Am I obliged by law to allow juvenile proceedings on my son for a traffic violation?

[cenlabillyp]

I live in Central Louisiana. Recently, my son was ticketed for failure to provide proof of license involving an accident that was not his fault. He has a permit that requires a licensed adult driver to be in the car with him. He was indeed in vilation of this requirement. However, due to the severity of the collision (he was rearended at a traffic light) he was not able to find his license/permit as the truck was really messed up. Anyway, I went to court with him expecting to have to pay a fine for him Driving W/O a license. The judge remanded his case to a thing here called Teen Court. So, we went to this teen court and when he was sentenced at the court I refused to sign the papers authorizing their punishment as it just seemed entirely to severe -especilly in light of the punishment he had already endured by me. I did so with the idea in mind to get this thing back into traffic court and let it be settled there. Now, I understand that I am in contempt of court and may very well face a charge myself for not having complied with documents I signed allowing Teen Court to proceed. Actually, I was never asked by anyone if I desired his offense to be prosecuted in this fashion. Papers were thrown in front of me to sign and I did. This problem is eacerbated by the fact that I have quite a lot at stake if I were convicted for this contempt charge. So my question is on several levels. First, am I obliged by law to allow this to be handled in Juvenile Court? Second, is this a thing I should get an attorney for? I live on a fixed income and that would be very hard for me. Are there any resources in Louisiana I can pursue to help in this matter? Please, any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[The Occultist]

Are you kidding me? YES, your must allow your child to be handed whatever the court gives him. If parents had a say in whether or not their child could receive legal punishment, this country would be a lot different. Stop wasting everybody's time!

 

[cenlabillyp]

At the risk of wasting more of your time

Please forgive me, so the parent has absolutely no say in wether or not he as the childs only advocate in the matter wishes it to be pursued in a regular adult court? I mean after all, we are discussing a traffic ticket. And again, please excuse me for wasting your valuable time dear sir.

 

[fairisfair]

Please forgive me, so the parent has absolutely no say in wether or not he as the childs only advocate in the matter wishes it to be pursued in a regular adult court? I mean after all, we are discussing a traffic ticket. And again, please excuse me for wasting your valuable time dear sir.

Don't be getting an attitude or you will find no one will help you here. You do not get to dictate to the court, how, when, or where the proceedings against your son are held. Nor, do you get to choose the punishment meted out by the court. Get over yourself.

 

[CdwJava]

Teen courts are an alternative to criminal courts. Depending on how it is fashioned into LA state law, this MAY be a way of adjudicating the matter WITHOUT it going on any permanent record. However, since teen courts and their legal processes vary by state, I cannot say whether this is something you need to have agreed to before or after ... but, keep in mind that it is possible that this IS where ALL such matters go as a matter of law. And even if it is not, complying with the result could provide for fewer long term consequences for your son.

In your case it sounds as if the court transferred the matter to this Teen Court. That would seem to make it a venue that is NOT an option for you to agree or disagree. You have no say in the sentence of the court whether you think it is too severe or not.

You can Google "Teen Court" and "Louisiana" and get a number of hits. Here is one for a listing of LA teen courts:

http://www.youthcourt.net/national_listing/United_states/queryLA.asp

And one for general info on Teen Court programs:

http://www.ncsconline.org/WC/Publications/KIS_JuvJus_Trends02_TeenPub.pdf

And, if you must, contact an attorney.

- Carl

 

[cenlabillyp]

Thanks

Thank you Cdw. Your post was most informative. I suppose now I should find myself a lawyer as well. Any advice for a person new to a given location on how to find a reasonably priced competent lawyer in his area? Honestly, matters of law are not my forte' else I wouldn't be posting here. Another thing, when trying to follow the link provided with this forum on posting your case to an attorney, no matter what area of law I click on, I inevitably end up in the Family Law section and it does not provide any suitable section to cover this. Anyway, thanks again for your help. Peope like you are the only thing that make the ridicule one invariably receives from these Internet forums worthwhile.

 

[CdwJava]

You're welcome.

As for how best to get an attorney in your area, all I can say is that unless you know people who have had an attorney, it can be a "crap shoot". I would recommend you present your matter to at least three attorneys and see what they have to say. Then, go with whatever one seems to have the most informed answer. The best informed attorney is not necessarily the one that can guarantee a dismissal or tell you what you want to hear. There may well be nothing you can do save comply with the order as presented ... if you signed the papers permitting the Teen Court to make the adjudication, you are likely out of luck in fighting it on the grounds that it is too severe. But, since LA law is founded largely upon the Code Napoleon, and not English Common Law as the other 49 states are, your state has nuances that most of us cannot quite comprehend.

Good luck, and be resigned to the strong likelihood that your son will have to comply with whatever the Teen Court presented. And remember that you don't do HIM any good if YOU go to jail.

- Carl

 

[magic55]

Did he tell the officer he had a license?

A more serious event could occur when the court finds out that its not that he couldnt show proof of license, that he had absolutely no license at all. Driving with out a license. A much more serious offense.

 

[cenlabillyp]

It is my understanding that the investigating officer asked him for his license and my son told him it was in the truck. As the wreck was serious enough that looking in the car was obviously futile, (the truck war rearended and smashed into another vehicle in front as well) there was no attempt made by the officer nor was any suggestion made that my son should try to find it.

That being said, the penalty for driving without a license in this state for first offense is a fine of 180.00. He incidentally has acquired his license since that happened and went to court prepared to pay the fine when it was remanded to Juvenile Court in what honestly appeared to me to be a gesture made by the presiding judge to be a matter of leniency by her wording and the fact that it was almost an afterthought.

In all honesty, the fine seems far more reasonable to me than the punishment inflicted in Teen Court. I am restricted by law to refrain from describing any of the events that occurred in Teen Court but I will say that I feel it is NOT what is represented to be on this location.

The fact that seems to bear repeating here is that this is a TRAFFIC VIOLATION not a criminal violation and I feel it is wrong that simply because he is a juvenile that he should bear the same penalty afforded to CRIMINAL offenders in the same venue.

I really can not elaborate any further as I may be in violation of the law regarding Teen Court by doing so.

And though what I did was a thing I felt to be the "right thing" to do by my son. The fact is that I am now far more concerned with the charge "I" face than his.

 

[CdwJava]

Driving without a license can also result in a revocation of his license by the DMV - in addition to any fines he might be assessed.

Not knowing how the teen court operates in your state, I hesitate to make any generalities. But, I was privy to Teen Court proceedings in san Diego County as we were looking to expand the program and I was on a team looking into that possibility. What we found was that the teens (the defendant's peers) were far harsher than the courts would ever be. Personally, I found that to be refreshing. First, it reminded me that some kids DO know the difference between right and wrong. And, second, it might be enough to make the kid refrain from commiting the offense again. I have found far too often that a fine (usually paid by mom and dad) does next to nothing to deter further misbehavior.

As for your potential problem, consult an attorney to pre-empt any issues.


- Carl

 

[cenlabillyp]

Thanks Carl. I am following your previous suggestion regarding this.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

You signed the waiver accepting jurisdiciton by the "Teen Court" which is the appropriate court of jurisdiction. you can't challenge jurisdiction after the fact because you don't like the judgement, that is not grounds for appeal, thus your behavior is in contempt of court. Nothing prevents you from stating here the sentence/judgement.
A court in it's descretion may amend the charges based on the evidence, so the initial charge of driving without a license can be amended to include other factors. So while your son was charged with DWL which would have normally been easily respoled by presenting to the court evidence of his driver's license being in effect at the time of the accident and simply a fine or alternative sentence, in fact he presented false information to the officer in stating that his "LICENSE" was in the truck as opposed to his permit which requires a licensed driver to accompany him, so when the actual facts came out in teen court the judge used their discretion to sentence your child, something to which you had already agreed. Since he was driving without both a license and his permit, most jurisdicitons would also suspend any license and or not allow him to obtain a license for a prescribed period of time. Thus his atempt to circumvent the law by obtaining a license in the interum was an intentional act meant to interfere with justice. What exactly did you object to, the fine, license suspention, license restrictions, community service???? Was it worth you comitting contempt to protect your child from learning an important lesson, apparently you need to learn a lesson.

 

[cenlabillyp]

Thank you all for your replies and though they were not all what I wanted to hear, they were indeed things I NEEDED to hear. I appreciate your honesty and forthright answers to my questions and feel I have a much better understanding of the path I need to follow. Again, thanks.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Thank you all for your replies and though they were not all what I wanted to hear, they were indeed things I NEEDED to hear. I appreciate your honesty and forthright answers to my questions and feel I have a much better understanding of the path I need to follow. Again, thanks.

Thank you for listening to that which you really didn't want to hear, hopefully, all will learn a valuable lesson.