Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

Re: Incorrect court date on ticket

Hello. Your son should appear in court and be represented by an

attorney. In my opinion there is a

basis for asking that the case be dismissed because of the error in the date. Will be happy to discuss this with you further and in more detail.

Re: Incorrect court date on ticket

First of all, the incorrect court date does not matter. We all know that the court date is in 2007, and a failure to appear may very well result in a warrant being issued. Most of the time it is possible to enter into a plea bargain in these cases in which the defendant stays out of trouble for a certain perion of time (90 days or six months usually), and then the case is dismissed so that there is no conviction on the defendant's record. This is especially important in cases involving young people. On the other hand, it sounds like your son does have a plausible defense. He has the option of setting the case for trial, trying it and taking a chance on whether the judge will throw it out because it is unlikely the cop saw the offense. Do not assume that the judge will do the "correct" thing. I have seen plenty of cases where the facts were similar and the judge found the defendant guilty because the judge concluded the defendant did whatever he was charged with even though the cop probably didn't actually see it happen. If this would happen to your son, he could always file an appeal, but you would be looking at some substantial attorney's fees. In any event, there is no doubt that you (your son) should hire an attorney.