The Art of Seeking Leniency in Traffic Court

An Overview of Traffic Court

Our attorney will explain the basic traffic court proceedings, which tends to follow the same general outline. They do, though, vary a little based upon the municipality and state laws. The session begins when the judge enters the courtroom and takes a seat on the bench.
The judge calls the case of a traffic violation or citation by summoning each of the individuals in the order listed on the docket from memory or from a traffic ticket. When the individual is called for their case , the judge will ask them to come forward. Upon request by the accused the judge may allow an individual to plead guilty to a reduced charge called a plea bargain or nolo contendre (no contest).
The judge has five areas of authority/influence when you are in traffic court: In addition to the judge, there are other key individuals in traffic court. You will see the prosecutor, district attorney and the clerk of the court. The judge serves as the fact finder and will determine the facts for the case. The judge’s decision can be appealed and re-tried in a higher court after the initial decision is reached.

How to Prepare Your Case For Leniency

When it comes to requesting leniency in traffic court, it is important to do your homework and ensure that you have all of the pertinent, necessary facts and information. To this end, you should always be prepared by keeping certain important documents and evidence on hand, just in case you need to invoke them at some point during the process. Below are some tips on gathering and organizing the various pieces of your case for this purpose.
Essential documents that help make the judge’s leniency decision easier may include documentation proving the ticket in question was issued unfairly or in error, or that you already paid a fine but were not notified that an additional fine had been issued, which you also paid as a result. A letter of hardship support from your employer can be used for those who rely upon driving as part of their job or livelihood, or who need a car in order to get to work. A letter from your doctor may be required if you need to drive to a medical appointment, and letter from your client may be valuable for those who rely upon driving to perform their work duties, such as a truck driver or handyman who travels to multiple locations for different service calls each day.
A clean driving record is likely the best way to convince any judge to show you leniency. Traffic tickets will always be more difficult to explain away if you have several or more on your record. If you have been able to keep a clean record over the years, copy the official documents showing this and use them to your advantage when battling a new ticket. You should also be sure to keep accurate records of the ticket in question, including the date received, the location where you received the ticket and, if possible, notes about the officer’s demeanor at the time of the citation.
If you were driving due to necessity under extreme circumstances, that should be noted and documented. Examples may include driving to pick up a sick child, getting to a court date or funeral, or other situations that could be considered extraordinary events.
Gathering all of this evidence may allow you to make a good case before the judge, showing why leniency is warranted in your specific case.

Making Your Case Respectful and Honest

Respect is of the utmost importance to a traffic judge. Many visitors to traffic court, upon first entering the room, think they are not going to be treated respectfully because they are there as a result of having been caught breaking the law. Of course, that is not true. As a traffic judge explained to me, the vast majority of people coming before the court are not being disrespectful. As a result, many judges, and I am proud to say that Judge Dueker is one of these, pay no attention to the circumstances that brought a person to court. Judge Dueker says he likes to make people feel comfortable in his courtroom. To that end, he prefers that people enter the room and at the very least greet the bailiff with a polite "good morning." This is something that most likely everyone can do, yet many simply choose to sit down and offer nothing but a defiant attitude. Remember that your first impression is all about respect. Treat the bailiff – who has been in the business of seeing all kinds of attitudes – with at least a modicum of respect.
The next of our first three steps leads to the most critical element of your request for leniency. Honesty is the best policy. You will be testifying under oath. That means that you should take every single word that you say very seriously. That does not mean that if you have done something wrong, you’re toast. No, what it means is that if you have done something wrong, you need to present it in the best light possible, but you need to present it truthfully. There are no guarantees, even in this age of unfettered discretion on the part of traffic court judges, but if you follow the first two steps, and are not dishonest and try to play the blame-game, then you should be allowed to give your version of what happened.
Back to honesty, let me reiterate something that cannot be stressed enough. If you’re guilty of something, admit it, step up to the plate, and take whatever whacks you have coming, because if you lie about it, you are only digging the hole much deeper. Dishonesty shows a lack of respect – lack of respect for yourself, the courts, the traffic system, the police, and the rest of us. You’re either guilty of something, or you’re not. Don’t lie about it. If you don’t remember what happened, just say so. There is no shame in that.
The third step in the request for leniency is to stay on point. Nobody wants to know the entire story of the past year from a defendant in traffic court. They don’t want to hear about your kids. They don’t want to hear your life saga. The reason is that what they really want to know is why you think the court should cut you a break. They want to know exactly what led to the traffic stop at issue, and whether there are extenuating circumstances. Some judges will ask you this directly, stating something such as "So, how was it that you came to be in the wrong lane?" The reality is that what the traffic judge wants to know is why you made the decision at the moment you made it. Were you avoiding a deer? Was there an emergency that you were responding to? You need to focus on the moment in question, and the moments immediately before and after. The judge will not be interested in anything that you have to say about a traffic stop from eighteen months ago. This is not to say that you can’t say something about your driving record on the whole – it may advance your position considerably – but only to the extent that it paints a picture of the events in question. What the traffic judge needs to hear about is why you did what you did on that day. That is the crux of the issue, and you need to spend only enough time to answer it.

Emphasizing Personal Circumstances

Factors that can positively impact the outcome of your traffic violation case include personal circumstances. Those can include, but are not limited to: financial hardship, medical issues, and family obligations (such as being a single parent). You can present those personal circumstances before the traffic court judge in a statement , in a letter, or in testimony if you are called to testify. Drawing attention to your personal circumstances and explaining any mitigating factors concerning your traffic violation in a factual manner will be important for the judge to hear.

The Potential Role of a Lawyer in Seeking Leniency

The industry standard is to appear in traffic court without a lawyer. Most people believe that a lawyer is too expensive to be cost effective, and that it is better to work directly with the traffic court system. This is usually the wrong belief.
A good traffic lawyer will often be able to accomplish what you want without even going to traffic court. If the traffic violation is not serious, the lawyer can go directly to the prosecutor to come to a deal favorable to all involved.
In serious cases, a lawyer will know exactly how to speak to the judge and prosecutor. The lawyer already knows the traffic prosecutors and the judge. There is already a working relationship there, and because of this it’s much easier for the traffic lawyer to request leniency and know that it will be granted.
A traffic lawyer can handle your case for you. No matter how complicated, a good lawyer has the skills to make sure you have a successful result. Even simple traffic tickets, like red light camera tickets, can be difficult to navigate, and having a lawyer present the case for you is a great time-saver.
In over 90 percent of cases, a traffic ticket can be handled by the lawyer instead of having you appear in court. If the lawyer has to go to court, then the lawyer handles the case for you and notifies you of the result after the fact. The only time you would have to appear in court is if the traffic ticket is very serious and the need for leniency is greater than normal. A good traffic lawyer knows when those cases are because he or she is in court every day.

Next Steps Following the Hearing

As important as what happens in the court is what you do afterward in following up with the outcome. It is critical to make sure that your case has been resolved in a manner consistent with what the court has promised to do. If the judge applies special rules, consent orders, or other "deals," it is imperative that you continue to follow up to ensure that those orders are implemented. If the judge has given a special ruling or order, keep a copy of that with you at subsequent court appearances as a reminder, as well as to remind the judge that there is something pending.
An example of how this might work is within the context of a deferment. An attorney goes into traffic court and gets an immediate deferment of a traffic ticket for six months. A written deferment order is provided to the Court and the officer, and the violation is dismissed by the Court. The attorney is informed that the offender does not need to appear again before the Court. Six months later, the person receives a notification that their case is again set for the return date. The individual shows up and inquires why they have received notice on the same charge. The Court informs them that it has "no record of getting the deferment , " which is because the officer (wrongly) did not file the order into Court. In this case, follow-up from the attorney when the timely notice of the deferment is given would quickly remedy the situation.
Appeal might not be an option in a traffic Departmental Hearing; however, if the case was prosecuted in a District Court, an appeal may be an option. If you do not agree with the outcome and believe there are potential grounds for appeal, you should always advise your client of their right to appeal. A right to appeal exists under any circumstance where the person is not satisfied with the outcome of the case. If the judge does not give an adequate explanation for the decision, you should get the judge’s permission to record the proceedings so the judge will be bound to an adequate explanation. Also, be sure you always get your motions in at the proper time. The Court is required to respond to the motion and, if it fails to do so, a higher court may overturn the conviction for failure to afford the defendant due process.