Once I figured out that these jurisdictions were more interested in the money they made off of the ticket than the points they assigned to my license, I began negotiating with the prosecutors before trial. I have had a 100% success rate in avoiding any points being added to my license since then. I cannot remember the last time a ticket put points on my license, we’re talking decades ago.

I’ve never needed an attorney to do that because the prosecutors understand the game and they have bigger fish to fry. If you can find an attorney to give you that same outcome and that’s preferable to you facing the prosecutor yourself, go for it.

In the unlikely event that you can’t get that done, make them prove their case. Back in the 1980s, I received a speeding ticket from a crooked state cop who claimed to have a magic radar unit that didn’t set off radar detectors. Wonder of wonders, that didn’t hold up in reality. Another not guilty.

They don't do Deferred Adjudication down by you?

I actually like it although it's obviously engineered to be a money grab.

Up here every municipality has their own POPO squad.

So if I get a ticket in say Double Oak I pay the fine there and only have to keep my nose clean in Double Oak for 30 days and it's like the ticket never existed.

Now during those 30 days I'm free to continue in full hooligan mode anywhere else and if I get popped in Bartonville it does not affect my Deferred status in Double Oak.

It's effectively a "Pay to Play" system with temporary time outs.

Yeah, I've used it several times (farther back in the thread). I was talking about the folks that said "just do defensive driving" which is an OK option, but not great. It's not nearly as good as deferred adjudication or deferred disposition (same thing, but some courts have told me "no we don't do this we do that."

It's literally all that the attorneys you hire do for their money, they make the deal with the DA in advance.

I agree, for everyday violations you can accomplish exactly the same outcome and save the lawyer fee.

Yeah, the only difference is the attorney can get them on the phone before trial; when you do it yourself you generally have to do it in person a few minutes before your case is brought up.

Unless you are in there so often you are on a first name basis with Stu and you know where his office is. :D

Yep, the first time I paid a lawyer that just requested Deferred _____, I stopped paying lawyers for tickets. I was able to do the same thing myself and save myself the fee. Most of the time I performed the request in person in court, but I did once talk to the DAs office ahead of time on the phone.
I did once manage to call and get it setup ahead of time. In other instances, I was able to get it setup the day of the court appearance.

They may do a conditional dismissal IF you take defensive driving. Meaning, take the course then State dismisses case. I even got an assault family dismissed for client taking anger management course.

Gotta disagree with this part. I do this every day and less than 1% of my communications with the ADA's is over phone. It just isn't done. Not what I'd prefer but it is how they operate. They like the email. Heck, some of them even give out their personal cell number to text.

The other thing to remember is that for the last 2 years at least here, the courts have been doing limited business due to some flu thing. They are woefully behind and the ADAs usually don't start looking at next Wednesday's cases until next Tuesday. So any pre-docket discussions may be fruitless.

I had a client with charges in felony, misdemeanor, and municipal courts. By far the municipal court ADAs were the worst to deal with and the most difficult to get in touch with. Certainly no phone but even emails they wouldn't return.

It surely wasn't a coincident that he wrote you up for 29 over...he knows the fees.

The good ones do that.

I come from a smaller town than San Antonio. And I haven’t had to do this in a long time, so back then texts and emails weren’t that big of a thing.

But, I will say that when I worked in San Antonio, I had a hard time getting anybody in government to do any goddamn thing at all. This was 15 or 20 years ago but the only time I ever got anybody’s attention was when I blew right by their secretary and walked into their office and sat down. Worst town I ever worked in, in that respect.

Did ya consider flashin the officer a li'l side boob and a pouty face? :D

That sounds about right. There is a certain laissez-faire manner in which things get done here. One could call it pedestrian.

I heard very recently that the DA was going to require all his peeps to come back to the office on a daily basis. Apparently there was a small mutiny amongst the ADAs and he supposedly agreed to one day a week from home.

I'd say up yours and get back to work. But they have high turnover and are having trouble keeping ADAs. I hear the starting salary is $64k/year.

I hear $64k/yr is a great way to very quickly pay off a law degree. I think they're usually pretty cheap and easy to get.

The main feeder school is in San Antonio and is private (and it has a crap endowment). Tuition when I was there was $565/hr my 3rd year (was $535/hr when I started). I graduated in 2000.

Now it is $19,989 per semester ($1,388 per hour) and a bunch of fees too...

Anyone want some of that? My brain hurts just trying to figure out how much that is over 3 years.

That would have been an instant trip to jail 😁

You should come up here. A new Assistant Minneapolis City Attorney I starts at $80,000 with no experience. He’s at 100k in a few years and there are city attorney II and III positions above that of you can get the promotion. Plus full public union benefits. And a state retirement system. Strangely enough, the positions are highly competitive. County attorneys and public defenders are 5-10 percent higher. Public defenders are on the same pay scale as the district attorneys, but we call them county attorneys. The state AG’s office is between the two. Public service law pays well in the north country. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to be paid in guns forfeited from a client, but it’s not done that way up here.