Little Understood Fact—Traffic Tickets are Criminal Cases

The United States is truly a nation that loves to drive, and Houston and the surrounding areas are certainly no exception. In fact, by most estimations as many as 89 percent of the adults in America own a car, using it to commute to work, run errands, go on vacation and taxi their children from place to place. Unfortunately, with all this driving comes the inevitable traffic ticket. If you misplace that ticket or simply forget to pay it on time you could find yourself hit with a Harris County arrest warrant wondering what on earth to do next. In determining whether you should post a bond in Houston or not, it is probably wise to consult an experienced attorney at this point.

Traffic Tickets a Billion Dollar Industry
Let’s face it—anybody with a driver’s license has made the occasional driving mistake resulting in literally millions of traffic tickets being issued each year in the United States.  Many people commit traffic violations without even realizing it—unfortunately the law does not accept ignorance of a traffic law as a valid excuse. Traffic tickets are intended to be a deterrent to driver mistakes due to the cost-if you’ve received a traffic ticket lately you were likely stunned by the amount owed since traffic tickets have evolved into a billion dollar industry.

Infractions vs. Violations
Whether you inadvertently or willfully committed the traffic violation remember that traffic tickets are considered criminal cases although there are varying levels of seriousness. Non-moving violations or moving violations which are considered non-dangerous fall in the category of infraction meaning the person committing such a violation cannot be jailed, receive an unreasonably large fine, have a jury trial or be entitled to a court-appointed attorney. Speeding tickets can garner a relatively large fine, depending on how many miles per hour beyond the posted speed limit you were driving.

In some cases speeding can be considered a form of reckless driving meaning it turns into a more serious moving violation. Other serious moving violations include running a stop light or stop sign which could potentially result in the injury of another person. Misdemeanor and felony traffic violations also include DUI, reckless driving, driving without insurance and failing to stop at an accident scene. If you’ve been charged with a more serious traffic infraction, you are entitled to all the normal rights afforded to criminal defendants.

Benefits to Hiring a Houston Attorney in Traffic Court

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After getting over the initial inconvenience (and perhaps injustice) of being pulled over and given a traffic citation, you then have to decide how you are going to handle your ticket. For those who do not have the time to go to court or research Texas traffic law, it is an easy choice: hand the ticket over to an attorney who specializes in violations in traffic court. Others, however, may feel that they can handle the traffic citation on their own. Besides, they may wonder, it’s only a minor traffic offense. How difficult and complicated could it be?

If your only concern is taking care of the ticket, then you can hand over your hard-earned money to the city of Houston. They will be happy to take your money from you any day of the week. You can mail in a payment and the ticket will be resolved with points going against your driving record. However, if you are not eager to give up your money to the city, care about your driving record, and want to get the best deal possible, it’s always a good idea to hire an attorney. Here are some of the top reasons why you should hire a Sullo and Sullo attorney to handle your traffic ticket.

1. Your attorney keeps you informed. One of the biggest benefits of having a Sullo and Sullo attorney with you in traffic court is that your attorney will keep you informed. For the ordinary law abiding/breaking citizen, traffic court often appears to be a mysterious milieu: attorneys are walking around the courtroom talking to different players; various defendants are approaching the bench at different times to speak to the judge; police officers are walking in and out of the courtroom signing mysterious sheets of paper; and bailiffs are yelling at everyone to lower their voices and follow courtroom rules. With an attorney by your side, you can remain confident that you know the rules of the court, how your case is being handled, and how the day will unravel. You will look around and see many frustrated faces, and some dazed and confused faces. But you can sit back and relax, knowing that your attorney has just informed you of all the ins and outs of courtroom procedure and protocol.

2. Your attorney knows what gets a traffic case dismissed in court. Many people have the misperception that traffic cases are only dismissed when an officer does not show up to court. However, there are many different angles through which a traffic case can be dismissed pre-trial. When you hire Sullo and Sullo to handle your case, you can be confident knowing that your attorney has exhausted every possible means of dismissal. From finding legal and factual mistakes on the drafted complaint to talking to the prosecutor and officer about any possible mitigating factors, your attorney will work every angle of the case with the goal of pre-trial dismissal.

3. Your attorney knows the rules of evidence and traffic laws. If your case does end up going to trial, you will be heavily disadvantaged if you do not have an attorney advocating on your behalf. Probably one of the most important reasons to have an attorney with you in traffic court is the attorney’s knowledge of the rules of evidence and the convoluted traffic laws of the state of Texas. While this knowledge is helpful in pre-trial matters, it is critical during the trial stage. Even the most highly-educated, well-meaning defendants fail miserably when going up against a seasoned attorney in trial. Pro se defendants often do not know how to conduct an efficient voir dire, when and how to deliver certain portions of their case at large, and how to conduct a debilitating cross examination. Also, many defendants arrive to court very well prepared armed with graphs, pictures and other evidence. They are often perplexed and stunned when the judge prevents them from showing any of the evidence to the jury because none of the items have been properly introduced in accordance with the rules of evidence. Don’t let yourself become one of these unfortunate people who are left wondering, “Why didn’t I just hire an attorney?” You wouldn’t operate on yourself if you discovered you needed gastric bypass surgery. Instead, you would seek the services of a skilled professional in that area. So, without the legal background and education of an attorney, why would you litigate a case on your own?

4. Your attorney knows the court system. Every Sullo attorney knows the game and how it’s played in traffic court. Our attorneys who specialize in traffic tickets are in the traffic trenches every day of the week. They are a part of the every day routine and see the inner workings of the court system. Your attorney will know which prosecutors are the best to work deals with and which prosecutors are the best to try cases against. Your attorney will also know the nuances of each judge and tailor his/her trial tactics accordingly. Do not underestimate the value of your attorney’s every day interaction with and exposure to all the courtroom players. Your attorney will take this vault of information and guide you through the strategy for your specific case. You will quickly know what will get you in trouble with the bailiffs in certain courts, and what you should say and what you should not say. Having an attorney with this wealth of knowledge by your side is an invaluable asset.

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The long road ahead: the jury trial docket

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After docket call, you must be prepared for a long day. You can bring reading material, but just make sure you don’t read anything when the judge is on the bench. While you may be one of the fortunate few who are released early, it is more likely that you will be in court anywhere from three to eight hours. The process is long and can be tedious but the Sullo attorneys are utilizing those hours to research your cases, look for any possible errors or defects in your case, to speak to your police officers and to prepare for trial.

Your attorney will call you up and speak to you individually. Please be patient. The attorney must speak to every client in the courtroom and this will take some time. When you are called up, the attorney will introduce him or herself and discuss your options with you. In most situations, the attorney will explain to you that he is working on your case and that the officer is present and ready to testify against you in trial. The attorney needs time to speak to the officer, research the facts of the case, research the law on the case, and discover any weaknesses of your case. In order for your attorney to do all this in a diligent manner, you will need to stay for the remainder of the day. If you are not willing and ready to stay for the remainder of the day, then the attorney will provide you with options to resolve your case through a program that keeps your ticket off your record. Some judges will require a fee and a period of probation during which you may not receive any more tickets. Other judges will require you to take defensive driving. While we would prefer that you be willing to stay and fight your case, we also understand that your time is valuable and that you may have other commitments.

By 11:00 a.m., some of the cases will have been resolved and you will notice that the courtroom may appear to be thinning out. By that time, the Sullo attorney will have resolved a number of cases through dismissals or special programs that keep the ticket off the defendant’s record. Some defendants wonder why they are still sitting in the courtroom when other people in the courtroom had their cases resolved. The simple answer is that no two cases are exactly the same. You may have hired Sullo for a speeding case while the person sitting next to you was charged with a registration violation. Clearly, those two violations would be handled very differently since a registration violation is a much simpler case. Even if the person next to you was charged with a speeding case as well, your two cases may have to be handled very differently depending on how fast you were going, where you were pulled over, and which officer pulled you over. While each case is resolved differently based on the facts of the particular case and the client’s willingness to remain in court, you can be confident in the knowledge that the attorney on your case is working diligently to try to get your case dismissed.

If you are still sitting in the courtroom when the judge announces the lunch break, that means that you are most likely in the pool of cases that are ready for trial. Do not be alarmed. Although you may never have testified in a jury trial before, you have an experienced attorney by your side who will walk you through the process step-by-step. (Andrew, I added this next section in..do you think I should keep it?) The attorney will explain to you that if you are found guilty at trial, the jury will have a fine range to consider based on the particular offense. Furthermore, depending on the violation, it could go on your driving record. While this may see like a big risk to take, you should know that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. At Sullo &Sullo, it is our position that since the law says the state has to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, we should hold them to that burden.

When you return from lunch, the attorneys continue to speak with the police officers and try to get your cases dismissed. Once the attorney knows for sure that your case will not be resolved without a trial, your attorney will sit with you and hash out all the details of your case. During this conversation, please tell your attorney everything that happened at the scene of the alleged violation and any other information that you feel may be relevant to the case (Were there other cars around you that the officer may have clocked? Did the officer say anything inappropriate to you? Could anything have obstructed the officer’s view? Etc.). The attorney will usually prepare you for the questions that you will most likely be asked when you take the stand to testify.

When the judge is ready to call the first case to trial, he/she will usually begin with the oldest case on the docket. If your case is not the oldest case on the docket, YOU WILL HAVE TO RETURN ON ANOTHER DATE. While this is very frustrating, the reality is that the court doesn’t have the resources to try more than one jury trial a day in each courtroom. The court clerks will give you another court date and the Sullo attorney will return with you on that date.

If you are the defendant chosen for trial, then your attorney will instruct you to take a seat at the front of the courtroom next to him/her at the attorney table. After a few administrative tasks are taken care of, the bailiff will bring in a group of prospective jurors. Make sure to stand up when the jurors are brought into the courtroom and to smile at them.