Sat, 20 Jan 2001 12:06:54

One of my employees got arrested for some outstanding traffic tickets this week. This is something that I think all of us need to take action about. I do not know how things work in other states, but Constitutional rights do not differ anywhere in the country. I feel it necessary to mention that I am not an attorney, and the things that I am telling you are based upon my personal beliefs and my personal experiences.
NOW! With that said, let’s get to how to get over on the system.

Again, let me stress that this is how it works in Texas; things may be a little different in other states. If I get a ticket for speeding, I take the ticket and laugh. On the ticket, you are given a date and time for your first court appearance. This first appearance is known as an arraignment. At your arraignment, you will be asked whether you wish to plead Guilty or Innocent. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, plead Innocent.  After your plea of Innocent is entered, the judge will ask you whether you wish to have a trial by jury, or by judge, you should request a trial by jury. You have a Constitutional right to a trial by jury, so you will get it.

You will then be given a court date. We will discuss what to do then in a little bit. Let us now discuss WHY we should all do what I am suggesting. Traffic tickets have become nothing but a means to generate revenue by cities and other Municipalities. If you go to your arraignment and plead guilty, you are being nothing short of a sucker, giving money to the state, just because they ACCUSED you of a minor crime. You are INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. Make the court do their work! Make them PROVE that you are guilty. Don't just GIVE them money because they ACCUSED you!

Now, on to your court date. Think about it. How much is the average traffic ticket? $100.00? $150.00? Let’s look at this from the State’s point of view. If the State accuses you of a traffic violation, and CAN prove that you did it, how much will it cost them to get the money? If you plead guilty at your arraignment, not much…..BUT, if you plead Innocent, and force a jury trial, it can cost the state a lot! First of all, the State must pay the jurors. Granted jurors do not get paid a lot, but even at six dollars apiece, for at least six jurors, that alone costs thirty-six dollars. Now think of the time that it will take. It may take three hours of the court’s time, that’s the judge’s time, the bailiff’s, the prosecutor’s, the court clerk’s, and the court stenographer’s. If you add up all the costs to pay these people to get your $150.00, the State will probably lose money. Since the State knows that they will lose money, they will probably drop your case. If they do not drop your case for economic reasons, it is likely that the officer that wrote your ticket will not show up at your court date and then your case will be dismissed for lack of evidence. You have a Constitutional right to see your accuser. Another thing that the court has to consider is that they have a limited number
of jurors each day, and if they try all of the traffic cases with juries, they will run out of jurors, and won't be ABLE to try any more cases.

Lastly, if the court decides to take your case, AND your ticketing officer shows up for your trial, you can ask for the court date to be re-set, either because your attorney is not available, or you are sick, or you have some other sort of conflict. You will almost automatically get a first request for re-set granted. At your second or third or fourth trial date, if your ticketing officer does not show up, BINGO you are off. 

Now let’s assume that your arresting officer shows up, the prosecutor decides to try the case, and you have to try your case. What I do is to make it CLEAR to the prosecutor that I intend to defend myself. What this does for you is to get the prosecutor to think. If they win, big deal!  They were supposed to. BUT! If I win, they will be on the news tonight as the prosecutor that got his or her butt kicked by a private citizen.  Most prosecutors will not take the chance, and will try to work a deal. My deal is ALWAYS that I walk, Scott free!

The last for instance is if you go to court, and lose, and get convicted of your traffic violation. At this point you can pay the fine, with the satisfaction of knowing that it was NOT worth their time to get it, OR, you can take the final stand against the system. You can refuse to pay cash for your “crime” and insist on doing time. Most jails allow up to $150.00 a day earned toward a fine for each day served. This guarantees that the government did not make any money for harassing you about rolling through a stop sign too quickly. This last step is not for the faint at heart, and most people should be happy with paying the fine after being proved guilty, and knowing that it was not worth it for the government to get the money.

If everyone, or at least, a lot more people would stop rolling over for the police and the courts, then they would stop using tickets as a revenue generating machine, and maybe go after just the people that are endangering others. No more tickets for out of date inspections, what an idea!