Is it because you are just pumping money into “the system“? I recently had a speeding ticket (64 in a 45) and instead of going to court, I paid a lawyer about $500 to get me out of it, including court fees. It was “reduced” to improper equipment or something like that.
How is that possible, and why is the U.S. judicial system ok with it?
Thanks!
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From my understanding bothering to show up to court at all, lawyer or not, gets you out of most speeding tickets.
For $500 you probably could’ve just paid the fucking ticket. lol
The judge knows that more time and money would be spent fighting with the lawyer than would be gained by the fine. You’d get similar results if you fought the ticket yourself without the lawyer.
It’s been over a decade but I went to traffic court twice in my 20s. Just by showing up and being willing to pay that day I had both tickets dropped to similar to what you describe.
I’m not sure your lawyer really did much, tbh.
But since this is at the discretion of the courts, if your lawyer is going to be a pain in the ass, I could see the court dropping it just to save resources.
I once had a speeding ticket in a town 50 miles from where I live. Someone gave me the name of a lawyer from that vicinity so I gave him a call. “What town? Let’s see….oh, yeah, I know Rebecca there. Yes, I can make this work. It will be $400, a $100 fine and $300 for me. I’ll take care of it.” So he personally knew people working in the offices of the various courts and could negotiate reduced charges which, critically included no points on my license (or an increase in auto insurance), even though it would have been cheaper to just pay the ticket outright. Does Rebecca get a kickback, too? I don’t know.
System is they have to prove, rather than just suspect that you have done something, the lawyer can stop you making an admission of doing so. Police will ask questions like how fast do you think you were going or why do you think I have stopped you answering those questions can get you into trouble.
Your lawyer pled down the charges and the court agreed to the reduced charges. You could attempt the same, but courts really look down on people representing themselves.
Whether you came out ahead or not depends on what your insurance increase would have been with a speeding ticket. If the fine/court costs plus the increase in insurance would have been more than $500, you saved money.
Because you don’t know what “improper equipment or something like that” is, a lawyer does.
Judges are lawyers, all their friends are lawyers, and all their relatives are lawyers
Surprise surprise the system is generous when you pay lawyers money