ScofflawIGuess
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas - though I currently live out of state.
I have a couple of traffic warrants on me from Texas. My current driver's license in another state has not been suspended so far as I know, but I have received a certified letter on one of the warrants threatening to do notify my state and suspend, or send to a collection agency, or both, if I don't pay up and/or appear by Friday, March 30.
One warrant is from Irving, speeding with a seat-belt violation, three years ago. It started at a little under $500 but with all the costs and penalties is now about $820. Almost a thousand bucks for a traffic ticket!
Another is for a handicapped parking ticket in Midland about 13 months ago, started at $500 and grown to at least $640.
Did call one lawyer in Midland who told me they are pretty much death on handicapped parking and I'm pretty much S.O.L. though I could hire him to go out and see if the space was properly marked (I know it was), etc.
Anyway I owe something around $1,500 for two frickin' tickets and don't really want to part with that much cash. I've got some time off from work coming anyway, and am thinking about just driving over to Tx and doing the time.
Does anybody know what the "exchange rate" for jail time on Texas fines is?
The lawyer in Midland said that the last client he had do this, a couple months ago, it was $100 credit a day but said it may be different in Irving. I checked on the web and it looks like the Texas Criminal Procedure Code calls this a "Capias Pro Fine" and sets the punishment at one "period" for every $100 owed but that a period could be as little as eight hours, but as many as 24.
And one guy who served out a fine in Frisco, Tex., a couple years ago said they only gave $50 credit a day in that town, though the jail there he said wasn't all that bad.
So I was confused.
Has anybody served out a fine? Is it $100 a day, or is the "period" something else?
A couple more questions: If I turn myself in to one of the two jails and there is a warrant out in the other town too -- which there is -- can I just serve it all in one place? There's no danger they're gonna cuff me into a prison van and ship me across the state to do the other term, is there? And finally, since this is technically jail time but still for a Class C misdemeanor, does it go on my record any different than if I just coughed up the cash?
Thanks.
I have a couple of traffic warrants on me from Texas. My current driver's license in another state has not been suspended so far as I know, but I have received a certified letter on one of the warrants threatening to do notify my state and suspend, or send to a collection agency, or both, if I don't pay up and/or appear by Friday, March 30.
One warrant is from Irving, speeding with a seat-belt violation, three years ago. It started at a little under $500 but with all the costs and penalties is now about $820. Almost a thousand bucks for a traffic ticket!
Another is for a handicapped parking ticket in Midland about 13 months ago, started at $500 and grown to at least $640.
Did call one lawyer in Midland who told me they are pretty much death on handicapped parking and I'm pretty much S.O.L. though I could hire him to go out and see if the space was properly marked (I know it was), etc.
Anyway I owe something around $1,500 for two frickin' tickets and don't really want to part with that much cash. I've got some time off from work coming anyway, and am thinking about just driving over to Tx and doing the time.
Does anybody know what the "exchange rate" for jail time on Texas fines is?
The lawyer in Midland said that the last client he had do this, a couple months ago, it was $100 credit a day but said it may be different in Irving. I checked on the web and it looks like the Texas Criminal Procedure Code calls this a "Capias Pro Fine" and sets the punishment at one "period" for every $100 owed but that a period could be as little as eight hours, but as many as 24.
And one guy who served out a fine in Frisco, Tex., a couple years ago said they only gave $50 credit a day in that town, though the jail there he said wasn't all that bad.
So I was confused.
Has anybody served out a fine? Is it $100 a day, or is the "period" something else?
A couple more questions: If I turn myself in to one of the two jails and there is a warrant out in the other town too -- which there is -- can I just serve it all in one place? There's no danger they're gonna cuff me into a prison van and ship me across the state to do the other term, is there? And finally, since this is technically jail time but still for a Class C misdemeanor, does it go on my record any different than if I just coughed up the cash?
Thanks.
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