<p>If you got cited for a speed violation and the officer said you should plead not guilty, how do you do it? How do I plead not guilty when I am guilty? Do I appear in court and say I didn’t drive fast with a straight face?</p>
<p>Being there several times in NYC^^.
When you walk in, there will be several lawyers lined up at the door asking if you want their service, cause you really don’t know what the judge will ask… There are technical things in the traffic court you don’t know, if you plea not guilty by yourself, you will be booted by the judge and endup paying the court fee as well as your ticket.</p>
<p>Anyhow, the lawers there are blood suckers, their charge is as big as the ticket. They will do their best to help you not get the points or reduced points or scott free, all depends your ticket and if the cop showed up or not.</p>
<p>It is not in NYC, thankgoodness for that. I was on a freeway taking my kid for a college visit. It’s somewhere in a small town. Do you face the trooper who ticketed you? I think that’s what the officer said. I was puzzled trying to understand why he was advising me to plead not guilty while ticketing me.</p>
<p>does not matter, you go to the court by yourself and if the cop did not showup, you win, otherwise you lost, period.</p>
<p>Not sure why he would tell you to plead not guilty, maybe they have jacked up the court appearance fees to raise revenue? It is surprising to me he would say that, because when you go to court the officer has to come in and testify in court, which is a pain in the neck. Maybe the cop was being nice, and letting you know that a)it is likely he wouldn’t make it to court, in which case the case could be dismissed or b)that the judge is pretty lenient.</p>
<p>If you are going to fight a ticket, especially a speeding ticket, there are several things that might work IME, but to be honest, it isn’t easy to beat them if it goes to trial:</p>
<p>-If a cop every writes you a ticket up to 5MPH over the speed limit, you have a good chance of fighting that. Car speedometers are not that accurate and most magistrates realize that (it is why good cops don’t even waste time with speed infractions like that; on the highway they rarely if ever give speeding tickets IME for less then 10mph over. )</p>
<p>-If you were in heavy traffic, you could try questioning whether they got the right car (sounds like you were in a rural area, lot harder). Especially with hand held laser or radar guns, it is possible to get the wrong car (plus it also raises questions about how they could ticket you if other cars are traveling at the same speed).</p>
<p>-With whatever device they used to record the speed, ask them the last time it was calibrated, if it was a while ago you can argue that the unit may have registered a false value. </p>
<p>Not saying any of these arguments will work, these are ones I have had people claim have worked for them. </p>
<p>Based on my own experience, the real hope if you decide to go to court is that the cop doesn’t show up, depending on the cop and where the court is, that is probably the best chance to beat the ticket.</p>
<p>The cop was nice. No question about it. He was almost insistent that I plead not guilty, “Are nuts to plead guilty?” Otherwise, I would have just paid. It’s a clear cut. Late at night, on an empty road. It gets boring to argue I didn’t do it when I know I did it.</p>
<p>Don’t fight a ticket far away from your home. I was cited speeding in West Point, two hours away. Went to fight the ticket, there were too many cases and they postponed my case, so I wasted 4 hours driving for nothing. The judge also can postponed the case if the cop had an excuse.</p>
<p>I have heard that speeding fines are paid to the State coffer, whereas fines for other non-moving infractions that may be “negotiated” (parking on the pavement, etc) are kept by the locality. If that’s true, it may explain the urging to plead not guilty. Also possible is that the officer was just being a nice guy who thought that you might be clueless to the high frequency with which such tickets are settled.</p>
<p>The officer WAS nice. He appreciated my cooperation. I have no idea what else I could have done other than pulling over when pulled over. He mentioned my record is clean, etc. I am also clueless. It was on an interstate. I think jurisdiction is pretty clear.</p>
<p>Maybe he’s being pushed to make a quota, and didn’t really want to write you a ticket.</p>
<p>I would make the decision on whether to just pay or not based on whether it will have any effect on your license or insurance.</p>
<p>Maybe he was hinting that he wouldn’t show up in court?</p>
<p>Twenty years ago, we were moving to a town in NY. D was a baby and screamed the whole trip from Pennsylvania. I was finally in town and less than a mile from our new home. I got a ticket for running a red light - right before the light was a flashing orange light, and I thought the second one was a flashing light, but it was actually in the process of turning red. </p>
<p>The police station was on that street and they were right there and gave me a ticket.</p>
<p>I sent in the ticket and payment to city hall. The next Sunday in church (H was the new pastor), a nice lady came up to me and said she didn’t want to embarrass me, but she worked at city hall and saw my ticket. She intercepted it and returned it to me and advised me to go to court.</p>
<p>I did - the police officer didn’t show. The ticket was dismissed.</p>
<p>Was this on the NYS Thruway? They have been ticketing like crazy the last month or so. I got stopped myself on my way home from dropping DD off at school. I think as long as you were not in a construction zone you are ok.</p>
<p>The point of pleading not guilty is that most any judge or D.A. will reduce the ticket to a non-moving violation when you do this. You will still have to pay a fine and surcharge but there will be no points on your license and no impact on your insurance. The municipality gets their money and you don’t get any long term implications from a slight error in judgement. </p>
<p>You can plead not guilty without having to physically go to court if you do not live nearby. Just send the ticket in with the “Not Guilty” box checked and write a letter of apology/explanation to the D.A. judge and ask for a reduction. Usually they are more than happy to do so.</p>
<p>I was ticketed for speeding on the NYS Thruway and the State Trooper also said, several times, “you can plead not guilty” but in the same breath, he said “then you will to appear in court” which was 2.5 hours drive from my home. I chose to plead guilty and pay the fine rather than lose the time fighting it (and with what? I didn’t have the radar gun – he did).</p>
<p>Before that, my last speeding ticket was in 1984…</p>
<p>Yes, it was on the Thruway. Not in a construction zone. What do you do when you show up in front of a judge? Does a judge ask if I was speeding? The answer would be yes. How do I do this? Do I apologize for the speeding and ask for leniency to a reduced non-moving violation? The officer mentioned that I would have to appear in person and yet suggested I plead not guilty.</p>
<p>college_query, It’s possible he may not show. I know he was quite sympathetic.</p>
<p>In many states, when you plead not guilty, you are able to get the points reduced or removed - if you have a clean record otherwise. The officer may have been suggesting that either he will likely not be there or a judge is likely to reduce the charge, thereby reducing the points.</p>
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<p>My last one was 1990. I usually don’t speed unless I’m daydreaming, but I feel like the hour glass is about to run out of sand. :)</p>
<p>It’s standard procedure to plead not guilty. I have a friend who’s a lawyer and goes crazy whenever anybody pleads guilty. All they want is money, that’s all they care about. Most of the time there is a town attorney who lowers your fine and points before you even appear before the judge, they don’t care what your excuse is; I often just say I was going with traffic flow. It doesn’t matter what you say; you can say you got carried away with the music you were listening to on the radio.</p>
<p>One more thought - a ticket must be legible to you. I once received a ticket from a really nasty state trooper and when I was looking at the ticket I realized it was so smudged I couldn’t tell if it was a 55 mph zone or a 66 mph zone in which I was speeding so the judge dismissed the ticket outright. If the state trooper wanted to reissue the ticket he would have to come to my house and hand deliver it, it can’t be mailed. I knew this cop was really unhappy but he never came by my house as it was out of his way and I knew he would never find it.</p>
<p>I’ve never pleaded not guilty and then not gone to court, not sure how that works. You just need to decide if the appearance is worth a lowered ticket fine and less points.</p>
<p>If you plead not guilty, do you have to say anything else? Surely you can just sit back and let them try to prove you did it (although that is pretty easy if the cop actually shows up).</p>
<p>I live in upstate NY and DH has had his share of speeding tks. He has always pleaded not guilty or just had a lawyer friend fix the ticket for him if it happened in the area we live in. </p>
<p>You really want to avoid points if possible because your insurance will go up. I think speeding is 3 point. Insurance co’s don’t like that. </p>
<p>Everything usually gets settled before your case is called (you’ll talk to the town attorney) and everyone knows the part they need to play. </p>
<p>It’s also very possible that the cop won’t be able to show and your case will be dismissed.</p>
<p>I have heard that speeding fines are paid to the State coffer, whereas fines for other non-moving infractions that may be “negotiated” (parking on the pavement, etc) are kept by the locality. If that’s true, it may explain the urging to plead not guilty. Also possible is that the officer was just being a nice guy who thought that you might be clueless to the high frequency with which such tickets are settled. "</p>
<p>Unlikely,imo, because there is no reason a State Trooper would want the municipality, where he probably doesn’t live and who doesn’t pay him, to get the money instead of the state. I don’t think a trooper would care who gets the dosh.</p>