Pleaded not guilty for speeding ticket and sent to court. Now why i am getting this another letter from court?

Question

This letter said
Write District Attorney Letter of explanation etc etc. What is this?
I thought they will now just assign a trial date and on that date i go to the court. Anybody knows about this?

Answer 1

Here's the correct answer. The DA is sending this letter to you so that you can explain, in writing, your side of the case... this is a way to possibly avoid a court date, in an effort to relieve pressure on the court system.

If the DA likes your explanation, you may receive an offer of a reduced fine or perhaps an offer to keep the moving violation from your record in exchange for paying the fine, etc. This is a good thing, so do as they ask.
If I were you, I'd be glad they are doing this...it means they are willing to listen to you at least, and it could save you the hassle of court.

In my state, speeding's pretty much an automatic fine, as the arresting officer doesn't need to show intent...for us, the best outcome is to possibly get the fine reduced, as a rule.

Good Luck...and stop speeding...that way you don't need to deal with this stuff.

Answer 2

Let me just start by saying that anyone who begins their response by stating "Here's the correct answer" should be ignored and indeed shunned by society, as they tend to be pompous blow hards who like to "feel" like they know it all.

As someone more astute put it, your scant details prevent anyone from really answering this question with absolute certainty. What is certain is that the courts are crowded, and more and more often cities try to settle these matters out of court.

Something very much like this happened to me in Dallas, where I was cited for Jay walking. They asked me to give an explanation prior to setting up a court date. It probably does two things, allows them to see if there is a compelling reason to offer a reduced fine or drop the case (probably extremely rare). Second, it provides them with an opportunity to guage the complexity of the case. If you put "I sped because I was in a hurry to get home", that will go into the very quick court case pile. If you put "I was not speeding and the traffic officer stopped me to ask me for a date and got upset when I said no, thus gave me a ticket" they put in in the "This may take awhile" pile. This allows for more intelligent case scheduling.

If you get lucky, they will send you an offer to plea bargain for a greatly reduced amount. If that happens then for pity sake take it (unless you have some real evidence that you were not speeding, like, uhhh... geeze, what evidence could you possibly present to prove you did not speed?). Folks rarely win in court when disputing a speeding ticket. the few instances of beating a speeding rap that I have heard of involved the officer not showing up or the radar dectector not having an up to date inspection or certification (you are entitled to ask about such things).

Good luck and don't panic.

Answer 3

Your information is scant, but I'll try to answer anyway.

First, who was the letter from? The DA? Did you plead not guilty before a judge? If so, you should have been assigned a trial date then. Possibly, the DA is attempting to begin discovery. Try calling the prosecutor's office and asking...

Answer 4

You basically get to plead your case first to see if you and the DA can reach a resolution without going to court. It's like, you pay the whole fine with no demerit points, or lesser fine and lesser demerit points, something like that, in return for a guilty plea. This is used to unclog the system a bit.

Answer 5

there's a telephone selection on the back of the citation so which you could call with any questions. Ask some "first criminal" application. In my section, in case you pay the site visitors large, have not have been given any previous tickets in the final 3 years, attend a driving force protection classification, and don't get yet another cost ticket for a 365 days, the violation does not circulate on your checklist, or to your insurance business agency. touch the issuing agent for precise community tips. solid success.

Answer 6

I did the same thing. Went to court and pleaded (is that right?) innocent. I then got a letter telling me to show for my pretrial. That is where I pled down with the DA. You must attend the pretrial.

Answer 7

now you have to go before a judge.
You cant do it all by mail.