Cited for Fare Evasion

ok, so i got a ticket for fare evasion and have to show up in court on friday.

basically i got to the station and saw the train through the doors waiting there, so in a hurry i went through forgetting to swipe my pass. on that day they were shutting down the line early and that was the last train going to my destination. i ran to the train to make sure i caught it. a minute after getting on 3 or 4 officers came on board and told me to get off. i got off and told them the situation explaining it was an honest mistake and that was the last train on that line. i showed my valid pass (all day) to one of the officers and he saw it was valid and time stamped. the other officer didnt care and proceeded to write the ticket.

my question is what will i be asked in court? i plan on explaining what happened to the judge and showing my pass which was valid and proves i already paid my fare. i have no criminal record and have never been cited for fare evasion before. do i plead guilty/no contest? i do NOT want to pay a fine but i dont want to have to go to trial over something trivial.

also, they do not have my correct address. the address on the ticket is wrong but i didnt say anything.

the stupid thing i did was sign the ticket. if i did not sign the ticket would i be liable to show up in court even or pay the fine?

Laws vary by state. What state was this in? And, what code section were you cited for?

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Quoting cdwjava

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Laws vary by state. What state was this in? And, what code section were you cited for?

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ohio

code section 623.05 (A)

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Quoting halo202

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ohio

code section 623.05 (A)

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I suspect that is a municipal code. What city or county was this in?

it was in cleveland

Here is the section:

623.05 Trespass on RTA Property

(a) No person shall enter upon any portion of the right of way, owned or leased by the Regional Transit Authority or any other transit system, upon which are located rail tracks of any rapid transit system, without proper authority.

(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of trespass on RTA property, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

If you have the ticket or receipt, you will probably prevail at court.

ok this is ridiculous

i went to court today and now i have to go back AGAIN. the court seemed pretty lax and the judge there dismissed a few people after they gave their sob stories. i thought after seeing a few people go before me i'd be fine.

how is it trespassing? the cop told me i was being given a ticket for fare evasion and now its as if that doesnt exist. the judge didnt even know anything about the fare evasion and said you are being charged with trespassing after she said my name and i came forward. i tried to explain to her that it was bogus and showed the ticket that claimed i evaded the pay terminals and showed her my pass that proved i paid my fare. she wouldnt even let me explain and said i had to plead not guilty and get a hearing date.

i guess they are saying trespassing because i entered into the station without (allegedly) paying and since you must be a paying RTA customer that i was "trespassing" onto that station without valid proof of payment. i even asked someone at the court whether i could see a judge immediately because i thought it was completely bogus. they said that was the only date/time available and that i could call a public defender.

now what? is there any way i can get this dismissed or am i gonna have to speak to an attorney? this doesnt make any sense that i now have to waste yet another morning going to court for something so stupid. i had proof in the form of my pass.

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Quoting halo202

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she wouldnt even let me explain and said i had to plead not guilty and get a hearing date.

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Apparently this was the arraignment and not the trial.

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i guess they are saying trespassing because i entered into the station without (allegedly) paying and since you must be a paying RTA customer that i was "trespassing" onto that station without valid proof of payment.

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Yes. That seems reasonable.

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now what? is there any way i can get this dismissed or am i gonna have to speak to an attorney? this doesnt make any sense that i now have to waste yet another morning going to court for something so stupid. i had proof in the form of my pass.

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Now you go to trial. You can speak to an attorney first if you'd like, or go it on your own. Your call.

it was the arraignment, but you gave me the impression i could actually speak to that judge and explain/show the valid pass to get it taken care of. now i have to waste another morning of my time as well as money.

it says now its a pre trial hearing on the sheet. i dont want an actual trial over something this trivial.

so now that the accusation seems to be trespassing i guess i should just not say anything regarding fare evasion and just state how could i be trespassing when i had a pass for the train.

You had the wrong impression.

The arraignment is to inform you of the charge against you and to accept your plea and set the course as things to come.

Rarely is anyone allowed to speak as to the facts of the case at arraignment - but each state has different rules. The arraignment is a time for a plea and appointment of counsel if needed and allowed under the charges.

You may have little choice but to go to trial if you want to present your side of the matter. Only if you plead "guilty" or "no contest" will you likely avoid a trial (unless the state drops the charge for some reason).

So, if you want the opportunity to present evidence on your behalf, you will likely have to go to trial. If there is a prosecutor assigned, he or she might be willing to see your evidence ahead of time, but I wouldn't recommend talking to the prosecutor without advice of counsel.

i have to complete 15 hours community service by the 25th. now im scheduled to do it on the 15th, 16th, 17th but i have a doctors appointment on the 15th. the times for the places they gave me where i could do it at are extremely inconvenient with their hours and i told that i needed to do it afternoons/evenings. i have a bunch of doctors appointments (i have health problems), classes, and other things between now and the 25th. beyond the stuff im scheduled for would put it on 20th and only a couple days really to get them all in.


what would happen if i didnt complete the community service?

Don't even consider it. If this is a pretrial diversion, you're being given a big break to avoid getting a criminal record for the charge.
You'll not likely get another chance and people who blow their diversion don't tend to get much sympathy at trial.

If it is the sentence from an actual conviction, any suspended sentence or whatever can become unsuspended and you'll end up in jail.

Ditto.

If you fail to complete the terms given to you, do not be surprised if your next doctor visit occurs while you are in jail garb.

the $75 fine was waived for 15 hours community service.

i want to get this done and out of the way, im just in a tight spot. im just hoping the weather isnt horrible because im not going there in a blizzard. the hours are not a good time for me. couldnt i just find out where i could do court community service and go there when i can to get it done?

what happens if i get sick? they dont care and try to send me to jail over this?


they would really go after me for something so small? people who get charged with DUIs get letters in the mail years later saying they need to complete their hours.

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Quoting halo202

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the $75 fine was waived for 15 hours community service.

i want to get this done and out of the way, im just in a tight spot. im just hoping the weather isnt horrible because im not going there in a blizzard. the hours are not a good time for me. couldnt i just find out where i could do court community service and go there when i can to get it done?

what happens if i get sick? they dont care and try to send me to jail over this?


they would really go after me for something so small? people who get charged with DUIs get letters in the mail years later saying they need to complete their hours.

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We do not KNOW what they will do. What they VAN do and what they WILL do are two different issues.

Understand that not completing the community service hours could result in harsher penalties, collections on the fines, maybe even an arrest warrant if that is permitted in your state for this sort of thing. Just be prepared for penalties for not completing the service that YOU said you would do