Reckless Driving Charge

What is the name of your state? Virginia
I was taking my daughter to a doctors appointment on 08/23/06 and had only had my 2006 Nissan Altima a week and was not used to driving a car with that much horse power, I had a Hyundai Santa Fe with no horse power prior to this and was still trying to get used to it. Coming out of a hairpin turn going up hill and my tires squeaked as I was rounding the corner to begin the climb up the s-turn hill I made the turn too wide and my car slid on gravel and that is when the officer that was sitting on the side of the road saw me then pulled me over and gave me a reckless driving ticket. I tried to explain the situation to the officer and he said that if I told the judge what happened he might change the charge. Prior to this ticket I have had no moving or driving violations in 6 years.

On 10/26/06 I went to court and told my story and the judge found me guilty and told me to pay a fine of $75.
I have a Clearance and need help to try and fix this so that I do not loss it or get it suspended in anyway if anyone could help that would be great. Thank you

You pled guilty and were sentenced.

You cannot appeal.

What is it you want to do?

you can appeal to circuit court - I'm not sure if it will be a re-trial or you argue the disrtict court erred. call the district court to find out... you need to do so soon i'm sure...

gravel on road does raise a defense...

see:
http://www.boselawfirm.com/reckless.pdf

Curt581 said:

John Lovett from Saturday Night Live:

Yes, that's right. The District Court ERRED in accepting her GUILTY PLEA.

Yeah... that's it.... that's what happened. They erred. That's the ticket.

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Too bad she never mentioned anything about a guilty plea in the posting

In VA you also have "good" points earned for every year of driving without a ticket - perhaps that will help some.

cepe10 said:

Too bad she never mentioned anything about a guilty plea in the posting

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According to the OP's story, she was guilty of the charge. Sure, she has an explanation, but she was still just explaining her guilt, not arguing guilt or innocence. So, if she told the judge her story as told here, she admitted guilt.

OP - did you tell the judge that it happened, but you wanted to explain?