A Miracle Outcome For A Speeding Ticket That Is Also An Example Of A Judge's Belief in Leniency & Second Chances:
Last week in Court, I represented a young, reckless man who is now the beneficiary of a miracle, the kind of miracle that hopefully will push him to get his life on track and not kill himself speeding ever again at over 100 miles/hour. Earlier this year, he was stopped for driving at One Hundred Eight (108) miles an hour on the highway (55 mph limit). First, the judge screamed at him and said that at that high rate of speed, he’s seen pictures of victims in those car crashes whose skin has fallen off their bodies. Then the judge lectured him at length and asked this young man if he wanted to enlist in the Marines. Then the case was recalled 2 times because the judge was not happy with my client’s answers. But finally the judge issued the following ruling: if and only if this young man stays out of trouble and is not issued any new moving and parking violations for the next 6 months, this ‘speeding 108 mph in a 55 mph zone’ ticket will be dismissed in its entirety when we go back to Court in mid-Dec. In my 16 years of practicing law and slogging through extremely difficult contested divorce cases, Family Court cases, representing criminal defendants before a grand jury in various felony cases, and finally trials in criminal cases involving juries (felonies and misdemeanors), I can tell you that this kind of ‘commitment’ from a Judge for this kind of obnoxious and highly dangerous behavior is as close to a miracle outcome as any that I’ve ever personally been involved in during my years of practicing law. I also had very little to do with this wonderful outcome, even if you feel that this post is about me, which it is not. This post is about the generosity, patience and kindness of a Judge who has a reputation of being very hard on ‘recidivist’ drivers, especially young kids who speed so fast that, if they crashed, the crash would most likely have killed the driver and all passengers on impact.
My client is a 20 year New Yorker of Italian-American background who does not live or work in the county where he was stopped for this high speed, meaning that he basically assured himself that any Judge would come down on him harder than if he lived or worked in that county. At 20 years old, my client already has a driving record that is several pages long and recently, he pled guilty to ‘driving while ability impaired’ (DWAI) and he’s not even 21 yet. He was also pulled over for an entirely new and unrelated moving violation (not speeding) after he got this speeding ticket. When we went to Court last week, the case was scheduled for trial and the Judge had every right to insist that the trial go forward. If convicted, this young man could have been sentenced to jail for up to 30 days, apart from having to pay a max. possible fine of $600. Also, the judge was ready to suspend his driving privileges for 90 days, what is commonly called a 'VTL 510 suspension.'
Speeding tickets are very difficult to beat because the speed of the driver is generally measured by a properly calibrated laser gun. In the practice of law, you’ll often hear lawyers promise that they will achieve this kind of result for you, that result, etc. Some people in the general public believe that by hiring a lawyer for a criminal case or for traffic tickets, their lawyer can get the entire case and/or traffic tickets dismissed. This type of belief is highly misleading and not really based upon any hard facts of ‘frequent dismissals’ and/or ‘frequent acquittals.’ If the criminal and moving/parking violations system in the US really functioned in this way, we would have mass disorder all over the place (more so than we already have) and you would have heard about these magical, almost mythical lawyers by now.
Getting back to my client’s case, the original plea bargain that the prosecutor offered my client was a reduction down to speeding 88 miles in a 55 mph zone, which carries 8 points. My client’s driving record was so bad that after his parents hired me, I urged them to have their son take Defensive Driving, which he did before we went to Court last week. Therefore, the ‘up to 4 point removal’ benefit that the Defensive Driving course offers to all drivers who are licensed in NY was no longer available to him. Defensive Driving can be taken as often as you like, but the ‘up to 4 point removal’ benefit can only benefit a driver 1 time for every 18 months. On the 3 page attachment below, you can see at the top of p. 2 that he took Defensive Driving in March, 2016 and on the same page (under ‘Tickets’), you will see the 108/55 ticket. Above it you will see the latest ticket that he was issued in Apr. 2016 for disobeying a traffic control device (2 points if he is convicted).
You can do your own survey of lawyers who handle traffic tickets, but this type of outcome for an above-100 miles per hour ticket is extremely rare. It was simply a great act of generosity and patience towards my client by a very forgiving judge. I do not believe that I will ever be personally involved in this type of outcome ever again. When I returned to my office after Court was over, I told another client (who was waiting for me) about this judge's kindness and this other client of mine said that when he was stopped for driving at almost 100 mph in his 20s, he did not get a reduction at all and got 11 points on his record immediately. Back to my client from last week, he was not granted an ‘adjournment in contemplation of dismissal’ (ACOD) because in NY, although some types of moving violations are classified as crimes (mostly misdemeanors), a very high speeding ticket such as this is Not a crime, he was not fingerprinted, etc. Also when a client is granted an ACOD, the client/defendant does not have to return to Court in 6 months’ time after the last court appearance. However, my client for this high speeding ticket does have to go back to Court in 6 months’ time to show the Judge that he has not been issued any new tickets. If he is able to do that, his ticket will be dismissed immediately, NO community service and NO fine to be paid. An ACOD/ACD, in comparison, does not work this way.
This is a wonderful example of how the legal system, as represented by 1 Judge, can give a rebellious, out-of-control young man a second chance and maybe even shock him into getting his life back on track. I would not be surprised if that is exactly what will happen. In situations like this, I’ve observed that a client will often thank his/her lawyer endlessly and view the lawyer as a hero. But the truth is that sometimes, the lawyer has very little to do with how the Judge decides to handle the case.
There is no guarantee that either I or any other traffic ticket/criminal defense lawyer can obtain this same type of result in your case or in any other case, but it goes without saying that at least 50% of so many victories in life are due to just showing up, working hard and trying our best and fighting until the very end.
No comments:
Post a Comment