Legal Question in Traffic Law in South Carolina
Plea bargaining traffic citiations
I received a speeding ticket in Aiken County, SC, for speeding (51 in 35 zone) with a fine of $128 and (I believe) six points. I am a Georgia resident, and the officer indicated that had I been a South Carolina resident, he would have cited me for careless driving instead, which I believe is no points. I would like to know if I can plea to careless driving in court if I agree to pay the full fine, or request deferred adjudication if I pay the full fine. I have no prior accidents or tickets in the last 6 years (in fact, I have no accidents and only one other moving violation -- speeding 65/55 -- in my 15 years driving, so I really want to preserve my auto insurance rate!), which hopefully will help my argument. Thanks in advance for any help!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Plea bargaining traffic citiations
When you show for court you can ask the officer to re-write the ticket for Careless Operation. Its up to him. As far as deferred judgement, we don't have that in SC.