Legal Question in Traffic Law in Pennsylvania
I got a police ticket for driving at 49 mph when the speed limit says 25 mph. I was charged with total amount of 168$. I thought that since the amount is not little, I guessed to pay the amount with "plead guilty" and didn't expect they will give points as I never had points in my driving history. Later I got the mail saying that there are 4 points assessed to my driving record.
Can I go for an appeal for a trial in the Court of Common Pleas? If so, do I need a lawyer or defend my self in the court? Please advice. Thanks a lot.
2 Answers from Attorneys
It would seem that you are too late to appeal. What you should have done is sent the money and pleaded "not guilty". Then when you went to the hearing, you could have attempted to Plea bargain with the police offer to plead guilty to a lower speeding violation. This would have eliminated or reduced the points charged. Usually, the police officer is only concerned about a guilty plea and payment of a fine. This strategy doen't always work, but in my experience, it works 90% of the time. Points are determined by the number of mph over the posted limit. So if the police officer agreed to reduce the mph you were travelling, less or no points would have been assessed. Remember this for next time. Never plead guilty to violation involving points. You still have to put out the money, but a not-guilty plea gets you a hearing.
You can appeal, but if you just paid the ticket you pleaded guilty. Unless there were very unusual circumstances, such as a mistake of law (for example, the traffic regulations violated the constitution for some reason), or some sort of significant error that prevented justice from being served, your appeal would not be successful.
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