a standard plea offer for all similarly situated charges/defendants. It may change depending on whether you have renewed your license. If that’s the case you can ask for additional time to renew. That will buy you another court date but give you a chance to get a better resolution if you fix the issue.
Dress like you would for church or a job interview.
Make sure your cellphone is on silent (and if you think it could ring by accident just turn your phone off when in court)
*The process in your local area will vary