Traffic Court!... Help!?

Question

Same Q, Different Time...

Almost 2 months ago I got pulled over and ticketed for a broken tailight, driving others when my 6 months weren't up, and then on top of that I got ticketed for not knowing where my proof of insurance was (I did have it though). Anyway, my court date finally came. It was today. The judge was really nice. I showed her my proof of insurance, she took that off. I let her know that we got the tailight fixed, she took it off. And here comes the stupid part... we had been sitting in that room for a while and I got to listen to plenty of people pleading their cases. There was this one guy who went up with the same proof-of-insurance issue as me and he also had some other thing. The judge told him something about getting it deferred and how he would just need to come in for reviews or something. So...when the judge asked me if I wanted the driving-other-people deferred...I don't know. I am so stupid, I was just like 'oh no, that's okay, I know I did it.' I just...

wanted to be done and over with the whole thing. I hated having to know my court date was coming after the already bad memory of being pulled over and I didn't want to have to come in for reviews or whatever if I chose to continue with more legal things. I AM SO DUMB. I thought I knew what deferred meant, but apparently I am not smart. I don't know what to do. Our friend told us we should try calling to explain or fix it, but I don't know...if you are a judge or know what I'm talking about, I would Really appreciate any information. ~Thank you~

Answer 1

Contact the prosecutor and let him/her know that you didn't understand what a deferment was and would like to withdraw your plea on the driving other people and enter a not guilty puilty and be placed on deferrment for six months. Sometimes the prosecutor will tell you to come back to court on a certain date and will let the judge know what it is you want to do and then you withdraw your guilty or no contest plea on the record and enter a plea of not guilty and then get your deferrment.

Lots of people have done this as they didn't understand what it meant to be deferred. In our state it's called diversion.

Answer 2

Deferred adjudication is NOT a final finding of guilt and it is NOT a final conviction.

Deferred Adjudication is a plea bargain agreement between a defendant, and a Texas Criminal Court in which formal judgment is withheld or "deferred" pending the outcome of the probation period. If an individual is given deferred adjudication and he or she successfully completes the probation and conditions assigned by the court, the charges are dismissed. In order to obtain DA from the court, the defendant MUST either enter a plea of "guilty" or a plea of "no contest". Essentially, both pleas mean the same
thing; with the exception being that a plea of "no contest" has certain advantages as far as protecting the defendant against any subsequent civil litigation proceedings related to the original crime he/she was originally charged with.

Even though a successfully completed deferred adjudication will ultimately result in charges being dismissed by the criminal court, it is extremely important to take note of the fact that two very important records will remain in existence... and will be viewable by the general public... for the rest of that person's life.

These two records are:

(1) The original arrest record which contains the arresting officers notes, reports, etc. This arrest record will also usually contain police investigator's notes, photographs, confessions, or any other evidence seized or testimony taken during an arrest

(2) The record of the action of the court. This document is usually the order of probation that you, the defendant signed in order to qualify for deferred adjudication. This paper, with your signature on it, also contains your plea of guilty or "nolo contendere" (no contest).

The below link will assist in answering any more questions you have about "deferred adjudication."

Best wishes!

Answer 3

Well, if the judge took off the tickets what's the problem? It's over and done with. Sounds to me like you got the better deal. WOuld you really want to have to keep coming to court or be subject to monitoring or just have them removed.

You got some tickets, you were able to show you took care of the issues before you went to court. That's how it should be. Just learn from your mistake>.

Answer 4

When you go in for your first review, you can re-plead your case and most likely have it dropped, just as long as you don't have any more incidents between now and then.