NowhereMan:
In July, I was fishing on my AI in Santa Cruz, and the DFG guys came by. Embarrassingly, I could not get my fishing license up on my phone (forgot my password, wet fingers, etc., etc.). Anyways, they wrote me a citation and said it's easy to get it dismissed (except for $25), if I actually have a license. Of course, I was able to get my license up on my phone a couple minutes after they left, which was no use.
I tried calling SC county court shortly after, but they had no info on the ticket. Today, I finally got a letter from them, and the fine is $485. The original citation does not have the "Y" or "N" box checked by the "correctable" option (that is, neither box is checked, which seems weird), and the person at the court said that means it's not correctable (which seems questionable). So, as I understand it, the options are to plead guilty/no contest and beg them to reduce the fine, or request a date to dispute it. Neither option seems that great to me. In any case, I'm just wondering if anybody has any experience with this and/or any recommendation.
Dale L:
Get a court date and explain it to the judge. Not so much dispute it but explain what the warden said. Then hope for the best. IMO the last thing you want is to plead out and have it on your record.
One time due to a senior moment my buddy and I forgot to tag our abs. So we got tickets, wardens were actually apologetic after they ascertained we did just forget but said they couldn't let it slide, they even let us keep the abs. I believe we had to appear so the court date was automatically set. The cases that day were mixed some criminal and some DFG ones. The judge listened to each person and a couple DFG cases were dropped. In our case the deal was if we donated $250 to Sonoma County Abalone Network (SCAN) the charges would be dropped, like it never happened. So we did and I checked a few months later and our records were 100% clean
Here's the biggie, as each person came before him he asked the clerk if this was their first offense. You want that thing off your record if you can.
AlsHobieOutback:
Dang, that's a terrible situation. I thought they could look up your ID based on your CDL at this point, and that they would be able to confirm themselves. In the past I dealt with Traffic Court violations by asking for a date, then writing a letter to the judge to state my case. You might be able to do this, provide proof you were licensed, and that you had the best intentions under the new regulations.
NowhereMan:
--- Quote from: Dale L on August 28, 2024, 03:59:06 PM ---IMO the last thing you want is to plead out and have it on your record.
--- End quote ---
That's what I was thinking too, but when I called the court, the person there was really pushing this option as the easy way out (maybe for them, not me ha ha!)
It really seems like it ought to be "correctable", as that would just entail showing my license and getting some officer to sign off on it, and paying $25. It seems to me that this is what the DFG guys who gave me the ticket were thinking of, as they mentioned that if I actually had a license, it should only be $25...
NowhereMan:
--- Quote from: AlsHobieOutback on August 28, 2024, 04:33:19 PM ---In the past I dealt with Traffic Court violations by asking for a date, then writing a letter to the judge to state my case. You might be able to do this, provide proof you were licensed, and that you had the best intentions under the new regulations.
--- End quote ---
In the past, I challenged a traffic violation using "trial by written declaration" and won that. I thought that was a reasonable approach that saved everybody time, but it's only allowed for moving violations...