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Fuck the system or the system is fucked?
Aug. 25th, 2011 04:07 pmI have never had any interaction with the court system outside of jury duty and traffic court, but from my sample of n=2, I have decided that court is a place where the justice system fucks with you because it can.
Case in point: my trip upstate to get a plea bargain on my speeding ticket. ( Whine. )
I'm not thrilled about the $235 fine, but I really can't complain about the deal I got. I copped to 75 when I got pulled over, and I'd have even accepted 20 mph over, so long as I avoided that bullshit "driver reassesment penalty." The only way to have done better was to get it dismissed, and I'm not going to haul my ass back there to protest a ticket that they absolutely had me dead-to-rights on speeding on the off chance Officer Whoshisface wouldn't show up to Bumblefuck to testify. It's done, and I'll see about maybe taking defensive driving to knock off the points. I lucked out in that my quarterly update on my insurance arrived the mail before I left, and I checked it to see that I can get up to two sub-15 mph over speeding tickets without seeing a change in my rates. I'll double-check that against what they say my rates are as bills arrive, of course, but at least I don't have that headache.
My Dad called me to see how it went, which was sweet. He's heard precisely zip from his lawyer since retaining him. It's possible he hasn't had to go to court yet, but I know it's not going to be reduced to a parking ticket, like this guy seems to think he can manage. So when he gets a ticket for whatever, he'll have to pay the fees and what not. He'll probably hear from the lawyer then. We'll see who had the better plan when that happens.
Case in point: my trip upstate to get a plea bargain on my speeding ticket. ( Whine. )
I'm not thrilled about the $235 fine, but I really can't complain about the deal I got. I copped to 75 when I got pulled over, and I'd have even accepted 20 mph over, so long as I avoided that bullshit "driver reassesment penalty." The only way to have done better was to get it dismissed, and I'm not going to haul my ass back there to protest a ticket that they absolutely had me dead-to-rights on speeding on the off chance Officer Whoshisface wouldn't show up to Bumblefuck to testify. It's done, and I'll see about maybe taking defensive driving to knock off the points. I lucked out in that my quarterly update on my insurance arrived the mail before I left, and I checked it to see that I can get up to two sub-15 mph over speeding tickets without seeing a change in my rates. I'll double-check that against what they say my rates are as bills arrive, of course, but at least I don't have that headache.
My Dad called me to see how it went, which was sweet. He's heard precisely zip from his lawyer since retaining him. It's possible he hasn't had to go to court yet, but I know it's not going to be reduced to a parking ticket, like this guy seems to think he can manage. So when he gets a ticket for whatever, he'll have to pay the fees and what not. He'll probably hear from the lawyer then. We'll see who had the better plan when that happens.
