Posted on 09/20/2014 7:44:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Hunkered down in her south St. Louis County apartment with a mug of coffee and a thick novel, Carol Ray, 54, tries to enjoy a sunny morning off from work. But that’s hard when you’re a fugitive from justice who could be taken away in handcuffs at any moment.
On her kitchen table sit unpaid traffic tickets from the cities of Beverly Hills and Town and Country: $199 total.
Somebody with money could hire a lawyer with contacts in the court, exchange a few emails and pay extra to keep points off their license. With no more sacrifice than a Friday night at home with Netflix and a $10 bottle of wine, the tickets are taken care of.
But that’s not how it works for a customer service representative making $12.67 an hour. Beverly Hills has a warrant out for her arrest; Town and Country court workers said they may issue one as soon as this week. And Ray just got notice her drivers license will be suspended because she skipped court....
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Easy for you to say if you can pay the ticket.
When I lived back in California, an infraction would cost like $125 and that’s not counting the cost to attend traffic school so it wouldn’t go on my driving record.
They’ll still take the money because its technically not a crime. That’s how politicians abolished your right to trial by jury because the cop is handing you a summons instead of carting you off to jail.
Every time I got a ticket for speeding, I was speeding.
When I wasn't speeding, I did not get any tickets for speeding.
I feel sure that a majority of drivers would say the same.
Maybe it depends on where you live.
Its just too hard to park in legal spaces, cause of slavery, or something.
It’s so unfair!/s
People have all kinds of debts to pay.
And we’re locking up people who have no means to repay who don’t constitute a real threat to society.
We’re not talking not about robbers and rapists here.
People don’t understand that these are citations that require your presence for you to plea. If you ignore the court they order your presence and now you have a new charge.
This is not news, it is everyday life.
Plea NOT GUILTY next time and see what happens.
You will be amazed.
Its a tax.
I love how conservatives defend a tax when its collected from you at gunpoint.
A ticket is not about public safety, its about revenue enhancement.
And its big business.
So... most ‘personal experience’ newsstories coming out of St. Louis suburbs are from self-admitted criminals.
Can’t the media find anyone who is ‘clean’ ?
Its your word against the cop.
And remember, you’re not allowed an attorney or a jury in traffic court.
I’ve been there.
Cry me a river.
Just plea NOT GUILTY.
Cop isn’t there anyway. Judge makes all the guilty get in line for traffic school.
Tells the rest to leave.
I doubt these are parking tickets. Drivers licenses do not get suspended for parking tickets. Moving violations yes but not parking tickets.
By not paying the fine or showing up in traffic court to contest the tickets, she was deemed guilty and sentenced to pay a fine. By not paying the fine, she could do jail time. That is the only options the court has according to the law, but now, she is a “victim” and may escape any consequences for not only disobeying the law(s) but being a scofflaw.
Gosh maybe she should have gone to court and plead for a lower fine and then set up payments. Somehow people manage to do that here in Taxifornia. But, yeah if you just ignore your summons the hole keeps getting deeper. Why should I feel sorry for her because she chose to ignore the law?
People understand.
And if you can’t pay, you still go to jail.
That’s also everyday life.
if you don’t have 125 take Bart
you sure as hell are allowed an attorney in traffic court
Me, too ... But I hazard a guess neither of us was "ethnic."
If we were "ethnic," we might have had a case.
People go to traffic school to avoid having points on their driving record.
You don’t enter a plea; you pay the fine and top of that you pay traffic school fee to keep your record clean.
People do it to avoid automatic conviction and to keep the insurance company from raising their premium.
You can have an attorney in a misdemeanor or felony case.
But not in an infraction since there is no jail time.
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