RECEIVING A CITATION

Once you've received a citation, you have two options:

1. Plead Guilty (the worst option)

If you plead guilty, the court will typically require you to pay the maximum fine allowed by law and will record a conviction on your public DMV record for five years. A conviction on your record will increase your insurance by an average of $250 per year for three to five years. Clearly, this is the worst possible option to choose.

Sadly, most ticketed motorists grimace, grab their ankles, and pay up. This is why traffic fines have become a gold mine for state, county and local governments, netting over a billion dollars a year in revenue. If you choose to plead guilty, read no further. Go back where you came from, shopping on ebay for old lady's bloomers.

2. Plead Not Guilty and contest--the best option (keep reading...)

STEPS TO CONTESTING

First step to contesting: Plead Not Guilty

You can plead not guilty in person or by mail. Here are your choices, explained:

Plead Not Guilty In Person: Four Hours of Your Life You'll Never Get Back

Your appearance date is noted at the bottom of your citation. This is the date by which you have promised to appear in court and enter a plea. Most defendants cannot spare the time from their busy lives to wait around in court for three to five hours to enter a "not guilty" plea and set a trial date.

To compound this inconvenience, if you plead "not guilty" the court makes you wait until everyone else in the court pleading guilty is heard. By pleading "not guilty" you get to plead last. Older defendants have died of natural causes before they could proclaim their innocence. People who want to plead "not guilty" often give up under these circumstances and plead "guilty" or request traffic school just to flee the boring hell of traffic court. Going to court is a demoralizing pain in the ass and should be avoided.

Plead Not Guilty By Mail: (Ticket Assassin Recommends) This is Your Best Option

A written not guilty plea takes 5 minutes or less to write and will save you the time and stress of a court appearance.

Here's how it works: Under section 40519(b) of the Vehicle Code, a defendant is entitled to enter a not guilty plea in writing in lieu of appearing in person in front of a judge. This option allows you to mail a letter to the court pleading not guilty to the charge against you. In this letter, you can request a Trial by Written Declaration, allowing you to contest your citation entirely by mail.

Submitting a Written Not Guilty plea is your legal right (under 40519b), but there is no state approved form for this plea. It seems suspicious that the best and easiest way to contest a traffic ticket is not supported by a state approved pleading form.

We at Ticket Assassin have created a Written Not Guilty Plea template since the state has neglected to do so. You can find this form in our shareware section. (requires registration)

Second step to contesting: Choose Your Trial Option (in-person or by mail)

You can have your trial in court in person or by mail. Here are your choices explained:

Court Trial: Smug Cops, Gawking rubes and 720 donuts.

There are many disadvantages to an in-person trial. Most people are too nervous to represent themselves well in court. Also, since most defendants are inexperienced with the law, they tend to lose their cases. This steady stream of "guilty" verdicts may predispose the judge to find you guilty as well, even if your case is well argued.

Another disadvantage to an in-person court trial, is that you are not entitled to a jury. Since 1968, traffic infraction defendants are entitled to a trial decided by a judge alone.

A court trial is a one-shot deal. If you're found guilty, you have no right to a new trial. The citing officer testifies against you and also serves as prosecutor.

Officers usually are called to trial on their days off and many receive over $300 in overtime pay for their brief appearance, enough money to buy him 720 regular donuts or 579 fancy donuts (bear claws, apple fritters, eclairs, etc.). As a result, cops usually make it to court.

Traffic court judges tend to be consistent, if not fair. You may be found guilty with the other defendants, even though you have a solid case for dismissal. Many judges choose to favor the officer in open court, to avoid embarrassing him before a crowd of gawking rubes.

Trial by mail with a written declaration: The Best Option

Requesting a Trial by Written Declaration (CVC 40902) gives you the best chance to win your case. Most people (99% of defendants) never contest their alleged violations due to the inconvenience of making two separate court appearances: the first to plead not guilty (appearance date) and the second to stand trial. In reality, the law permits you to contest an unfair citation with zero court appearances.

You can plead not guilty with a Written Not Guilty Plea (CVC 40519(b)). In this plea you can request a Trial by Written Declaration, a legal right in all traffic infraction cases under CVC 40902. The court will mail the Judicial Council approved Trial by Written Declaration (TR-205) form to you. Examples of completed written declarations for various offenses are available in our shareware section (requires registration).

You'll be given three to four weeks to turn in your written declaration. In the written declaration, you can give testimony and present evidence (pictures, diagrams, etc.) to support your case. The officer who cited you will also have the same deadline by which to complete a written declaration describing his justification for citing you.

There are many advantages to contesting by written declaration. The most obvious advantage: the officer gets paid over $300 to show up in person at a court trial but gets paid NOTHING to complete this declaration paperwork. In my experience, about 30% of police officers fail to submit a response to the court by the deadline. If the officer does not turn in his declaration on time, your case is DISMISSED and your bail is returned. By simply contesting by written declaration, you stand a decent chance of dismissal regardless of your argument.

There are many other advantages to contesting your ticket via Trial by Written Declaration, but they are too numerous to list here. Click here to read other advantages to a trial by written declaration.

Trial by Written Declaration: Judgment

If the citing officer fails to respond by the due date in writing, your case will be dismissed and your bail will be refunded. The Clerk of the Court will inform you of this dismissal in writing.

If the officer returns his declaration by the due date, the judge or commissioner will rule on the case. You will be informed by mail of the verdict via a Trial by Declaration judgment. If you are found not guilty, the charge is dismissed and your bail is refunded.

If you are found guilty, a fine (taken from the bail you sent in with your written declaration) may be imposed. Your bail is usually equivalent to the maximum legal fine for the charge. This fine may be reduced or suspended at the court's discretion. The judge may also assign you to complete a DMV approved Traffic Violator School. When you provide proof of completing traffic school, the court will set aside your conviction and no violation point will be reported to the DMV.

Trial de Novo: A New Trial and Second Chance of Winning Your Case

Section 40902(d) of the Vehicle Code states: If a defendant is dissatisfied with a decision of the court in a proceeding pursuant to this section, the defendant shall be granted a trial de novo."

If the judge finds you guilty after reading your declaration, you are automatically entitled to a new trial! Nowhere else in criminal law are you entitled to a new trial simply because you are unhappy with the outcome of the first trial. This is only a legal right in traffic infraction cases that begin as a Trial by Written Declaration. This "Trial de Novo" will be an in-person trial in which the judge hears evidence and testimony from yourself and the citing officer.

The legal right to a new trial has a host of advantages. If the officer does not show up at the new trial, your case is dismissed. By the time you get to a trial de novo, three to six months after you were cited, the officer may no longer remember significant facts of your case, leading to a dismissal. If the new judge at your second trial is fairer than the first judge and accepts your argument, he can dismiss the case or find you not guilty. Even if you are found guilty at your second trial, the judge can still reduce your bail and assign you to traffic school.

To request a Trial de Novo, you must submit a form TR-220 (Request for Trial de Novo) to the court postmarked within 20 days of the mailing date of your guilty verdict. This form is available in our Ticket Assassin Shareware section or may be requested from the court.

Summary

Why doesn't the court clearly inform us that we can appear just once in court for two chances of contesting our traffic infractions? Money. Last year the traffic courts in California collected approximately one billion dollars in fines and forfeitures on uncontested traffic tickets. Ignorant of their legal rights, confused and intimidated by the courts and police, 99% of Californians ticketed simply pay up.

Last year, over four million Californians paid their citation without a fight, accepting a conviction on their DMV record. Imagine if only one in four of them exercised their legal right to complete a Trial by Written Declaration. Imagine over one million written statements flooding into California traffic courts every year. Imagine the expressions on the judges faces as bag after bag of mail is unceremoniously dumped on their desks. Let the avalanche begin.