Careless Driving Ticket

I live in NJ and my 18 year old son got a ticket for careless driving. He went to court to plead guilty to a lesser charge with no points. He already has two points thats why he went to court. He also has some other tickets downgraded.He plead guilty to unsafe operation of a vehicle and the fine was $232.Careless driving fine is $78 and 2 points. Today he gets a letter from DMV saying that ticket gave him four points because it was the 2nd downgraded ticket.The person at Motor Vehicle said Motor Vehicle adds those points after the second and all the courts, prosecuters and judges know that. The law went into effect in July 2001. Why didn't the prosecuter tell him he would have been better off pleading guilty to careless driving. The judge told him it couldn't be downgraded but stll charges him that much money.
When we paid the fine the clerk said they were putting it in as 0 points but MV would give the points.What recourse is there?. Motor Vehicle said maybe the judge would reopen the case. If he reopens the case he goes back to 2 points. What do you think his chances are. thanks

[JETX]

"Why didn't the prosecuter tell him he would have been better off pleading guilty to careless driving."

Sorry, but that is not the prosecutors job. That is the job for your son's attorney if he had one. If he didn't, then it would be his job to recognize ALL the consequences of any pleading.

The judge did tell him it couldn't be downgraded so why not find him guilty of the original charge. Also how can 4 points be assessed on a 2 point ticket.
Plus the court send it to Motor Vehicle as a downgraded ticket.Why would the court do that if they knew it couldn't be downgraded?
If he didn't understand what he was doing, wouldn't that be grounds to reopen the case?

[JETX]

No. There is no statutory (or even ethical) requirement for a judge or prosecutor to explain the laws to a defendant. That is what defense attorneys are for, ESPECIALLY in a plea bargain.

So basically the DA told this guy a fertilizer intensive story to get him nailed?

[JETX]

Qadaq, again you are proving your naivete regarding these issues.

Re-read the thread. There is NOTHING that says the DA gave false or misleading information ("fertilizer intensive story").

The key to this entire thread is the question, "Why didn't the prosecuter tell him he would have been better off pleading guilty to careless driving."

And the answer is, it is NOT the prosecutors job to explain ALL of the legal remedies available to a defendant. That is the defense attorneys job. And if a defendent decides to proceed without benefit of counsel, that is the defendants choice.

The second key to this is, "When we paid the fine the clerk said they were putting it in as 0 points but MV would give the points."
It is obvious that the court tried to handle this as a zero point offense, but the DMV (apparently when they saw that this was a multiple offender), applied points to his DMV record. The court has little or no control over the driving record of the offender, that is in the DMV's scope. A verbal statement by a DMV 'person' that "all the courts, prosecuters and judges know that" is not sufficient to challenge the courts decision.

Bottom line....
An unprepared defendant went to court to plea a case down. He did so. He found out that he didn't 'realize' all the repercussions of his accepted plea. Case closed.

But the judge DID KNOW it could not be downgraded. He told him that.
The court clerk told me they were sending it in to MV as a 0 points but Motor Vehicle told me the ticket was sent to them with 4 points. They told me to go back to the court and see f the judge would reopen it.
I told Motor Vehicles another words the court ripped my son off and the person from Motor Vehicle agreed.

Also the procesuter did mislead him, he had a copy of his driving record there and knew that he really couldn't downgrade when he told him he could. Also I still don't understand why they can assess 4 points on a 2 point ticket. The other ticket he got a year ago was because some guy called on a cell phone and said my son almost hit his car. There were no witnessess. The guy who called was gone when the cops came. The kid who was in the car wit my son didn't know the cop was behind him nd threw a cigarette butt out the window. My son got a ticket for both.Even though the other kid told the cop h did it. Whenhe went to court the littering ticket was dropped but he got a careless driving with 2 points.
His ticket that was downgraded 6 months ago was for going outside the lanes of the highway. I forget exactly what the ticket said. Something like improper lanes. That ticket was downgraded
The other ticket that was downgraded was going through a yellow light. That was the other downgrade.
The tickets are serious enough but he is not a bad kid. He doesn't drink and drive. Actually he doesn't even drink or take drugs. He's in his first year of college and works. Sometimes I think the cops just like to mess with young male drivers.

Good News
The court clerk just called and said she spoke to the judge and he is willing to reopen the case.
She said he had no idea of the consequences of pleading to a downgraded ticket.
She was making a note to the judge and procesuter so that next time they can tell the person the consequences of pleading to a downgraded ticket and then let them make their choice.

[JETX]

Surprises happen all the time... you must have gotten a very lenient or understanding judge!!

You need to thank him for his actions when this is all done. He did far more than most would have.