What to expect in court

[AARDVARKEXTRA]

What is the name of your state? GA

Don't know if this exactly fits in this forum, but here goes nothing anyway...

A friend of mine, age 19, was arrested for a DUI charge about 8 months ago and was recently convicted. At the time of her arrest, she was given a temporary driver's permit and has been driving with it up until a few weeks ago when she was convicted and had her license suspended for a full year.

However, approximately 6 weeks ago (before the DUI conviction), she was pulled over for an improper lane change and realized that her permit was not in the car. She was cited for both an improper lane change and no-proof of drivers license. She planned on simply paying the fines and being done with it. Unfortunately, she quite simply misread her tickets and missed her court date as of a few days ago, and obviously there is now a bench warrant out for her arrest. We contacted the municipal court, who said that she needed to come down immediately and sit in for a court session, which she plans on doing tomorrow (she will not be driving, of course). She is afraid that due to the fact that there is now a warrant out for her arrest, combined with the fact that these new infractions occured during the time between her DUI arrest and conviction, that she runs a high risk of being taken into custody and incarcerated for a period of time. I believe that she will simply have to wait around for a while, listen to a judge give her some harsh words, and pay her fines and any sort of additional fees she's accrued and this will all be over.

I realize that this varies from situation to situation, but she wants to be prepared for what is likely to happen tomorrow. Any experience/advice to provide in this situation? Thanks in advance.

[moburkes]

Seniorjudge will be by, but your friend should be prepared to spend some time in the pokey.

[seniorjudge]

I think you need to bring your toothbrush with you; you have absolutely no intention of co-operating with the court system so the pokey is the judge's only choice.


Standard answer

Here are some hints on appearing in court:

Dress professionally in clean clothes.

Do not wear message shirts.

Don't chew gum, smoke, or eat. (Smokers...pot or tobacco...literally stink. Remember that before you head for court.)

Bathe and wash your hair.

Do not bring small children or your friends.

Go to court beforehand some day before you actually have to go to watch how things go.

Speak politely and deferentially. If you argue or dispute something, do it professionally and without emotion.

Ask the court clerk who you talk to about a diversion (meaning you want to plead to a different, lesser charge), if applicable in your situation. Ask about traffic school and that the ticket not go on your record, if applicable. Ask also about getting a hardship driving permit, if applicable. Ask about drug court, if applicable.

From marbol:

“Judge...

You forgot the one thing that I've seen that seems to frizz up most judges these days:

If you have a cell phone, make DAMN SURE that it doesn't make ANY noise in the courtroom. This means when you are talking to the judge AND when you are simply sitting in the court room.

If you have a ‘vibrate’ position on your cell phone, MAKE sure the judge DOESN'T EVEN HEAR IT VIBRATE!

Turn it off or put it in silent mode where it flashes a LED if it rings. AND DON'T even DREAM about answering it if it rings.”

(Better yet, don’t carry your cell phone into the courtroom.)”


Here are seven stories that criminal court judges hear the most (and I suggest you do not use them or variations of them):

1. I’ve been saved! (This is not religion specific; folks from all kinds of religious backgrounds use this one.)

2. My girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter/wife/ex-wife/niece/grandma/grand-daughter is pregnant/sick/dying/dead/crippled/crazy and needs my help.

3. I’ve got a job/military posting in [name a place five hundred miles away].

4. This is the first time I ever did this. (This conflicts with number 5 below, but that hasn’t stopped some defendants from using both.)

5. You’ve got the wrong guy. (A variation of this one is the phantom defendant story: “It wasn’t me driving, it was a hitchhiker I picked up. He wrecked the car, drug me behind the wheel then took off.” Or, another variation: “I was forced into it by a bad guy!”)

6. I was influenced by a bad crowd.

7. I/my kid/my whatever has surgery scheduled.


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Public defender’s advice

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Other people may give you other advice; stand by.