24 replies to this topic

[Phineas_Carmichael]

Scene:

 

I am driving home from work at 2:45am in the slow lane of a 3-lane Interstate highway. A police officer merges in behind me from an onramp and immediately passes me in the middle lane going at least 15mph over the speed limit. As soon as he gets 1 car-length ahead of me he notices I have a headlight out & slams on his brakes. I drop my speed from 9mph over the limit to the speed limit and wait for him to light me up. He runs my plates and pulls me over, as I knew he would.

 

Outcome:

 

My registration (tags) and my license are both expired. My bad. I work weekend nights & it's tough for me to flip my schedule and get “daytime stuff” like bureaucratic bullshit done on my days off. (It's my car, why do I need to pay for one of your stickers to drive it?!) They tow my car to impound & I have to call my partner (from the back of a cruiser) to pick me up. The police were all super-nice & even drove me to the gas station down the road so she didn't have to pick me up from the side of the highway with police lights flashing. Lucky I'm a white boy with “yes-sir, no-sir” skills & nothing illegal in my car.

 

Action:

 

I spend the next 2 days renewing my registration (tags), getting a new license, and getting my car out of impound; making myself “Street Legal” as it were. Everything is taken care of except for the fines. I have a court date in 2 weeks that I am not required to show up for if I waive my right to appear and pay the fines.

 

Question:

 

I know I fucked up and didn't take care of the bureaucratic bullshit, so should I just pay the fines (they won't really hurt me financially all that much) and be done with it? Or should I show up to court in my best suit, present the facts that I now have current registration (tags) and a current driver's license, apologize, and “throw myself on the mercy of the court,” asking the judge for leniency because I'm an upstanding member of the community?

 

I know ya'll aren't lawyers, but has anybody else had an experience like this? Would it be feasible for me to appear and ask for leniency or am I just dreaming?

[Alder Logs]

(Picture the movie, Memento) I've probably told you this already, but I have short term memory problems.   I have had at least six tickets for expired plates.  (BTW, thanks for the reminder, as both the car and pickup are this month, the pickup already expired and the car with one more week.)  I am used to the drill.  The ticket here was $132, last time I had it.   I go into the courthouse in work clothes (we're rural), explain my memory to the judge and how with having the same ticket so many times, and not being able to afford it, that it's never been to defraud the government or get away with anything.  They always just cut the ticket fine in half.  

Edited by Alder Logs, 21 June 2018 - 04:25 PM.

[coorsmikey]

Where I’m from, if you correct the issues on the ticket, like fix the headlight and bring the registration current. There is no fines. They also don’t tow you for that kind of shit. Then again, the last time I was stopped for going 65 in a 45 zone, I had expired registration. The sheriff told me to slow down and that maybe I shouldn’t bring attention to my expired tags by speeding.
The way I look at your situation though, if you pay the fines and avoid court......well you still pay the fines. If you go to court you may still pay them or there’s the chance of getting them reduced or even waived. Maybe even explain the financial hardship of having you car towed and impounded could be worth something.

[wharfrat]

yep, deff go in, save yourself some money 

 

if for any reason, that they don't get more than they steel from us anyway 

Edited by wharfrat, 21 June 2018 - 06:10 PM.

[PsyBearknot]

I vote look nice and go in
Especially since You took care of it right away. They like that
I usually get out with like a 25$ court cost

[MeadMaker]

Check the ticket closely next to the cited violation code section numbers.  Where I live there will be a little box that can be checked off saying something like "Correctable."  If that's the case, here at least, you just go to the court house with proof of correction (DMV or Officer inspection/sign off) and pay a minimal $10- $15 fee.

[Juthro]

Sorry about your luck Phin.  I've been there, and it wasn't fun.

 

I too advise going to court.  IME, fines are usually reduced, or sometimes even dropped outright, for fixable things when you have proof of them being taken care of.

 

Good to see you BTW.

[Sidestreet]

Now that you've heard what these boy scouts have to say...

 

Go in there in your best Sid Vicious costume, drop trow and bend a fresh biscuit right there on the defendant's table.  Then throw up your middle fingers and scream, "suck a dick, dumbshits!" as you stomp out.

[PsyBearknot]

HOLD MY BEER LEMMIE GET MY PHONE CAMERA

[PsyBearknot]

Now that you've heard what these boy scouts have to say...
 
Go in there in your best Sid Vicious costume, drop trow and bend a fresh biscuit right there on the defendant's table.  Then throw up your middle fingers and scream, "suck a dick, dumbshits!" as you stomp out.

+1 for the Sid Vicious reference...old man!

[Myc]

Wow.

Of all the articles I ever thought I would see posted by Phineas............I just have to say this. You left me gob-smacked. I've read so many of your teks, I just knew safety, neatness, and tidy-ness were the rule of your life. 

 

On-topic.

You're the right skin color and have the right manners. If the day off of work for court does not exceed the cost of the fines, I would say go and try to get them waived. 

If it's cheaper to pay the fines and move on with your life (when compared to a day's wages)......I would recommend that instead. 

[CatsAndBats]

[Direct Link]

 

I see your sid vicious reference and raise you mudhoney covering the dicks 'hate the police'

 

Fight it.

[Sidestreet]

Damn that Mudhoney is hard hitting!

 

Call!   Dead Kennedys - Police Truck

 

[Direct Link]

Edited by Sidestreet, 23 June 2018 - 03:09 PM.

[PsyBearknot]

I’m gonna stay away from the strange berries in the forest. I’d hate t start a forest fire

[Phineas_Carmichael]

Where I’m from, if you correct the issues on the ticket, like fix the headlight and bring the registration current. There is no fines. They also don’t tow you for that kind of shit. Then again, the last time I was stopped for going 65 in a 45 zone, I had expired registration. The sheriff told me to slow down and that maybe I shouldn’t bring attention to my expired tags by speeding.
The way I look at your situation though, if you pay the fines and avoid court......well you still pay the fines. If you go to court you may still pay them or there’s the chance of getting them reduced or even waived. Maybe even explain the financial hardship of having you car towed and impounded could be worth something.

Where I grew up in the rural midwest they don't fuck with you for these tickets either. I just happened to be driving through a bougie suburb (BMW and AUDI dealerships next to the highway) and got pulled over by the local PD. Just a cash-grab in the fancy suburbs...

Sorry about your luck Phin. I've been there, and it wasn't fun.

I too advise going to court. IME, fines are usually reduced, or sometimes even dropped outright, for fixable things when you have proof of them being taken care of.

Good to see you BTW.

I've got a brand new driver's license and a fresh registration for my Prius. I had to get an emission-check for my hybrid-car to get the paperwork and I'm salty about it, but such is life in the county I live in now...

Good to see you too; I'm still here, mostly as a lurker.

Now that you've heard what these boy scouts have to say...

Go in there in your best Sid Vicious costume, drop trow and bend a fresh biscuit right there on the defendant's table. Then throw up your middle fingers and scream, "suck a dick, dumbshits!" as you stomp out.

I would love to, but I have "shy bowels."

I can't even "bend a biscuit" when I know there's somebody else in the next stall...

Wow.
Of all the articles I ever thought I would see posted by Phineas............I just have to say this. You left me gob-smacked. I've read so many of your teks, I just knew safety, neatness, and tidy-ness were the rule of your life.

On-topic.
You're the right skin color and have the right manners. If the day off of work for court does not exceed the cost of the fines, I would say go and try to get them waived.
If it's cheaper to pay the fines and move on with your life (when compared to a day's wages)......I would recommend that instead.

Point taken. I fucked up. Reading this from you hurts; I'm sorry that I disappointed you.

Now that Summer is here I'm cycling about 50 miles a week thanks to an excellent pair of shoes...

On-topic:
I plan to show up in court and see what happens. Because I work weekends my court date is on one of my days off in the middle of the week so I don't have to take a day off work.

------

Wish me luck everyone. Here's hoping I get a sympathetic judge... I've got 5 cats to feed; one of them is diabetic & needs special ($$expensive$$) food & daily insulin injections. I can't afford to pay the fines and feed my cats, but if it comes down to it I'll eat "air biscuits" and "fried ice" if I have to. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;)

Edited by Phineas_Carmichael, 27 June 2018 - 03:51 AM.

[Myc]

I didn't mean to come off as sounding like I was chastising you or anything. It would just hurt me something serious to know that one of Us got snapped-up in the legal snarl over something which is easily preventable. Like not using lab safety gear. You may get away with it ...... but then, there's the day you don't.

At least you didn't have a carload of things and stuff to add to the pile. 

 

Blessings Brother. Hoping things turn out for the best. 

[Alder Logs]

I hope my short term memory explanation gets me slack here for never having survived even one agar try and never getting past stuffing bought sawdust spawn into logs.   I am a hoarder who has no organizational skills and doesn't know where a tenth of the things I have are.   So, even when all y'all on-top-of-it types mess up that one time, there will be no judgment coming from hereabouts.   It's only the difference between shit happens, and shit happens all the time.  Maybe the judge is a cat lover.  Worth a plea, anyway.

 

Oh, and BTW, I did buy my license tags for both the car and pickup because this thread reminded me.  The posts today reminded me that I never put the tags on either vehicle, and I am not sure where I put them, but most likely, they are still on the floor of the car with the new registrations.

Edited by Alder Logs, 27 June 2018 - 09:25 AM.

[CatsAndBats]

CATS! Good luck Phin.

[Phineas_Carmichael]

CATS!

Just for you, here's our 5.
 
 We can't leave empty Kleenex boxes around the house or this diabetic dummy gets stuck in them and walks around crying & bumping into things:

 

This skeptical boy is so skittish that it's a special day when he comes for some lap time:

 

These two usually hate each other, but I caught them napping together:

 

The newest (and prettiest) addition to our clowder:

 

We have too many cats and not enough house, but I can think of worse problems to have!

Good luck Phin.

Thanks, man.  I'll let ya'll know how it goes in a couple weeks...

[Soliver]

Don't wait for the court date. 

 

Call the local DA and explain you're currently legal, it was an oversight. 

 

If it's your first time (in a few years) s/he will usually let it slide and tell you don't sweat the court date.

 

If you can call ahead and find that person in their office during the day, the outcome is almost 100%.

 

Poorer counties will oftentimes make you pay some fees, but it's generally better than what happens in front of the judge or not showing up at all.

 

:)

 

soliver