Right to Request Forum

[sefnfot]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I have heard that if you are given a driving citation that you can request to have the venue seen at any court in the jurisdiction.

Is this true?

Like for example , In the county of LA you can request the forum to be heard in Lancaster; which is 3 hours away from the other end of LA and so the chances are the citing officer wont show up.

Is this true?

 

[CdwJava]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I have heard that if you are given a driving citation that you can request to have the venue seen at any court in the jurisdiction.

Is this true?

Wrong.

CVC 40502 allows the defendant to request to be cited into the county seat. It does not address citations into the court of your choosing.

Like for example , In the county of LA you can request the forum to be heard in Lancaster; which is 3 hours away from the other end of LA and so the chances are the citing officer wont show up.

Is this true?

Los Angeles is probably the only county in the state with multiple traffic courts in the county seat of the City of Los Angeles. I do not know whether they allow the defendant to request which court in the city to appear in, or, whether that is the officer's choice. The second largest city in the state, San Diego, has only one traffic court so that makes L.A. an anomaly.

 

[sefnfot]

The officer stated that if I wanted to have the hearing right away then he would have to arrest me.

Is that true?

 

[CdwJava]

The officer stated that if I wanted to have the hearing right away then he would have to arrest me.

Is that true?

Sort of. You do have a right to demand to be taken before a magistrate immediately. However, as a practical matter, most courts are not available. You might be brought before a judge who will say he is busy and then remand you in to custody.

There might be some counties where remands can actually have a hearing during business hours, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.

 

[FlyingRon]

Well it's not surprising. LA (city) is three times the population of San Diego (city), though on only about 25% more land.

As pointed out, if you were cited in Lancaster, you could request to be heard in LA if that was closer to you but it doesn't work the other way around.

 

[CdwJava]

Well it's not surprising. LA (city) is three times the population of San Diego (city), though on only about 25% more land.

But you should see the number of people that show up for traffic court in San Diego! And parking? Yeesh! It's a zoo.