Dear alexsi-ga;
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question.
New York has a "Zero-Tolerance" policing policy when it comes to
behavioral issues and "quality of life offenses" such as drinking
alcoholic beverages in the street, urinating in public, panhandling,
loud radios, graffiti, disorderly conduct and so forth. The reason I
mention this is because the police department can, at it?s discretion,
decide if your alleged actions warrant an appearance in court before a
judge or not.
An officer can decide if you should receive a Desk Appearance Ticket
(DAT) (this would be a white or pink sheet 8.5 X 11 inches in size) or
a Summons (this is usually a smaller than regular paper, flimsy and
often pink). If you get a DAT your arraignment is relatively informal
at the desk of an authority such as a judge or magistrate. If you get
a summons you have to appear in open court before the bench of a
presiding judge (and usually an audience).
For a summons, here is the process:
?You need to decide whether you want to plead guilty or not guilty. Be
aware that a guilty plea may affect your ability to participate in
various lawsuits, particularly wrongful arrest ones. In general it is
best to wait to plead guilty until your lawyer is able to find out
more about the case against you.
If you wish to plead not guilty, you can either fill out the bottom of
the summons and send it to the Not Guilty Unit address on the back, or
you can just appear in court on the date indicated on the summons.
NOTE: mailing the not guilty summons should happen within 48 hours of
arrest, which means that if you are getting this message now you have
probably missed the deadline and should appear in court on the date.
If you did mail it in, please let us know when your date is (you will
receive something in the mail within 30 days, if you do not receive
anything, appear in person).
If you wish to plead guilty - appear at the date on the ticket?
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/feb15_news.htm
So, in answer to your question, if your ticket is a mandatory
appearance (which appears to be the case in this instance) you will be
required to appear in person to state your guilt or innocence. Whether
or not you will have to stand before the court and recount your
indiscretions is normally something that is done at the will of the
presiding judge. You may be able to speak to the district attorney,
one of his deputies or the court clerk prior to your case being called
up that day and arrange for a simple payment of the fine without
actually appearing before the judge. This is not allowable in all
instances but when it is, it is known in some jurisdictions as a
?forfeit?. You?ll just have to talk to them and see if they will let
you forfeit and get it over with. Otherwise, if it?s any consolation,
the court (and usually the audience) is not shocked by any details
they might here during a plea in open court. As I said, it works at
the Judge?s discretion so my best guess is that the court will simply
ask you if you are guilty or not and let it go at that. If you do have
to speak when you plea, just blurt it out and get it over with. No one
will be impressed or aghast no matter what you say. Whatever the case,
it?ll soon be behind you.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
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NYC
DISORDERLY CONDUCT
FINE
FORFEIT
PAY
PLEA
PLEAD
GUILTY
APPEARANCE
SUMMONS |
