Illegal Left Turn Questions

[miner2049er]

State - CA.

On January 18, 2005, about 1:30 AM, I pulled up to a stop sign in Pasadena, CA. It was a one way street with three lanes – one left turn lane (with an arrow in the road indicating thus), and two other lanes.

Alongside my car, a friend was in their car in the the left turn lane, and I was in the next, middle lane (to the right of them.)

My intended direction was to go straight over, to enter a south-bound freeway entrance on the other side, but my friend said through our open windows that I needed to go left, to head towards the other north-bound freeway entrance.

I looked for traffic, and there was none, so with it safe to enter the road, I turned my car left in front of my friend’s car, and onto the road.

A few seconds later I was stopped by the California Highway patrol, and given a ticket for an illegal left turn. The officer also indicated on the citation that my driver licence had expired a few weeks previously.

A few days later I renewed my driver licence.

On the foot of my yellow traffic ticket (“NOTICE TO APPEAR” on top) was written: WITHOUT ADMITTING GUILT, I PROMISE TO APPEAR AT THE TIME AND PLACE INDICATED BELOW then there was my signature, then the officer had written in the date/time “031005 0830 AM” and then then the address of the Superior Court in Pasadena.

Following the incident, I wanted to know some things, such as what was going to happen on March 10, and also what were my potential fine(s). So on…

Jan 23, 2005 - I called (626) 744-4611 and spoke with Maria who said the details were not yet in the the computer, and to call back in 5 days. She said she was located in the city attorney’s office, and that she was the only Maria there.

Jan 30 and Feb 01 - I spoke to the assistant court administrator at (626) 356-5258, and on both occasions was told it was not yet in the system.

Feb 16 - I called (626) 356-5265 and spoke with Justin in the Traffic Dept. of Pasadena Court, and was told “nothing yet”.

Feb 23 – I called CHP (California Highway Patrol) and spoke to Ann who transferred me to officer Guittierez (#1566) who said it was in Pasadena City Attorney’s office on Feb 08.

Same day, I called Pasadena Court and spoke with a Mr. Ramos, who told me “not in system”. He then said “I will try imaging” (nobody else had suggested this before.) I then spoke to supervisor Maria Camacho, who said I should call Criminal cases (626) 296-8100 and also that CHP (California Highway Patrol) have a year to file citation. I spoke to Dawn in Criminal, who said I should be talking to Traffic.

Incidentally, every time I have visited the online citation details lookup at:

[url]https://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/Traffic/index.asp[/url]

it has been unable to pull up my citation. I have been doing this every week since I was stopped.

As you can see, I have not been able to obtain ANY information over the phone from any of the relevant authorities.

I’ve done a little basic research on the internet, but there’s much I wish to find out…

(1) How should I plead? The expired licence was indeed out of date a few weeks, but with the illegal left turn should I plead (a) not-guilty, because the driver in the left turn lane indicated for me to turn in front of them? or (b) guilty, but with mitigating circumstances?

(2) Should I have got a courtesy notice in the mail?

(3) What exactly is happening on March 10? (The “promise to appear” date on my citation.) Is that my “appearance date”, when I appear before the judge to give my plea?

(4) If not, when do I appear before a judge?

(5) When/how do I obtain a Trial by Declaration?

(6) What are my potential fines/bail amount(s)?

(7) Where are my citation details i.e. why have court employees never been able to find them when I called, and why doesn’t the online system show anything?

(8) How can I obtain the citing officer’s notes from the time I was stopped?

(9) How can I request the officer be present at my trial / appearance?

(10) How do I get any sort of extension?

Thanks in advance for any advice.