After Demanding a Contested Hearing, Can I Change My Plea and Pay the Ticket

[raob]

My question involves traffic court in the State of: Washington

I have a multiple questions regarding the citation I got recently.

I was driving up to Seattle from Portland (Oregon) and got pulled over at the Lewis County on I5. The speed limit was 60 and apparently I was driving at 72. I am not sure if I drove at 72 as I was moving with the traffic and did not overtake anyone (except the police!). However, I was driving above 60. Consequently, I have indicated that I would contest the hearing and July 31st is the hearing date.

In the meanwhile my car has broken down and I cannot repair it right now ( I am a poor graduate student ). I am beginning to think it would be too expensive to drive till Lewis county on a rental car from Corvallis. Instead I might be better off just pleading guilty and paying the $144 traffic ticket. If I plead guilty, this would be my first traffic violation and my insurance would go up by $10-$15 a month.

My questions are:

1. Can I plead change my stand and plead guilty? If so, what do I need to do?
2. Do you suggest going ahead with the contested hearing. I can afford renting a car, provided there is good hope that the case might be dismissed or
deferred. $15 over 3 years would anyway cost me more than $500!

Regards,
Raob

[BrendanjKeegan]

At the top of this forum is a thread titled "procedural guide..." Read that. File for discovery. Then we can tell you if you have a chance.

[raob]

Thanks for your reply.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi,

I spoke to the Lewis county court clerk. She said they would send me the paperwork for discovery request. I am afraid it will take a long time for me to receive the paperwork from court and then request the prosecution.

So is it necessary that I submit only the paperwork sent by the court or can I use the template given in the "procedural guide ..." thread?

It says I need to submit it within 14 days. Does it mean 14 'working' day?