Do You Need an Attorney for a Speeding Ticket
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: North Carolina (madison county) i got a speeding ticket for 85 in a 65 in madison county nc. I also now have a receipt from parts and labor or a mechanic who replaces my broken speedometer. Should i still hire an attorney? Or with the receipt will that be enough alone to get the ticket reduced, dropped, or changed? I dont want to waste any more money than i habe to but also dont want to not hire an attorney if i really need one.
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
You're not getting dismissed. You might be given the option to plead down to the equipment violation of having a broken speedometer. There's no obligation that they do that and your receipt isn't automatically getting you out of anything. If they refuse to play you can always ask for a PJC if you've not played that card yet.
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
Prayer for Judgment Continued can't be granted at 15 or more over. The broken equipment approach might work, although you might need a statement or testimony from the mechanic that this would account for whatever you were over the limit?
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
Was the speedometer mechanically incapable of registering speed above a certain level? Or was it simply inoperable? If it was inoperable, you actually had a duty to be extra cautious knowing that you had a problem. If it worked up to 65 and then pegged there, it might be something a judge would view as exculpatory to excuse the violation - or it might not. Any time you are appearing in court you will do better if you have an attorney.
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
It's not exculpatory in NC. However, it's a common and accepted plea bargain to substitute a "incorrect speedometer" equipment violation for a speeding ticket. You don't even need any proof that your speedometer is inaccurate. It's worth a try. The county still gets their money (you pay the fine and costs) but you dodge the point.
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
Quote:
Quoting
donzoh1
Prayer for Judgment Continued can't be granted at 15 or more over.
Curious where you found that. Everything I've found, including the NCGS, says 25.
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
Quote:
Quoting
free9man
Curious where you found that. Everything I've found, including the NCGS, says 25.
AVVO.com from a guy billing himself as a Greensboro attorney. Obviously, anything in a statute or even an official publication would be more authoritative. Interesting things pointed out there, such as no more than 2 PJCs per 5 year period and you have to plead guilty prior to learning that your PJC will be granted and insurance companies will recognize only 1 PJC every 3 years per policy. So, if someone else on your policy already has a recent one, it won't work. 15 over seems like a low number intuitively. Maybe whoever wrote the information below had old info?
http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc...fic-violations
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
That information is apparently VERY OLD. The statute changed in 2007. It's 25 MPH as FREE9MAN said.
Re: Do I Need an Attorney
Quote:
Quoting z0mbies
What is PJC?
Prayer for judgment continued. It is, in short, where, after a finding of guilt is determined, the judge does not impose a sentence or "judgment", instead continuing proceedings for a period of time. This means that most of the consequences of a conviction do not attach: for example, for this charge of speeding, you would get hit with a class 3 misdemeanor fine (max. of $200), a 30-day license suspension, and an insurance surcharge of about 80%. You would, however, generally still be liable for court costs of about $190 if you receive a PJC.
As was mentioned as well, you can only use one PJC per household in a three-year period to mask insurance surcharge points.
While a PJC is possible for a speeding charge of 20 over, it, like most things, is subject to the judge's discretion and normally requires a guilty plea to be entered.
Also, considering you're facing a class 3 misdemeanor, an attorney is probably not a bad option.