Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I recently got a speeding ticket in a very small town in New York. I'm a little worried about receiving a fair trial. I know some states have laws where you can request to have your trial moved to the county seat. Does NY have this law? If so, how can I exercise my right?
I recently got a speeding ticket in a very small town in New York. I'm a little worried about receiving a fair trial. I know some states have laws where you can request to have your trial moved to the county seat. Does NY have this law? If so, how can I exercise my right?
What trial? The cop said you were speeding so you were speeding.
Unless you were speeding away from a crime scene I think you are stuck with the small town court system.
you can always request a change of venue, however you must have a good reason for the change. for instance you and the judge have a family feud going that might color the judges objectivity. chances are however that your request for a change of venue will be turned down flat.
as for a trial, it is basically you, the judge, the cop, and the local prosecutor in the court as generally in traffic court there is no jury. your best bet is to forgo the "trial" and pay the fine, or if you can attend traffic school, and be done with the whole deal.
Don't forget that in traffic court, nobody has to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that you were guilty. All they have to do is convince the judge that there is a preponderance of evidence that you were responsible for the infraction as cited. The statement of the officer is generally good enough to qualify for that, unless you have some pretty good evidence that the circumstances were not as he described them.
In California you can take your chances in court and hope that the officer doesn't show up. Years ago my wife did that. She couldn't afford the ticket and just wanted to see if it could be reduced. Her case was called and the officer did not show. The judge told her to sit back down. A half hour later he called her back up, the officer still was not there. The judge released her from the ticket and then told her she may want to leave the court room just in case the officer arrived in court. She left and the ticket was removed from her record. Others have done the same thing. Not sure how it is handled in other states.
Why are you going to trial? Can't you just pay the ticket and be done with it? Fighting the ticket will likely cost you more than paying it. If it's a case where this is a third violation (or whatever number it may be in your state) and you don't want to have your license suspended, you should plead guilty and ask for a suspended sentence (or deferred judgement, it also varies by state) which will keep the violation from going on your record unless and until you get another ticket.
Regardless, changes of venue are costly to the taxpayers so it's highly unlikely that that's going to happen for a speeding ticket.
The only chance you will have is to plead the charges down to something different. For instance, getting the prosecutor to agree to charge you with a seatbelt violation instead of a speeding ticket. Ones ability to do that varies by state and court. It is a very common practice in NJ, not sure about NY.
The other question is, do you live in NY state? If you don't you need to check into the reciprocity agreements between your home state and NY. In many cases the license points may not transfer at all, or they will only transfer one or two and it may simply not be of consequence and you would be better off paying the ticket.
As for getting a change of venue unless you have a massively compelling reason, like the judge slept with your wife or something, it's just not going to happen over a traffic summons.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
