Wadcutter
IL
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Jack_Pine wrote:
The Deputy is who got me confused. Had he not said anything I would have just mailed it in without a thought.
Deputies are often not a good source for legal advice. Depending on the county that deputy might have never written a safety sticker violation in his entire career, wouldn't even know where to look in the vehicle code for the statute, nor would know a moving violation from a minor citation.
Camped in every state but Alaska
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racer4
Upstate New York
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Guilty or Not Guilty?
I was told several years ago (by someone who wrote legislation for a state lawmaker) to ALWAYS, ALWAYS plead Not Guilty.
Reason is the Prosecutor, LEO, or Judge (depends on local procedure) will often offer a lessor offense, like a parking ticket, in exchange for pleading guilty.
A condition of getting this is having a clean driving record at the time.
Depending on the original violation it might keep points off your licence and cost less.
In your case the infraction might be so small that the above does not apply. Just some info I came across over the years. I wish someone had told me this stuff when I was 16.
* This post was
edited 10/31/09 07:42pm by racer4 *
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avan
Sioux Falls, SD & Livingston,TX
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Quote:Deputies are often not a good source for legal advice. Depending on the county that deputy might have never written a safety sticker violation in his entire career, wouldn't even know where to look in the vehicle code for the statute, nor would know a moving violation from a minor citation.
10 or 11 yrs ago, when we were still domiciled in TX (FTers), we were stopped in a construction zone of I-80 near Chicago. We hadn't been back to TX for several yrs so our inspection sticker was out of date (only need to update it when you go back to TX). Anyway, the trooper wrote a ticket for it and I just chuckled. He wondered why I thought it was funny and I said I didn't think he had the authority to enforce TX regulations and that if he did, he should know the TX regs that he was trying to enforce - that I was not out of compliance with TX law. He went back to his car and I could see him talking on his radio. When he came back, he just waved us through.
That same year a local LEO in VA also issued a citation for the same thing. Threw it away. There's a Barney Fife everywhere.
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Wadcutter
IL
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Joined: 05/25/2004
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racer4 wrote:Guilty or Not Guilty?
I was told several years ago (by someone who wrote legislation for a state lawmaker) to ALWAYS, ALWAYS plead Not Guilty.
Reason is the Prosecutor, LEO, or Judge (depends on local procedure) will often offer a lessor offense, like a parking ticket, in exchange for pleading guilty.
A condition of getting this is having a clean driving record at the time.
Depending on the original violation it might keep points off your licence and cost less.
That's a complete waste of time and money for a safety sticker violation. For one thing $75, which is the fine for no safety sticker, is the minimum fine in IL so a judge would not be able to reduce the fine below that amount. Second, it makes no sense to try to get it changed to another section as no safety sticker is not a moving violation and does not put points on your driver's license. The 3rd reason it doesn't make any sense is that when judges change the statute as a favor court costs are added which increases the overall fine greater than the original $75.
Quote:
Another time, a couple decades ago, when I (may have) pleaded guilty, the Judge gave me some on the spot advice to NOT plead Guilty. He said it could be used against you in a civil case. He suggested that pleading No Contest, could not be used against you.
Horse hockey! If a judge said that then he better go back to law school for 2 reasons.
A plea of "No Contest" means you agree that the facts of the case are sufficient that if presented in court you admit you would be found guilty. It's basically a plea of guilty. Second, it doesn't matter if found guilty, pled guilty, "no contest", not guilty, or even dismissed, it can all be used in a civil case. The burden of proof in a civil case is far less than in a criminal case.
avan wrote:
10 or 11 yrs ago, when we were still domiciled in TX (FTers), we were stopped in a construction zone of I-80 near Chicago. We hadn't been back to TX for several yrs so our inspection sticker was out of date (only need to update it when you go back to TX). Anyway, the trooper wrote a ticket for it and I just chuckled.
The Troops know they cannot enforce such out of state laws. It's taught in the academy about the 4th or 5th week. It's been part of the curriculum for over 30 yrs.
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That same year a local LEO in VA also issued a citation for the same thing. Threw it away. There's a Barney Fife everywhere.
That wasn't smart. Tickets just don't go away. Judges really get a bit cranky when people just "throw away tickets". Failure to respond to a citation results in license suspension in the state where the citation was written, if your state is in compact with the state where the citation was written then your home state agrees to suspend your license (most states are in the compact), and the state where the citation was issued will issue a warrant. It was almost a nightly occurrence when I was working the road to take someone to jail for "throwing away a ticket". Judges take a very dim view of that. I know for sure they do in TX as a good friend of mine is a judge in TX and that is most of his business.
Facts of how citations are really handled tell a different story but they make good campfire stories.
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avan
Sioux Falls, SD & Livingston,TX
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Quote:Failure to respond to a citation results in license suspension in the state where the citation was written, if your state is in compact with the state where the citation was written then your home state agrees to suspend your license (most states are in the compact), and the state where the citation was issued will issue a warrant. Maybe so, maybe not. Don't know, don't care. Changed my domicile to SD two yrs later. Been back in that VA jurisdiction many many many times for many many weeks (daughters live there) and my vehicle is rather distinctive and they haven't cited me again (though SD doesn't require one to have a sticker).
You also wroteQuote:The Troops know they cannot enforce such out of state laws. It's taught in the academy about the 4th or 5th week. It's been part of the curriculum for over 30 yrs. You must have missed my Barney Fife comment or, better, I'll just assume you are too young to have ever seen Mayberry RFD. Re your academy comment - Did you know that in every class, school, academy, college etc., someone always graduates while being at the absolute rock bottom of the class? I didn't make the story up. In one year, in two different states, an officer tried to enforce a supposed infraction of another state's regs without having a clue as to what the regs of that alien, to them, state said. And neither one could claim that they missed the fact that the outdated sticker was from another state - the sticker is in the shape of the State of Tx.
Just plain dumb & stupid.
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Dave H M
IL
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Now I gotta tell a barney fife story.
way back when I was young I bought a corvette in IL and was gonna take it to KY to register it. The dealer put some kind of sticker on the window (think it was called a drive away sticker) on either the front or back window. Anyway when I was behaving myself and driving out the south end of louisville, this female city cop came roaring up behind me and pulled me over. I pulled off the busy road into a restaurant parking lot. The wife and kinds puled in the lot behind the cop since they were following in the family car.
Oh yeah, hand on the hog leg, be quiet and stand well away from the car. After pfarting around forever she finally figured out she did not nab up a hot car. So just to square me away she gave me a MCA ticket for not haveing the vehicle properly tagged since the tag was not on the correct window for KY.
when I finally got thru the line in night court, the judge read the cittion, frowned, and asked the prosecutor what I was there for. The prosecutor mumbled around a bit and the judge said get him out of here. It only takes one of those go arounds to make a lasting impression of the force out there protecting us. 
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Lug
Illinois
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All interesting stories, but getting back to the the OP's situation, I would say take Wadcutter's advise. I don't know who he is, but he sounds like he could be a DOT Illinois State Trooper. His statements are accurate. I've driven a commercial vehicle in Illinois for 20+ years, and knowing and obeying commercial truck laws is critical for everyones safety on the hiways.
Tom
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nickelAF
Charleston, WV
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In West Virginia the violation is forgiven if you show proof of inspection within a few days after being cited. I always go for the extra month or two. Most inspection stations actually check for safety problems. A nearby state did not do safety inspections and it was unnerving to see the junk that was on the road.
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