Worried about court appearance

[Phoebebeesly]

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

I'm not quite sure where this question belongs, so I also posted in the auto accident forum.

I got into an accident a few weeks ago on the Atlanta highway. Fortunately, no one was injured but I have to appear in court. My citation number wouldn't process currently online and it took several days of phone calls to figure out my court date. The time was one I absolutely couldn't make - since it was during a college exam that my professor would not change. So, I mailed in a letter asking for a date change.
Well, a few days ago, my letter came back to me. I'm not sure what happened in the mail. Unfortunately, it came back to me the day before my scheduled court appearance (October 28). I've found out that I now have to show up at court before 8:00am and pay $100 just to be seen in front of the judge. I have a few questions:

- Will there already be a warrant out for my arrest? I'm not sure if I'm allowed to drive or not to court.
- I've since lost my citation slip. Will I be charged hundreds of dollars extra for this? What should I do?
- Is there any way to dispute that $100 no-show charge?
- Should I plead guilty or no contest? I'm not sure which is the safer best.

Thank you so much! This is my first ever traffic ticket or any type of auto accident, and I'm extremely worried about my court appearance.

 

[FlyingRon]

Never assume that you get a continuance until you get confirmation. You should have gone down to the courthouse yourself if time was short. If you didn't get the continuance and you failed to appear, the fact that you blew off the appearance at your discretion (it wasn't like you were physically prevented from appearing) won't encourage any leniency.

Depends on the court, some will issue a warrant, some will give you a second chance to make the appearance before they get sticky. Nobody much cares if you lose your copy of the citation other than it will slow you down every time you make an inquiry if you don't have the information on it.

In this case, this is one time I'd plead no contest. There may still be civil actions pending.