If you get pulled over and cited with one or more traffic tickets in Georgia, you will want to know what to expect and what steps to take next. This guide will hopefully help you be more aware of the traffic ticket process in Georgia and what you may be likely to face in the coming weeks or months.
When is your court date?
The first question you’ll want to answer is, when is your court date? All traffic tickets in Georgia are, at minimum, misdemeanor criminal violations, which means you have a right to be heard in court and the right to plead guilty or not guilty. This also means you will have an assigned court date by default. You should be able to find it somewhere on the front or back of your ticket, along with the location of the courthouse.
If you miss your court date, you could wind up with your license being suspended until you handle your missed court date, or even a warrant out for your arrest.
If your ticket is payable online or by phone before your court date, take note of when the deadline is to pay as it is usually some time before the court date, to give the payment time to process. Even if this is an option, it’s still best practice to explore all other options before just paying the ticket, as you could get hit with some consequences you may not have realized – but would have, if you had done a little more exploring into your charges.
Sometimes, the court date on your ticket says “TBD” or “to be determined”. If that happens, make sure you call the courthouse regularly to find out when your court date will be.
Keep your address updated
Since missing your court date is such a steep consequence, make sure you keep your address updated with the court and also with the Georgia DDS (Department of Driver Services). This is because if your court date gets rescheduled, or if it was a “TBD” on your ticket, notice of your new court date will come in the mail. It is rare that a court date is rescheduled to occur before the old one, but, it could happen. Also, if your license gets suspended because you failed to appear in court, that notice comes from the DDS, and will be the only way you’ll find this out. Therefore, it’s important to always keep your address updated with the court and with DDS.
What is your version of events?
Another important tip is, as soon as possible after you get your ticket, take some time and write down everything you remember about the incident. This is because your court date will likely be weeks or even months into the future, and important information from the date of the citation could be lost due to time and failure to remember. If you take the time to write everything down while it is fresh, you can easily refer back to it later, whether for trial prep or just to make sure you have all the facts, as you remember them, correct.
What are your charges?
It’s important to know what you are charged with because then you can find out what the worst possible outcome could be, if convicted as guilty on all charges. Some traffic convictions come with a hard, multiple-month suspension of your driver’s license – and in some cases, there is no option for any sort of limited driving permit to be able to go to work or court, etc. Even if you are not a lawyer, you are expected by the court to know everything about your particular case and the court system as if you were a lawyer. So know your charges and do your research – and better yet, talk to a lawyer to make sure you’re on the right track.
Do you need a lawyer?
We always recommend at least talking to a lawyer about your questions and concerns and possible outcomes of your traffic ticket case. See what the lawyer can do for you and if their cost is worth it, depending on the potential worst case outcomes in your case. A lot of what a lawyer can do depends not just on the laws out there, but also what you’re currently charged with and also your past driving history. At the very least, a lawyer can help by speaking in court on your behalf, rescheduling and advising you of court dates, and be your go-to guide during the whole traffic court process, so you are not in it alone.
What evidence do you have?
Another great step is to gather and preserve or store any and all evidence you have surrounding your case. For example, were there any witnesses to your case? If so, do you have their names and contact information? If not, can you get it? If you know them, will they write or record a video or audio statement for you? Did you have someone on the other end of the phone with you, listening as you got pulled over? Will they make a statement? Did you record the interaction with police, whether on a dash cam or your phone or did a passenger record it?
Even if these things aren’t usable in court, they can be very helpful for building a defense to your case, and especially to your lawyer if you hire one. It can help the lawyer find more potential evidence – regardless of whether they can use your collection of evidence in court. It’s important to do this as soon as possible after the incident, like the written statement, as a lot can be lost to memory.
Going to Court
Finally, the big day – your first court date. You’ll sign in, wait your turn, and then usually, one of three things will happen (although there’s always the chance none of them will happen to you):
One option is that you realize you want to admit guilt – either the prosecutor makes you a great offer, or you don’t want to try and fight it after looking at all your evidence or knowing your own driving history – and so you sign up for a plea, either by yourself if self-represented or with the assistance of your lawyer if you have one, and appear in front of the judge, who decides whether or not to accept your plea (more often than not, they will), and then you sign paperwork, you pay a fine if needed, and then you are usually done. Unless you have something like probation as a result of your guilty traffic ticket plea.
A second option is that you realize for whatever reason that you do want time to get a lawyer and talk to them about your case – but you didn’t hire one before the first court date. In that case, it’s important to let the prosecutor and/or clerk know that you would like a one-time reset to hire counsel. Usually, most courts and judges will let you do this, if it is your first time in court. In that case, if the judge allows you to have more time, you’ll get issued a new court date – whether there in court or by mail – and you’ll need to hire an attorney before then who can show up on that next court date.
A third option is that when you get to court you realize that you do want to fight this and you decide to plead not guilty and exercise your right to a trial. You can either pick a jury trial or a bench trial (no jury because the judge decides) and then you will be given another come-back court date. That court date may or may not be your trial date and you may have to come back multiple times to court to finally get your trial. It’s always better to do a trial with a lawyer than without one, as you’ll be held to the same standards in defending yourself in your case as any other lawyer is in a trial.
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