Speeding ticket getting out of control

[Livinon2]

Well I am 20 y.o. male and I go to school in Atlanta, GA but my home is in Houston, TX. I received a speeding ticket for 55 in a 35 on 4/20/2007 in Atlanta, but the officer recorded the zone as 30. This bumped the ticket up a tier in prices and since I am under 21 so I was forced to appear in court by GA law. BUT since I was in school and I was planning on returning home for the summer my housing ended over a week before my court date 5/11. I called the court multiple times and every person I talked to just read me the laws. I repeatedly tried to get somebody with authority on the phone but it never worked. All I had learned was that I should write the judge a letter to explain my situation and reschedule my court date, but once again another problem. Due to studying abroad I will not be in Atlanta again until August 2008. So I wrote a letter explaining my situation and enclosed pictures with a map of the posted speed limit of 35 mph. I then took a trip to the court house and I thought I could talk to somebody with authority to do something, but once again I heard the same things. I gave the girl my letter and she gave me a stamped copy proving I brought in a letter. I then just waited and after a week of not receiving anything in the mail after my court date I checked my ticket online. It now says that a warrant has been issued for my arrest for "Failure to Appear". I feel like I've gotten in way over my head and no longer have any ideas on what to do. I am a student with a perfect record and very little money to hire an attorney or pay extra fines. Also I never plead not guilty to the clocked speed of 55mph I instead plead guilty in my letter. How can I dig myself out of this hole?

[moburkes]

Turn yourself in. Pay for the warrant. Then go to court, and plead guilty, and pay your fine.

[lwpat]

Actually, you have already plead guilty. While some courts will accept a letter instead of a personal appearance, some won't. If you plead guilty you have to pay the fine prior to or on your court date. By showing up you could probably kept this ticket off your record. All you can do now is pay the fines with a letter asking for the FTA to be dismissed and your money returned. But don't hold your breath, part of each fine in GA goes into the judge's retirement system.

[Livinon2]

I would've liked to have gone to my court date but I couldn't. My housing at school ended a week and a half before it. I also told the judge in my letter that I am willing to pay the full fine for 25 over even though the true speed was only 20 over. I'm beginning to wonder if he even got my letter. I just want this off my back and off my record. Am I going to HAVE to appear in court? I wont be back in Atlanta till august 2008. I'd prefer to handle this through mail. Do they not have protocol to handle people from out of state?

[lwpat]

Curt, he says he is out of the country. All he can do right now is to send in the money for the fines telling them he is out of the country. If he pays both fines, the court may drop the warrant. Exactly what part of my post do you not agree with?

[moburkes]

Originally Posted by lwpat

Curt, he says he is out of the country. All he can do right now is to send in the money for the fines telling them he is out of the country. If he pays both fines, the court may drop the warrant. Exactly what part of my post do you not agree with?

Why do you say that he is out of the country?

Well I am 20 y.o. male and I go to school in Atlanta, GA but my home is in Houston, TX.

BUT since I was in school and I was planning on returning home for the summer

I wont be back in Atlanta till august 2008. I'd prefer to handle this through mail. Do they not have protocol to handle people from out of state?

[The Occultist]

He probably got confused by "studying abroad", which people often take to mean to go to school out of the country, when really it just means going to any school other than your own for only a semester or two.

[The Occultist]

Originally Posted by Curt581

How can you say he already plead Guilty...

I think his not showing up for court suggested an automatic plea of guilty.

[lwpat]

Not so. He could also return and appear in person.

Not until he gets back in the States. He stated he was going abroad to study. It is quite common for college students to go to Europe for the summer. My recommendation was to do something immediately. If that statement in the OP is wrong, then he has no reason not to go to court.

Where did you get both fines?

The original fine for the ticket and the fine for the FTA.

There's nothing says that'll happen. They may hold the dollar amount, but keep the FTA in the system.

I agree. "May" in my post means just that. A traffic court judge can pretty much do what he wants.

How can you say he already plead Guilty, then in the same breath say:

I didn't say he plead guilty. He said that in his post. He plead guilty but didn't pay the fine, that's where the problem started. Some courts will consider a letter, reduce the fine and then notify you of the new amount you owe. The OP probably thought that was what was going to happen. I was simply pointing out that procedures vary from court to court, even in GA, and you have to follow the local court procedures. If you want to plead not guilty and request a trial, you can usually fax that in to the clerk and not have to show for the arraignment. However, you can't assume without checking with the clerk.

If the court wouldn't accept a letter in lieu of personal appearance, why would they accept a guilty plea by mail?

Courts accept guilty pleas by mail as a routine matter. That's what happens when you pay the fine.

According to his post, he's already been told by the clerk of courts that he can't do that. All a letter can do is reschedule a new appearance date. There's no way they'll calendar it out to August of '08.

You don't know that and neither do I. If he pays everything explaining that he is out of the country and sends in proof (airplane tickets etc.), then the judge might drop the warrant or reschedule. I have seen traffic cases go on for more than a year. The clerk is not the one that makes the final decision, at least in most places.