Failed to appear in court. But I really wanted to.

February 13, 2006 1:35 PM

Unwillingly failed to appear in traffic court in Berkeley, CA. How screwed am I?

Last month I didn't see a "Right turn only 4-6" sign, made a left turn; there were flashing red lights in my rear view mirror instantly; the officer cited me (the only citation in the ten years I've had a CA license.) The citation directed me to appear at the courthouse on or before 2/13 to settle matters. It indicated I might be mailed a notice of the fine so I could pay it in advance, but that, then again, I might not. I didn't receive one (checked my PO Box today.)

Last week I called the courthouse number on the ticket to be sure I understood everything. The automated messages indicated if I hadn't received a ticket in the mail, I could try paying online on the Alameda County website; otherwise, I should just show up at the courthouse. (I never talked to a person; the recordings seemed clear enough.)

On the website, I entered my ticket number; it said it had never heard of it and it can take 6-8 weeks for it to be in the system.

So today, 2/13, I showed up at the Courthouse. It's closed for Lincoln's Birthday. There was no mention of this in the "our hours are..." recorded phone messages for the courthouse or the traffic court last week (in fact, there's no indication of it on the phone today, either.) The Alameda County website is no longer saying "ticket number unknown" but "error: citation can't be processed, contact the Berkeley Courthouse."

The text at the top of the back of the citation reads ominously: "if you fail to appear in court as you have promised, you may be arrested and punished by 6 MONTHS IN JAIL AND/OR A $1,000 FINE".

So does anyone have any real, relevant knowledge about what the consequences of this are going to be? Am I going to get any slack for having (unprovably) behaved in a reasonable, fully intending to subscribe to the spirit and letter of the law, manner? Or is everyone going to be moving away from me on the Group W bench tomorrow? (Gratuitously indirect reference to authorities placing me in the company of criminals.)

posted by Zed_Lopez to Law & Government (11 answers total)

The key phrases here are likely "as you have promised," and "you may be arrested" If you're expected in court because you have challenged something or have been directed to appear and you're not there, the judge is just going to issue what's called a bench warrant, which is ignored until such a time as you cross their radar again.

This sounds like a purely bureaucratic matter and that "MAY" is there to deal with scofflaws who ignore the citation. Likely the only thing you have to worry about is if there was a time limitation where you could contest the ticket rather than having to pay it, and if there's any post-30 day higher cost.

The fact that the courthouse was closed likely will do you no favors. After all, if you were cited on Feb 1 and told you had 30 days to respond you'd have 2 more working days than if you were cited on Feb 3, where those last 2 days would fall on Sat & Sun. You don't get 30 BUSINESS days. The clerk may or may not have the latitude and inclination to cut you a break.
posted by phearlez at 2:05 PM on February 13, 2006

Just show up sometime this week and don't stress too much over it. It's not going to be that big of a deal.
Print out the error messages that you got. At the very least, they'll see that you did make a good faith effort, which is a hell of a lot more than many folks do.

I would take care of it as soon as you can, though..
posted by drstein at 2:46 PM on February 13, 2006

Response by poster: Oh, I will be at the courthouse tomorrow. I just wanted to see what advance intel the MeFites might be able to give.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 2:49 PM on February 13, 2006

If he said "On or before 2/13" and you showed up on or before 2/13, I don't understand how they can fault you.

Does the ticket say "On or before 2/13"? you have written proof that the officer told you you could pay your fine on 2/13 they messed up!!
posted by Megafly at 2:51 PM on February 13, 2006

Just go in tomorrow. They're going to cut you a great deal of slack for no other reason than it is your only offense, and you made the effort to contact them. You will still have to pay the fine, but it doesn't sound like you're trying to fight that. You may have to make an appointment to appear before a judge to explain your lateness, if the clerk doesn't have authority to simply take the payment. But if I recall correctly, Berkeley doesn't even have appointments any more. You show up at the courthouse and it's first come, first serve to talk to the judge. Worst case scenario will be a late fee. No jail or $1000 fine. Even if you are charged a late fee, you can talk to a judge and he'll drop it. They just want the ticket paid, and they usually have to use threats and penalties to get it.

I had a similar situation in Berkeley. I had a citation for a broken tail light which said I had until a certain date to correct. I went to the courthouse on that date, and they told me I needed to go the police station to have it signed off on, but the police station was closed. The clerk told me to just come back the next day, since their systems had to process all this stuff, and I wouldn't be penalized until they did. So if I showed up before the afternoon, chances were they probably wouldn't even notice I was a day late. If they did, I'd just have to explain it to the judge. They're a little more firm about moving violations, but still, if you tell a judge you made any kind of effort, he'll let you off.
posted by team lowkey at 3:05 PM on February 13, 2006

They just want the money, think about it that way.

But do take care of it quickly. I unknowingly spent quite a bit of time with a suspended license (VA). During this time I was at the DMV for a change of address and they didn't inform me. I was at the DMV, getting my adress changed, and they didn't inform me. So I was at the DMV with a license change, and they didn't tell me the license they were holding had been suspended... It was a small fee that I didn't even know about, with the notification being sent to a prior address and not forwarded.

So, to reiterate, just go pay it and everyone will be happy. They are not going to arrest you if you show up with money in your hand. They have an entire inefficient network to deal with the lack of payment, and you can circumvent it with money.
posted by bh at 3:25 PM on February 13, 2006

I'm an attorney --- I don't practice in California, but I do practice in criminal and traffic court in another state.

In my experience, when someone shows up at the courthouse after missing a court date, especially for a traffic ticket, it's usually no problem (unless the person has a history of missing court dates and the judge knows this). This happens to people all the time, so you shouldn't worry about it.

I regularly have clients who inadvertently miss court dates for more serious offenses and get bench warrants issued. When they show up and explain why they missed the court date, the bench warrant is always recalled.
posted by jayder at 3:26 PM on February 13, 2006

I concur with jayder, and California is especially lax with bench warrants. I wouldn't get yourself pulled over with outstanding unpaid traffic tickets, but in most cases a bench warrant is a threat to issue another bench warrant if you don't show up on the new date. Pay the fine quickly and get it over with.
posted by commander_cool at 3:43 PM on February 13, 2006

Hiya, Zed!

Was there a reason you chose not to go to traffic school to keep the violation off your record? You can do this once every 18 months. It's extremely nice not to have that violation on your record when re-insurance time comes around again; else you may find an extra $1000 added to your bill.

I'm not sure whether it's too late, but definitely inquire when you go in tomorrow.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:19 PM on February 13, 2006

you may be arrested and punished by 6 MONTHS IN JAIL AND/OR A $1,000 FINE

Yes, an an ASTEROID MAY FALL ON YOUR HEAD TOMORROW. I work for a local government that has a jail with more than 1000 folks in it; I can assure you that no one is in there for having failed to pay a traffic fine on time. I somewhat doubt that anyone ever has been.

As for the $1000 buck fine, I believe that municipal judges in Berkeley are elected. So everyone that they deal with is a potential voter. You can be pretty certain that they're going to save the harsh punishments for the DUIs, the folks driving 110 miles per hour, and those who caused an accident where someone got badly hurt.

In short, you're one of the many folks with a good record and good intentions who didn't exactly follow the standard procedures. The machinery of the government is pretty much built to keep you OUT of the system (hence things like traffic school).
posted by WestCoaster at 11:09 AM on February 14, 2006

Response by poster: Turned out to be a total non-issue (as several of you predicted.) The court clerk said explicitly that the date on the citation was irrelevant; the real, seekrit, do-or-FTA date happened to be 3/10 in this case -- I could have ignored it altogether for another 3 weeks.

Thanks, everyone, for your reassurances.

I certainly hadn't decided against traffic school, Dave -- I'd just been waiting to talk to the court about what's involved. And what's involved is paying an extra $30 to the court for administrative fees, and having 60 days to bring them a certificate of completion, and that's what I'm doing. There are even on-line courses nowadays.

This has been an expensive lesson that I should stick to bicycling.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 11:43 AM on February 14, 2006