Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California. Back in May, I received a citation for a hit-and-run accident I was in a month prior. Since then, I hired an attorney to help with the issue. I have a pretrial hearing scheduled for next Wednesday. What should I expect from here? Thanks!
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
You lawyer can certainly tell better that we will. Pretrials are great places for plea bargains to work out. Otherwise, it is likely that the probable cause for charges be shown and the next court date set.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
CA doesn't do probable cause hearings for out of custody defendants and even then, it has to be requested, technically at the arraignment. The pretrial is where your attorney tries to work for a disposition with the DA. It's possible the case will be continued to allow more time to talk. If the case can't settle then it will be set for trial. Talk to you lawyer.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
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ijcaff97
What should I expect from here? Thanks!
Obviously, we have no information about your case beyond what you included in your post. Only your attorney can give you a useful answer to your question.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
To be honest, thanks for the help so far; what's the worst possible outcome I can possibly expect? Thanks!
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
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Quoting
ijcaff97
To be honest, thanks for the help so far; what's the worst possible outcome I can possibly expect? Thanks!
Worst case for a conviction for VC 20002(a) (hit-and-run with property damage only) is up 6 months in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000 and restitution for any damages.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
Thought I'd give y'all an update: I ended up getting two years of probation (down from three originally) and 24 hours of community service (originally five days, then three, then just 24 hours.) That, and I have to pay $220 in court costs, plus go to another hearing for restitution.
Two other things:
1: My attorney told me that if I complete the service before the March 6 deadline and pay court costs before then, then the case might get dismissed.
2: He also told me the DA prosecuting the case told him she sweetened up the deal because I held the courtroom door open for her.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
Thanks for the update.
This is actually a pretty good deal it seems to me. And, it appears that there may be the possibility of a dismissal (expungement) after you have completed payments and community service. I suspect the process would be asking for early termination from Probation (unlikely until after at least 6-12 months, but who knows?) and then an expungement pursuant to PC 1203.4. That's a good deal.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
Thought I'd give y'all another update. I'm eight hours away from being done with community service. Also, as mentioned earlier, that plus payment of court costs by the March 6 restitution hearing might be enough to get me off the hook. Can I pay court costs online between now and then, or should I do it once I'm at the courthouse?
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
Thought I'd let y'all where I'm at: I've been done with my community service since January, my court costs have been paid, and my attorney went back into court last Thursday for a progress report. Hopefully this is going to be over, so I can forget this whole thing and move on.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
Sounds good! Thanks for the update. It's nice to hear that things are working out even if they were the result of a bump in the road of life.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
For what it's worth, this, combined with having to pay for rental damages as it was a rental involved, could have been avoided in a long list of ways I'd rather not describe here. Trying to come up with the money to pay for the latter is not the best way to spend your summer, especially with an impending out-of-town court date and not knowing what the hell you're going to do that fall or beyond.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
I knew that I would get a traffic ticket sooner or later; we all will. I just had going 80+ in a 65 (something I do regularly,) running a yellow, or a seat belt violation in mind, not this.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
It's just as easy to follow the law as it is to break the law. Try it and stay out of trouble.:friendly_wink:
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
That's what I'm going to try and do. If that fails, then I'm going to give Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins calls. They'll know what to do from there.
Re: Going to Court for a Hit-And-Run Charge
OK; my attorney called me today to let me know that everything's done; he'll turn in the paper that shows I did my community service tomorrow, and that'll close the case. There was no restitution, as there was no victim to speak up.