Reckless Driving ticket in Fairfax, VA. PLEASE HELP!!! (Richmond, Newport News: sales, credit)

[JoshM]

I got a reckless driving ticket for driving on 82/55 on route 28. I have a clean driving record except for 1 minor speeding ticket in last 1 year. Should I hire a lawyer? I cannot afford to pay the lawyer fee and high court fines. I have a very clean criminal and credit history and want to maintain the same. I want to defend myself from getting a criminal conviction and want to get out of this charge with minimal damage. Kindly suggest some reasonable lawyers, if any as I cannot afford to pay lawyer fees. PLEASE HELP!!!

[Legs1357]

Please don't repost this on like every related thread from the last 6 months.

[Bigfoot424]

The first thing I would do is call the officer involved and see if he/she would be opposed to a reduction to improper driving charge if you come in and plead guilty. Unless there are some unusual circumstances I'd be willing to bet that he/she would not care at all. Of course the prosecutor has final say but they always go along with the officers wishes as they want court over for the day. Or you can fight it either with or without a lawyer.

[typical guy]

There's an old joke, I forget exactly how it goes. Something like, "The dumbest client is that of the man who represents himself". I didn't re-state it exactly and can't remember how it goes but you get the idea.

I would probably try what Bigfoot suggested. If that fails then I'd get a lawyer. Don't bother hiring one unless you want to hire at least a moderately good and pricey one. Why hire a cheap lawyer who is doing a business through "volume" of sales rather than quality? In other words, don't hire the cheapest guy out there because they're going to tell you to plead guilty to some lesser charge so they can get your money and you out the door as fast as possible. Then again, maybe a plea agreement and a reduced charge is all you want (that's essentially what Bigfoot is suggesting you try on your own). If you hire a better attorney, maybe you can get the entire charge dropped or an innocent verdict at a trial. Keep in mind that a jury trial is going to be a lot more expensive than a plea agreement. The attorney will need a lot of money.

I researched reckless driving and from what I read you can get hit with a couple thousand in fines and a year in jail. My guess is that a first time offense won't see any jail time.



It makes no sense to plead guilty to the charges without first doing something to contest it.
You want to either get a plea bargain (reduced charge) you can feel comfortable pleading guilty to or if that won't be offered then you want to take it to trail. The worst that can happen from a guilty verdict in trial is the same sentence you get for pleading guilty to the charges pre-trial and for a first offense it's probably probation and the fine.
In other words, if your max punishment is 12 months and 2,500 dollars for pleading guilty then the max punishment for a guilty verdict is the same. You lose nothing by going to trial but might find a jury that will find you innocent. Trial is the roulette wheel and prosecutors hate taking these things to trial because they have so much work to do. If they know that you're willing to spin the wheel and hope for an innocent verdict then they might think again about offering a plea deal. Just my 2 cents but it never hurts to take it all the way to trial if you can't get some sort of reduced sentence up front.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by typical guy

There's an old joke, I forget exactly how it goes. Something like, "The dumbest client is that of the man who represents himself". I didn't re-state it exactly and can't remember how it goes but you get the idea.

I believe the saying is:

"A man who represents himself has a fool for a client."

[raza1587]

Hello I also got a reckless driving ticket i was being follwed by a acura tl with its lights blinding me and i went faster and she was on my bumper the whole time the cop got us doing 106 in a 55 i was just wondering whats going to happen at the court and if im gonna go to jal or pay court fees and should i hire a lawyer this is my third ticket after a year and a half my record is a -3 what should i do?? please help!!!!

[statecollege]

More people should drive preventibly; that is, think about what could happen if you were going 27 or 51 mph (forget getting out of that charge!) over the speed limit. Once you get caught, isn't it too late? How easy is it to slow down compared to paying for a lawyer to try to reduce charges? Sorry to lecture instead of providing a response to your question, but I have little sympathy for reckless drivering.

[sbullet]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

The first thing I would do is call the officer involved and see if he/she would be opposed to a reduction to improper driving charge if you come in and plead guilty. r.

It is a reckless ticket. You HAVE to come to court. Make sure you dress well, and speak to the judge with respect and with proper English. Don't bother getting a lawyer, it is a waste of money IMO unless you actually were driving in a reckless behavior, or going over 100mph or something. Plead guilty, and explain why you were speeding. Many times they will drop the charge to just a normal speeding.

i myself just recieved a reckless ticket on 95 last week near Springfield. I was driving from Vienna, to Newport News for work at 4AM. I was clocked at 78 on 55mph. i don't think it is that bad. I am going to make the case that past Woodbridge, the average speed the cars are traveling are 80-85mph, all the way to Richmond and same goes for 295 and 64 all teh way to newport news.

[statecollege]

Originally Posted by sbullet

It is a reckless ticket. You HAVE to come to court. Make sure you dress well, and speak to the judge with respect and with proper English. Don't bother getting a lawyer, it is a waste of money IMO unless you actually were driving in a reckless behavior, or going over 100mph or something. Plead guilty, and explain why you were speeding. Many times they will drop the charge to just a normal speeding.

i myself just recieved a reckless ticket on 95 last week near Springfield. I was driving from Vienna, to Newport News for work at 4AM. I was clocked at 78 on 55mph. i don't think it is that bad. I am going to make the case that past Woodbridge, the average speed the cars are traveling are 80-85mph, all the way to Richmond and same goes for 295 and 64 all teh way to newport news.

So you are going to tell the judge that everyone else speeds so why should you get a ticket! Let us know if that works!

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by raza1587

Hello I also got a reckless driving ticket i was being follwed by a acura tl with its lights blinding me and i went faster and she was on my bumper the whole time the cop got us doing 106 in a 55 i was just wondering whats going to happen at the court and if im gonna go to jal or pay court fees and should i hire a lawyer this is my third ticket after a year and a half my record is a -3 what should i do?? please help!!!!

You should be in jail, geez why didn't you just pull off somewhere and let her pass you? Obviously you have some driving issues since this is your third ticket in a year and a half.