My wife went to traffic court last week after receiving a ticket for "following too closely" after a rear end collision. She was correctly found "not guilty", as the judge cited insufficient evidence because of the cop's incompetence, and due to the fact that the woman she hit left her turn signal on and cut her off.

The judge, however, said he found her guilty of "improper driving". This was not a reduction or a deal. She was not guilty of the citation she was there for, but he just gave her another.

Is this legal? I think that if a judge is going to issue an additional citation, you should have the right to come back to court for that citation, and have a whole new trial. She had her trial fo the original citation, but he found her guilty of a different charge without a trial.

It seems to me like the judge decided to give her something else just to get her money. He knew she was not guilty, so it seems to me that he decided that he wanted to find her guilty of something, anything. It was not a plea agreement or a reduction. He found her not guilty of the original citation, gave her a different one and found her guilty of that all at once.

If this is illegal, what actions should I take?