Miss Julie
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I was sentenced to 16 months in state prison. I served 8 months from April 2011 - December 2011.
While I was there, I sent a form to the DMV requesting dismissal pursuant to Vehicle Code Section 41500. Shortly after, I received a response from them listing the tickets that they showed outstanding and that they'd been taken care of. I also received notices from the respective county courts saying the same thing.
There were 3 tickets that the DMV did not have notice of, so they weren't able to clear those. After talking with the public defender, I sent an Ex Parte Application to Dismiss Non-Felony Traffic Citations Pursuant to VC 41500 to the Riverside County, California court (that's where the tickets were from) I never heard back.
After I was released and I was home, I renewed my driver's license. I started getting notices from collections stating that I owed fines on unpaid tickets. I sent another Ex Parte request for dismissal and never heard back.
July of this year, I received a notice from the DMV stating that my license was about to be suspended due to an unpaid traffic ticket that occurred in 2010.
I called the court collections and he told me that the court received the request for dismissal and denied it in May of 2011. I told him that was impossible since I didn't even send the request until September 2011. (It turns out the hearing in May 2011 was where they had a trial in absentia, addressing the FTP on the 2010 ticket. I was in prison at that time so I couldn't have been there anyway.)
I went online and looked up all the tickets to see the status of them. There were 3 tickets still outstanding (two from 2003 and one from 2010) with no mention of them even receiving the request for dismissal.
All three also listed that a DMV hold was placed in or before 2010, yet the DMV never had a record of them. (The DMV STILL doesn't have a record of the two from 2003 and yet the court is charging me a $10 DMV fee for each of them)
In August of this year, I put together another Ex Parte Application to Dismiss Non-Felony Traffic Citations Pursuant to VC 41500 listing all 3 tickets, along with a letter explaining that I'd sent it before and was sending it again.
I received a response back from the court in September which consisted of the minutes from the hearings they held addressing my requests.
It says:
I don't understand how they can deny it, since the way I understand the VC is that it says the court is required to dismiss them. The citations were pending at the time of my incarceration and I was incarcerated in a state prison facility.
In regards to the civil assessment fee, the way I understand the California Code, it says that the court may impose a civil assessment of up to $300. One of the tickets shows a civil assessment of $600 in the case report online - despite the fact that the minute order says it's only supposed to be $300. From what I've researched, they can't do any of this...
Am I incorrect in thinking that they're wrong? If I am correct, how do I go about challenging this? Should I just send a letter to the judge or is there a way to officially appeal it or something? I don't live locally to the court anymore so I'm trying to avoid having to go all the way down there if I can resolve it by mail.
I was sentenced to 16 months in state prison. I served 8 months from April 2011 - December 2011.
While I was there, I sent a form to the DMV requesting dismissal pursuant to Vehicle Code Section 41500. Shortly after, I received a response from them listing the tickets that they showed outstanding and that they'd been taken care of. I also received notices from the respective county courts saying the same thing.
There were 3 tickets that the DMV did not have notice of, so they weren't able to clear those. After talking with the public defender, I sent an Ex Parte Application to Dismiss Non-Felony Traffic Citations Pursuant to VC 41500 to the Riverside County, California court (that's where the tickets were from) I never heard back.
After I was released and I was home, I renewed my driver's license. I started getting notices from collections stating that I owed fines on unpaid tickets. I sent another Ex Parte request for dismissal and never heard back.
July of this year, I received a notice from the DMV stating that my license was about to be suspended due to an unpaid traffic ticket that occurred in 2010.
I called the court collections and he told me that the court received the request for dismissal and denied it in May of 2011. I told him that was impossible since I didn't even send the request until September 2011. (It turns out the hearing in May 2011 was where they had a trial in absentia, addressing the FTP on the 2010 ticket. I was in prison at that time so I couldn't have been there anyway.)
I went online and looked up all the tickets to see the status of them. There were 3 tickets still outstanding (two from 2003 and one from 2010) with no mention of them even receiving the request for dismissal.
All three also listed that a DMV hold was placed in or before 2010, yet the DMV never had a record of them. (The DMV STILL doesn't have a record of the two from 2003 and yet the court is charging me a $10 DMV fee for each of them)
In August of this year, I put together another Ex Parte Application to Dismiss Non-Felony Traffic Citations Pursuant to VC 41500 listing all 3 tickets, along with a letter explaining that I'd sent it before and was sending it again.
I received a response back from the court in September which consisted of the minutes from the hearings they held addressing my requests.
It says:
"The Court hereby denies said request. Defendant may file request to address FTA/FTP civil assessment. Custody status is not applicable - Correspondence received."
I don't understand how they can deny it, since the way I understand the VC is that it says the court is required to dismiss them. The citations were pending at the time of my incarceration and I was incarcerated in a state prison facility.
In regards to the civil assessment fee, the way I understand the California Code, it says that the court may impose a civil assessment of up to $300. One of the tickets shows a civil assessment of $600 in the case report online - despite the fact that the minute order says it's only supposed to be $300. From what I've researched, they can't do any of this...
Am I incorrect in thinking that they're wrong? If I am correct, how do I go about challenging this? Should I just send a letter to the judge or is there a way to officially appeal it or something? I don't live locally to the court anymore so I'm trying to avoid having to go all the way down there if I can resolve it by mail.