Speeding ticket horror in Groton, Connecticut.

Chapter 1. At the Groton, Connecticut police station.

The Groton Town police officer says, “put your finger here, and press lightly” as he takes the man’s a finger in his hand to help him as the man meekly attempts to follow the instructions.  The finger print it taken in the customary black ink.  Next, the officer says, “stand here, and look at the camera.”  There is a click, and flash.  It is done.  The mug-shot is taken.  The man is a ghost.  He is terrified.

The man is actually a respectable upstanding member of the community.  He is a scientist in a major worldwide drug company.  He has no criminal record whatsoever before this moment in time.  How did that happen?

Here is the story of this case, and how we were able to make it end with a happy ending.

Chapter 2.  Simple speeding ticket becomes serious crime in New London, Connecticut.

Speed trap on Allen Street in Mystic, Connecticut.

Our client, a 40-year-old chemist, gets a speeding ticket in Allen Street, in Mystic.  There is a spot where the speed drops from 40mph to 25mph.  Our client passes through the spot.  He believes he is ok.  He reduced his speed appropriately so that by the time he was in the 25mph zone he was not speeding.  But he is pulled over anyway, and given a ticket by the police officer.

Our client does not believe that he was going over 25mph.  He mails in his “not guilty” plea to the Central Infractions Bureau in Hartford, Connecticut.  He receives a court date, and attends.  He has never been to court before this day.  He talks with the prosecutor who offers to drop the fine, but not the infraction.   Our client refuses the deal because he has never had a single point on his license his entire life, and he truly believes he is not guilty.  Our client refuses the offer and gets a trial date.  He wants his day in Court.

Trial without a lawyer in Norwich, Connecticut: Big mistake leads to scrambing for a second chance.

Our client arrives for his trial in Norwich, Connecticut.  As it turns out he should have hired a lawyer.  Although, he is an experienced scientist, he knew nothing about the law.  He was completely overwhelmed.  He tried to cross-examine the police officer, and failed miserably.  He loses his case.  He is very sad.

Next, our client finds his way to the clerk’s office.  He asks the clerk for help.  The clerk has pity for him.  He asks for a second chance.  Luckily for him he gets one.  There is rule in Connecticut that says for traffic ticket cases if you lose your case in front of the magistrate, you can have a second trial (trial de novo) in front of a judge.

Our client then scrambles to find out how to file the proper paperwork with the Court to get his trial de-novo.  He has one day to do it.  He is a smart guy, and goes to the law library in the Courthouse in Norwich, Connecticut, and reads the law books that tell him how to file a motion for a trial de novo.  He gets the motion filed, and it is granted.

The notice that never comes.

He will get his day in Court.  The clerk says to him, “we will mail you a notice” telling him of the date and time of his trial.  He is relieved.

One month goes by.  No notice comes.  Two months go by, and still there is no notice from the Court about his trial date.

Our client, being the responsible person that he is, contacts the clerk who informs him that his Court date was two weeks ago.  Also, he is now being charged with failure to appear in Court, which is a class C misdemeanor (30 days max in jail).   Our client then turns himself in to the police.

Chapter 3.  Now things get interesting when The Bartinik Law Firm, P.C. gets involved.

Now we get involved.  Finally, our client comes to his senses, and hires a lawyer.

We attend his first Court appearance. We inform the Court that our client wants a trial.  The case is set for trial immediately.

One rule in Connecticut is if you are charged with a crime that carries the potential of jail time, you have the right to a trial by jury.  Here, our client had that right because of the failure to appear charge.  If this case was a traffic offense only case, there would be no such right to trial by jury.  So, this was set up for two trials:  One on a speeding ticket in front of a judge; and a second on the failure to appear charge in front of a jury.

After discussing our options with our client, we then filed a motion that the case be put on the pre-trial docket so we could discuss a reasonable settlement with the prosecutor.  We explained our theory of the case, and were apparenlty convincing.  Two hours later, the Court clerk called, and informed us that they were dropping all of the charges against our client.

Chapter 4. The lesson.

The judicial system can be very intimidating to those who are unfamiliar with the system.

If our client had only called us for the original speeding ticket, the matter could have been handled with one Court appearance.  However, he did the right thing by calling us to handle the matter when it got out of control.

He ended up being very happy with our help, and learned a lot about the Court system.

Chapter 5.  Where to get help.

If you have traffic offense in Southeastern, Connecticut we can help.  Contact The Bartinik Law Firm, P.C., 100 Fort Hill Road, Groton, Connecticut at 860-445-8521.