Well I went to court today.
After we got the notification of citation in the mail, we anxiously waited to get our "courtesy notice" which is the worst named thing on the planet! Our courtesy notice informed us that the fine would be $416.00. FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN DOLLARS!?!?!?! With a fee like that you would think that I was a hardened criminal with a rap sheet four feet long.
Before I got the courtesy notice I was just going to write a check and consider my lesson learned. The notification of citation informed me that "Red means Stop" I considered myself informed and was going to do just that in the future. However, when I got the courtesy notice (and after I had awoken from my shock coma) I decided that I needed to go to court and fight at least the fee. The eighth amendment protects us against excessive bails and fees and I was set to fight for my constitutional rights (I consider 416.00 for going through an intersection two seconds too late on a first time offence excessive).
I set up my court date and have been nervously waiting away the days. I have been going over and over what I was going to say for weeks. I was planning on listing all of the things I was doing right at the time: hands in the right position on the steering wheel, using my turning signal, not talking on the phone, seat belt buckled, staying in my lane as I turned, not speeding, having all the proper documents (licence, insurance, registration), not being under the influence, etc. I also thought that I would point out that the fine would buy 9 months worth of diapers (with a pending baby that is how I now think).
So I went to court this afternoon after spending the morning picking out the perfect outfit that said "I am a cute little momma to be who should have pity heaped upon her and the fine thrown out." I got there at 12:30 the required time and there was like a million people there. Half of the people were in jeans and there were only a few other women in dresses. Some people looked like they had come from working in the yard. I was a little surprised since I was trying to look like an upright law abiding citizen and some of these people definitely did not. We stood in the hall outside the court for half an hour until they opened the courtroom doors. We had to watch a video in English and Spanish (if we left the courtroom during the video at all, even during the Spanish portion we would be considered a no show which is a 400 fine).
The judge called people up 10 at a time alphabetically so I was there for a long time! I was absolutely amazed at some of the charges, people who didn't have insurance or a licence, people who were driving at excessive speeds, one guy was weaving in and out of traffic and passed on the right shoulder, they all had fees less than mine! What!?! Something about this just doesn't seem right. The judge went through everybody so fast reading the violation and then asking what they were going to plead. If you pled not guilty you set up your court date and if you pled guilty or no contest you got your fine. He was really direct and to the point not talking with anyone other than the business at hand. I had been praying that the judges heart would be softened and that I would know what to say and do. When I walked up there he smiled (a first from what I could see) and asked me if I had recognized myself in the photos (there had been a couple of people before me including the guy before me who had the exact same violation as I did and he hadn't asked them this. an attempt at a joke? also a first). I laughed and said I had. Then he asked me how I pled, I said "Guilty." He asked me if I wanted to go to traffic school. I did if it would lower my fine. He said that because I had a clean record (also a first) he would lower the fine . I felt that my prayer was answered in that the judges heart was softened, especially since he was so nice to me, this just didn't include a big cut in the fine. He lowered the fee to $337.00 plus $61.00 for traffic school.
So over all I spent three hours at court to save $18 and I still have to go to traffic school. However, at least it won't show up on my record. And I have learned my lesson that "Red means Stop!"
