Caltrain Citation, What Should I Do

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California

I had a two zone Caltrain monthly pass from Zone 1 to Zone 2. On the day of my citation, I did not intend to take the train to work, but rather to drive, so that morning I decided to take the train within Zone 3 (for one stop) to meet with a friend, and then take the train back (again, within Zone 3) and drive. On my return trip I was stopped by a Caltrain officer who saw that I had a monthly pass, but not for the zone I was currently in. He fined me despite me holding a monthly pass for two zones, and me swearing up and down that I was about to get off at the upcoming stop and had no intention of using my two zone pass on the rest of that day.

I just got my notice of bail for $400. I'm not sure what my next steps should be. Here are my options as I see them:

1) Just pay the fine. Does this offer me any advantages over going to court (like not having this on my permanent record?) other than saving time?
2) Go to court and plead guilty. Does this offer me any advantages (like a fine reduction?) over just paying the fine? Could they charge me more for actually going to court? The website mentioned something to that effect.
3) Go to court and plead not guilty. I'm not sure that legally I have a leg to stand on. Logically I feel like I was in the clear (I have a two zone pass, I was within ONE zone, I did not intend to use my two zone pass after that one zone on the same day) but I don't think that this will fly in court.
4) Do a trial by written declaration. Is this even possible? Is it worthwhile in terms of possibly having better luck of having my case dismissed?

Plead guilty and pay the ticket.

1) and 2) are essentially the same thing, no advantages over the other, except for time-savings. However, the conviction will be on your record as a misdemeanor, which isn't too good to have.

3) and 4) are viable options. Written declarations are possible for these types of offenses, however, unless you have some good documented evidence to go along with your story, it's not likely that you'll win it. Going to trial is a much better way to request a dismissal. Plead not guilty, if the officer isn't there to contest it, you can easily get the ticket dismissed.

You do understand that it doesn't matter how many zones there are on your card, it's only valid on the zones it was issued for. You needed either a paper zone upgrade or you needed to tag in to pay the regular fare.

Quote:

---

Quoting STATcom

---

1) and 2) are essentially the same thing, no advantages over the other, except for time-savings. However, the conviction will be on your record as a misdemeanor, which isn't too good to have.

3) and 4) are viable options. Written declarations are possible for these types of offenses, however, unless you have some good documented evidence to go along with your story, it's not likely that you'll win it. Going to trial is a much better way to request a dismissal. Plead not guilty, if the officer isn't there to contest it, you can easily get the ticket dismissed.

---

I don't believe that a first time conviction for fare evasion is a misdemeanor. I actually have a BART parking stub and a Clipper card transaction from that day showing that I took BART, but I'm not sure that that lets me off the hook either way.

If I plead not guilty at my court date, will they schedule another court date, or will they decide the case right then and there?

- - - Updated - - -

Quote:

---

Quoting flyingron

---

You do understand that it doesn't matter how many zones there are on your card, it's only valid on the zones it was issued for. You needed either a paper zone upgrade or you needed to tag in to pay the regular fare.

---

Well, obviously now that I got an infraction for it I do.