Reckless driving 83/70 non citizen

[travelcarne]

Thank you for the answers. I will probably hire an attorney if it only costs me like $300 otherwise I may go there by myself and plead guilty, hoping to get this misdemeanor charge dropped.

And when I said I didn't have insurance my friend's one was covering me. I was asking if it will significantly impact the insurance rates if I have a car someday. I should have gave the officer my foreign driving licence maybe it wouldn't have impacted my traffic record.

[snatale1]

Originally Posted by countryswan

Will the lawyer try to prove he wasn't going 13 miles an hour over the speed limit?
If he was doing 83, how can he avoid the truth of the fact?

People beat speeding tickets all the time, and in many cases with a clean record it gets reduced to speeding from reckless. Only in nutbag VA can you get reckless doing 13 mi over. That needs to get fixed.

[travelcarne]

I'm going to go there by myself I guess, lawyers are very expensive

[pnova]

HIRE A LAWYER AND GO TO COURT!!!! don't listen to people who say to admit guilt and pay the fine. A class 1 misdemeanor is a big deal, you will have a criminal record in effect. Who in their right mind wants that? Think about USCIS and employer background checks. Some countries will prevent you from entering their country, as some have the question "have you ever pleaded or been found guilty of a criminal act?" You will have to check yes and explain yourself. Do you really want that FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?? Fight tooth and nail for it, no matter how much it costs. If it doesn't work, so be it, but do something about it when you still can. Don't wait until a judgment is entered as it will never get changed or erased. Don't be stupid

[runzwithsizorz]

IMO, you really don't need a lawyer for this one if your record is clean and you can appear in court. 13 mph over really doesn't warrant the judge throwing the book at you. Dress nice, be respectful, and remorseful, and I'm nearly certain the judge will drop the reckless down to something less.
On more than one occasion when I have hired a lawyer for hundreds of dollars up front to speak for me, after sentencing, I've looked at them and said; dude, that's it, telling the judge I was sorry was your $500 masterful defense plan?

IF, you still get hit with the reckless, I believe you have 30 days to appeal WITH a lawyer.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by runzwithsizorz

IMO, you really don't need a lawyer for this one if your record is clean and you can appear in court. 13 mph over really doesn't warrant the judge throwing the book at you. Dress nice, be respectful, and remorseful, and I'm nearly certain the judge will drop the reckless down to something less.
On more than one occasion when I have hired a lawyer for hundreds of dollars up front to speak for me, after sentencing, I've looked at them and said; dude, that's it, telling the judge I was sorry was your $500 masterful defense plan?

IF, you still get hit with the reckless, I believe you have 30 days to appeal WITH a lawyer.

10 days to appeal.

[TheProgrammer]

Originally Posted by pnova

HIRE A LAWYER AND GO TO COURT!!!! don't listen to people who say to admit guilt and pay the fine. A class 1 misdemeanor is a big deal, you will have a criminal record in effect. Who in their right mind wants that? Think about USCIS and employer background checks. Some countries will prevent you from entering their country, as some have the question "have you ever pleaded or been found guilty of a criminal act?" You will have to check yes and explain yourself. Do you really want that FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?? Fight tooth and nail for it, no matter how much it costs. If it doesn't work, so be it, but do something about it when you still can. Don't wait until a judgment is entered as it will never get changed or erased. Don't be stupid

It's not as bad as you think. A class 1 misdemeanor? That sounds horrible, but only the Virginia courts treat this as a class 1 misdemeanor. Other places will treat this as speeding. Yes, speeding is bad, but this is something that people do everyday. Name me a person who have never speed before? Speeding does not make you a bad person because there are many reasons to speed. DUI is another story though because there is no reason to drive drunk.

Yes, this will follow you for life, and you have to put "Yes" if employers ask about it on the application, but it will not affect you unless your job require you to drive. Imagine a reckless driving ticket in Virginia equal two regular speeding ticket. Assuming you have a horrible driving record with no reckless driving on it, it will still affect your driving jobs. I know a lot of people who got reckless driving (class 1 misdemeanor) on their record, and they are working for the Government and holding a Top Secret Security Clearance. Just be honest on the application and don't try to hide it, it's not as bad as you think. In addition, people are able to go to Canada without any problems. A reckless driving ticket will not prevent people from getting into Canada. DUI is another story; people can't go to Canada with a DUI.

I agree that we need to fight this ticket, but I don't want you to scare people by providing false informations. What you just mentioned above are on lawyers' website, and they just want to scare people so that they will get hired.