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You got a ticket for a class C misdemeanor or fine only misdemeanor case in Texas. Now what?
A ticket is just an allegation by that officer that you committed a criminal offense. When you signed the ticket, you did not admit that you are guilty or that you committed an offense. You have the right to challenge the allegation against you! If you believe that you are not guilty you have the right to go to court representing yourself without a lawyer.
The first thing you must do after you receive a ticket is make an appearance in court. The date that you are to appear in court is likely on the back of your ticket. Look for the date, time, and court that you are to appear.
You must plead guilty, not guilty or no contest on or before your appearance date. In order to fight your ticket, you must plead not guilty. Pleading no contest and pleading guilty will have, in essence, the same outcome: you are going to have to pay the fine. To fight the ticket, plead NOT GUILTY. Use your DEFENDANT’S PLEA AND REQUEST FOR DISCOVERY AND BRADY MATERIAL form from FightYourOwnTicket.com to plead not guilty, ensuring your rights are protected.
You have two options on how to make an appearance. One option is to go to the court and appear in person. Remember to bring the citation with you. The judge will ask you to enter a plea (not guilty, guilty, or no contest), which is your formal response to the charge. To fight the ticket, plead NOT GUILTY.
The other options, if you cannot make it to court, you can mail your plea to the court by the appearance date. Keep it mind that it must be postmarked by the appearance date if you decide to mail it.
If you are wanting to request a trial immediately, then file a MOTION FOR SPEEDY TRIAL and demand a trial at the earliest convenience of the court.
Knowing the people in the courtroom and their roles is important to helping you understand the process. The bailiff is a police officer who is tasked with keeping order in the court. They may decide who is allowed inside the court room and will enforce rules such as dress codes and the use of cell phones. The coordinator is the person in charge of scheduling the dockets. They will control what cases are presented to the judge on a particular date. The clerk handles all motions or other documents filed with the court. To present something to the Judge it will have to go through the clerk first. The prosecutor is the attorney for the State of Texas. It is their job to prosecute the case against you and they have the authority to negotiate with you. The Judge is the person in charge of the process. At trial they will make decision on what evidence is admissible and not admissible.
By pleading not guilty, you are telling the state that you do not admit to the offense and you want a trial. At trial, it’s the state’s job to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that you committed the offense. Then, and only then, can you be convicted (by a judge or jury) and punished. In order to fight your ticket, you should plead not guilty at your first appearance in court (or by mail, see above).
Pleading guilty is admitting to the crime. You will be convicted and sentenced that day, which usually includes paying a fine and court costs. You lose the right to trial. If you plead guilty but don’t pay your fines, you will often have a warrant issued for your arrest and will often not be able to renew your driver’s license until resolving what you owe.
This is similar to pleading guilty. You are agreeing to be punished as if you were guilty, but your do not admit guilt. You will be convicted of a crime and sentenced that day. You will lose the right to trial. The consequences are basically the same as a guilty plea (see above).
One key difference between guilty and no contest pleas is related to a civil lawsuit arising from the incident. If there is ever a civil suit filed against you, a no-contest plea cannot be used as an admission of your guilt in the civil suit, while a guilty plea can.
To fight the ticket, plead NOT GUILTY.
What happens after I plead not guilty?
After you plead not guilty, your case will be set for a trial at a later date (not the same day that you enter the plea). At the trial is when your innocence or guilt will be determined by a judge or by a jury.
If I go to trial, who will determine whether I’m guilty?
When you plead not guilty, you have the right to a trial. You can decide whether you would like to have a trial in front of a jury, meaning a jury will decide your innocence or guilt, or if you would prefer a bench trial, meaning a judge decides your innocence or guilt.
Should I do a jury trial or bench trial?
It is your decision whether you want to waive your right to a jury trial and let the judge decide your innocence or guilt. You should decide based on your experience with the judge and court, the nature of your offense, and the people that might make up the jury. Depending on the circumstance and what kind of ticket you have, you might believe one option will lead to a more fair outcome. You should not feel any pressure one way or the other, and you will not be asked to explain your reasoning.
Before you ask for a trial date, you should decide whether you want a jury trial or a bench trial. Whether you are requesting a jury trial or bench trial will likely determine which date you will return to court.
Either when you make your appearance, or soon after you make an appearance, you should ask the state for a copy of their evidence. To do this, you should fill out and file a request for discovery.
This is done simply by filling out the DEFENDANT’S PLEA AND REQUEST FOR DISCOVERY AND BRADY MATERIAL. Additionally use your DEFENDANT’S REQUEST FOR NOTICE OF EXTRANEOUS CRIMES OR ACTS form to ask for any bad facts the State plans to use against you and any experts they plan on calling for trial.
A copy of this request should also be given to the prosecutor. Be aware that the prosecutor may not give you a copy of the evidence until the day of trial. Depending on how much evidence there is, you may need to ask the court for a later trial date in order for you to have time to review the evidence.
When the prosecutor gives you the evidence in your case, review the materials carefully. Also, collect any evidence that proves your innocence. Decide whether there are people you would like to interview and possibly call as witnesses during your trial. As you review the evidence, begin to think what might be the best way to present the evidence to the jury or judge that highlights why you are not guilty.
You may wish to gather evidence from others. In order to do this you should fill out the DEFENDANT’S SUBPOENA APPLICATION & SUBPOENA form to subpoena a person to trial and the DEFENDANT’S SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM APPLICATION & SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM form to require a third party to produce evidence for a trial.
You should get the business to fill out the business record affidavit so that you do not need them to testify regarding the documents. You should have someone from the business fill out this BUSINESS RECORD AFFIDAVIT form.
You may wish to have a witness come to your trial to testify. If so, you should ask them to attend your court date and tell them what you might discuss with them while they’re on the witness stand. If you do not believe that they would willingly come to court to testify, or if they need proof for their employer, fill out this DEFENDANT’S SUBPOENA APPLICATION & SUBPOENA form.
After you plead not guilty, you will be given a date for your trial. On the day before your trial, or on the day of your trial, you usually will have a chance to speak with a prosecutor.
This is your opportunity to attempt to resolve your case before trial. You can suggest to the prosecutor a reason why your case should be dismissed or a reason why your fine should be lowered or waived. This is your opportunity to give the prosecutor a preview of what your evidence at trial will be in an attempt to change the prosecutor’s mind regarding whether the case should be pursued. For more tips on negotiating with the prosecutor, review this article, https://fightyourownticket.com/unlocking-victory-negotiating-with-a-prosecutor-for-your-traffic-ticket/.
Sometimes a prosecutor will agree to lower your fine if you follow through with an agreement (like a promise to pay for car insurance, a defensive driving course, or anger management course). This might require you to have your case reset for another date, so that you have time to follow through with the agreement. What may be more effective for negotiation is, before you meet with the prosecutor, think of what you could do beforehand that could sway the prosecutor to dismiss your case. For example, if you complete a defensive driving course before meeting with the prosecutor and show the prosecutor your certificate of completion, the prosecutor may be more open to negotiation or dismissal. There are options to compete classes like anger management or an anti-theft class in person or online using websites like OnlineCourseForCourt.com. A certificate of completion could be a good tool to use in your negotiations.
When you talk to the prosecutor, you may be offered a deal, and you must decide whether you prefer that deal over going to trial. If you decide to accept, one condition will be that you change your plea (from not guilty to guilty or no contest), and the trial will not take place.
Before your trial begins with picking the jury, the Judge will normally ask if there are any preliminary matters. This is a good opportunity to discuss how long the trial will take and the scheduling of the witnesses. If you are not ready and need more time to prepare your case, use the DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE form to ask for a new trial date. This is a good chance to ask for the State’s witness list if you haven’t already done so using the DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO REQUIRE STATE TO LIST ITS WITNESSES form from FightYourOwnTicket.com. You can ask the Judge to order all witnesses leave the courtroom during the course of the trial and to not discuss their testimony with each other. Just file your DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO INVOKE THE RULE form.
Also, this is a good chance to bring up any motions to suppress you wanted to present using your DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS CUSTODIAL STATEMENT, DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS STATEMENT – Miranda, DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS STATEMENT – Voluntariness and DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS forms from FightYourOwnTicket.com. You can also choose to present a motion to suppress when the evidence is brought up during the trial. Lastly, if you are convicted then you can choose to either have the Judge or the Jury decide punishment. You should make that selection before picking the jury using your form from FightYourOwnTicket.com.
Your trial will begin with Jury Selection if you decide to have the case decided by a jury. If you decided to have a Judge decide your case, then you will not have to pick a jury. During jury selection both sides will have the chance to ask the potential jury members questions. You are not allowed to ask specifically about your case. However, you are able to ask questions about issues that will be brought up in your case to see if any of the potential jury members have a potential bias or prejudice that would prohibit them from being a fair and impartial juror for your case. After both sides have asked questions, then you will be able to eliminate, or strike, potential jurors. You may strike them for cause, in other words they have demonstrated a bias or prejudice that would make them an unfair juror for your case. There is no limit on the number of juror members you can strike for cause. Next, you will be able to use a peremptory challenge to strike a certain number of juror members. The number of peremptory challenges will be set by the judge. You do not need to have a reason to exercise a peremptory challenge to strike a potential juror. A juror may also be excused for medial reasons, or other reasons showing they are unable to perform their duty as a juror member.
Opening statements is your chance to tell the jury what the evidence will be. Think of it as a road map. You will be able to tell the jury who will testify and what they will say. This is your first chance to speak to the jury directly about your case. Be sure to have prepared a statement ahead of time. Remember you are trying to convince them of your innocence. Point out evidence that is good for your case and discuss why the evidence against you is not as good.
The State of Texas has the burden of proving the case against you beyond a reasonable doubt. They will start by calling their witnesses. You will have the chance to object to their witnesses and cross-examine them on their testimony. Normally this means the police officer who pulled you over and gave you a ticket will testify. If that officer used Radar or Lidar to justify the traffic stop, then you can request a Daubert hearing using your forms from FightYourOwnTicket.com (Like to form). During a Daubert hearing you will be able to challenge scientific evidence like Radar and Lidar. You can question if the machine was functioning properly or properly calibrated and you can challenge whether it was properly used. During cross examination generally you want to ask questions that highlight the weaknesses in the State’s case.
The State will rest their case after they have presented their evidence. Then it is your chance to present your evidence and call any witnesses you may have. If you have documents or photos that help prove your innocence or witnesses that will testify for you, this is your chance to present them. If someone needs documentation for work or school, you can use a subpoena. You can also compel someone to testify using a subpoena. If someone has evidence of your innocence and do not want to bring that evidence willingly, you can use a subpoena deuces tecum to make them come to court. You are not required to testify at the trial, and no one can force you to testify at your own trial. However, you can also call yourself to testify. This will be your chance to admit any documents that support your case. Be prepared with a plan of action of how you plan on presenting your side to ensure it is persuasive to the jury. Once you are finished you will also rest your case and the case will continue to Closing Statements.
Closing Statements is your last chance to argue to the jury about your case. Just like with opening statements, you should argue why the State’s evidence against you is insufficient to prove you are guilty. Highlight your evidence proving your innocence. You will want to prepare your statement ahead of time but remember, you can only argue about the evidence that was actually presented during the trial. Be ready to address the issues and evidence the jurors actually heard during the trial.
After closing statements, the Judge or Jury will decide whether you are guilty or not guilty of the allegations. They can take a short or long amount of time to make that decision. If you are found innocent, then you will have no penalty and your driving record will be corrected. However, if you are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt you could face a fine up to $500 including paying court costs. Your driver’s license may be suspended as well for certain charges. Note that if you’re convicted of assault family violence, either after pleading guilty or no contest, or after pleading guilty and being convicted at trial, you will have your fingerprints taken, and the conviction will be reported to DPS for inclusion on your criminal record. You will be able to appeal the decision to find you guilty. FightYourOwnTicket.com can also help you appeal your case. You will need to file a Motion for New Trial, Notice of Appeal and post an Appeal Bond. You can do all of that with FightYourOwnTicket.com here: https://fightyourownticket.com/appeal-your-ticket/. Using our forms you can bring your case to the County Court at Law in the same county as your trial. There you can fight the ticket again.
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