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RECEIVING THE TICKET. The officer, of course, will approach you and ask, "Do you know why I stopped you?" Your best and only answer is "No." Be respectful, say nothing else, and follow all orders. When he gives you the ticket to sign, write "Requested county seat" before you sign. It's an important right. We'll get to that later. - 2
EXTENSION 1. Ignore the deliberately intimidating directions on the ticket to send in bail and give up all your rights (that you didn't even know you had.) These tickets don't tell you all your rights. DON'T SEND IN BAIL YET. The ONLY thing you do is note your appearance date. Put it in Microsoft Outlook or something with a 24 hour alarm. The day before that date, call the automated line and get your 60 day extension. Do it the day before just to be safe, but I've actually forgotten one time and still got my extension 2 days after my appearance date was to be. - 3
ARRAIGNMENT. Skip this step and go straight to Step 5 if you don't want to go into the courthouse at all. If you want to further extend your appearance date, like say you don't have bail money yet, do this. (There are other reasons to not skip arraignment. You lose many rights if you do.) On your new, EXTENDED appearance date you got in Step 2, go to the courthouse and stand in line. Tell the boss you want a late lunch and go on Tuesdays at like 2 pm. Least amount of line then. Don't tell the clerk anything except you want an ARRAIGNMENT. It is your right, and sets you up to declare motions later that can trip up the officer. Give him every chance to mess up. This will also extend your time out another 1-2 months and you STILL don't have to give up bail. - 4
FILLING OUT MOTION PAPERS. Grab your NOLO book, make copies of, and fill out the Request for Trial by Written Declaration, Demand for Court Reporter, and Preemptory Challenge papers. I swear, this book is the best investment you'll ever make. Buy it once and you'll have these forms and know your rights for life. - 5
MOTIONS. Congrats. You've extended your proceedings out for 5-6 months now and haven't given up a thing. At your arraignment date is where you will actually plead NOT GUILTY and finally give up the bail money. You can also file motions, including: 1. Trial by Written Declaration, which means you send in your argument by mail. There is a "Request for Trial by Written Declaration Form" in the NOLO book I mention. If the judge doesn't grant this, it could be grounds for an appeal, but don't argue with the judge. Just note it. If you get a written trial, go to Step 6. If not, go to Step 7. - 6
TRIAL BY WRITTEN DECLARATION. Basically, you write your argument down and send it in to the courthouse, the officer does the same (sometimes not), and the judge decides without you having to go to court. If the cop doesn't turn his in, your charges are dropped. Here's the kicker - if you lose, you have 20 days to request a NEW TRIAL. If you lose this, go to Step 7. If you win, then...you won. Go read my other article on How To Pick Up Girls on Myspace. - 7
BEFORE TRIAL. If you're coming from Step 6, fill out a Request for New Trial 20 days after the decision gets handed down. Here's where you can file a Preemptory Challenge if you don't like the judge, demand a Court Reporter to protect yourself and catch someone saying something which might be grounds for appeal, or transfer to the county seat. The county seat is a cool trick. Every municipality has a county seat which can hear all cases. In LA, it's downtown. Remember that thing you wrote on your ticket in Step 1? Well, if you got stopped way away from the county seat, you can request the change and the officer, who is stationed far away as well, may not make it to trial. Worth a shot. Like I said, give him every chance to mess up. This is hardly a full list of everything you can do. Check the NOLO book or ticketassassin.com for a more complete list. I can't have this article be 20 pages long! - 8
TRIAL AND APPEAL. Congratulations on exercising your rights as a citizen, not paying outrageous insurance rates for a full year, and letting everyone know that you're not someone to be ticketed lightly. Now California traffic court is a kangaroo court, so even if your evidence is compelling, you still might lose if it gets all the way here and the officer shows. Read the NOLO book and ticketassassin.com for better details on how to handle specific charges. This article is purely how to stick it to the administration because otherwise, it'd be 20 pages long. And if anyone, including the judge, says something overtly prejudicial against you, or your due process is violated in any way, that's grounds for an appeal, which you should do. I had a judge say in court, "I'm GOING to find you guilty no matter what you do." I didn't get justice because I filed my appeal paper with the wrong clerk. Make sure you don't make that mistake, or make the bigger mistake of letting judges think they can just say that kind of stuff and get away with it. Good luck to all. I truly hope I have been of some inspiration and help.
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