park after dark court summons

[chanalee1]

got pink slip court summons in nyc for being in park after dark. First of all I didn't even know this wanst allowed b/c im not from here. The police told me that I should just go to court and tell them im out of state , and they'll let me off. So do I need a lawyer? Also, they spelled my name wrong on the summons, is that grounds for annulling it? Also i live out of state so they dont have my address here, and someone said I should just ignore it….? and im not even going to be here on the court date, what do i do?

do i even need a lawyer?
does the cost of a lawyer outweigh the fine?
do i plead guilty even if i didnt know?

 

[levelheaded]

Park after dark summons

My boyfriend and I just received a summons, simply for "Park after Dark," last night. We are from out of town, were visiting friends in Fort Greene, and were just sitting on a bench talking. I work in the field of pediatrics and cannot have a criminal conviction and be able continue my career, so I'm a bit panicked about this.

We couldn't find any notification that the park closes, and there were several people with their dogs walking through.

I was fully compliant but now I wish I had cried BEFORE they gave me the ticket because I'm really scared to be convicted of this.

Thanks for any information about what happened to you with this - did you avoid a conviction? Did you hire a lawyer? How much is the fine for this? There's NO information about how to avoid this.