Failure to Appear

What is the name of your state? Virginia

My Name is Robb im 23 from Stafford Virginia. I recently got pulled over for speeding, i got busted for driving on a suspended liscence (which i did not know was suspended cause they sent my papers to an old address, even tho i changed with the dmv) Speeding ( i was in the slow lane, i swear i wasnt speeding) and having no inspection sticker ( the guy didnt sign the back , it was done legally, sort of , i baisically paid for them to pass it)

Instead of going to court and answering more questions about the sticker, i figured i would not show up and just pay the fines. Turns out the Driving on a suspended was searious and the got me with a failure to appear. i went and turned myself over to the police, i was released on my own recogognince (Spelling ??? ) and i just had my araignment today. I requested my trial be in a week from now because i want to get this over with because i am going to join the Army. It turns out imake to much to qualify for a free lawyer ( i make 13,000 a year, the max is 12,300) so i will be defending myself. im afraid i wont be taken seariously and they will give me maxium penalty .... any advice ?

Here are my first impressions:

(1) If you plead guilty to the driving on a suspended license, it might result in having your license suspended AGAIN. Wierd, huh? Therefore, it is important that you get your license valid before going to court. The prosecutor will be hesitant to have you plead if it means your license will be suspended again.

(2) If you really want to join the army, you should hire an attorney to make sure that these proceedings don't affect your eligibility. Call up your recruiter and ask him for advice too. Prosecutors hear all the time "I'm going in the army, so I can't have this conviction on my record" and they don't care. But a letter of intent and some support from the recruiter will help.

(3) If you really, truly aren't going to have a lawyer, then I guess you'll have no option but to deal with the prosecutor. Be wary: they have no responsibility to you so they won't tell you the real ramifications of a guilty plea. If you're put on supervised probation, you won't get off to join the army.

(4) Get an updated inspection of your vehicle and make sure the sticker is legit. Bring it to court.

(5) Once you know your license is valid, get a certified copy of your driving record from your DMV. Might have to go to the state, not just your local office. http://www.dmv.org/va-virginia/driving-records.php
Bring it to court.

Robb22554 said:

Instead of going to court and answering more questions about the sticker, i figured i would not show up and just pay the fines.

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If you want to plea guilty and pay the fines, you must pay them before the court date. You can't just not show up. This is probably what got your license suspended in the first case. You either need to pay or appear. You don't sit around and wait for them to bill you several times.

Turns out the Driving on a suspended was searious and the got me with a failure to appear.

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Yep, it's a mandatory appearance. You could have prepaid the others, but you are required to appear on this one. If you had resolved the issue (paid the ticket) that had lead to the suspension, the judge probably would have let you off.

i went and turned myself over to the police, i was released on my own recogognince (Spelling ??? ) and i just had my araignment today. I requested my trial be in a week from now because i want to get this over with because i am going to join the Army. It turns out imake to much to qualify for a free lawyer ( i make 13,000 a year, the max is 12,300) so i will be defending myself. im afraid i wont be taken seariously and they will give me maxium penalty .... any advice ?

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Resolve all the other tickets you can (the one that got you suspended to begin with plus the ones that you can pay for the inspection and speeding). Get your car legally inspected (or better yet just get rid of it since you won't need it in the Army). Follow Seniorjudges rules for behaving yourself in court. Hope the judge is sympathetic and either lets you off or gives you a suspended sentence or just a fine. The Army won't take you if you get probation I think.

What county is your case in? Hopefully it's not Fairfax.

No , its in stafford. Tomorrow i will go ahead and pay off all the fines i can and i will put my truck in a realatives name.Thanks for the adivice guys.