TX - Expired tags/registration and failure to appear

[Alexandria]

I got myself into a bit of trouble. Within two weeks I got two sets of expired tags/registration tickets. In that month and the month that followed, my husband and I separated and I moved out, and the car in question was totaled in a flood. I forgot about the tickets, missed my court dates, and now it's one year later. I have 2 court dates and I have no idea how to plead. The bondsman who did my pre-arrest bond told me to plead not guilty on everything, but that seems strange to me. I just want a second opinion on how to handle these court dates. I'm very nervous about them!

 

[mightymoose]

If you plead not guilty you will get an opportunity later to work with the DA and reduce the charges/fines rather than to proceed with prosecution.
If you plead guilty you will be on the hook for the specified amount.
Consult with legal counsel if you are unsure how to proceed... but I would bet that if you get an opportunity to explain your situation to the DA that you could get charges reduced and pay a lot less.

 

[Alexandria]

I see. So if I plead not guilty, they will reset my court date?

Thank you for your help!

 

[mightymoose]

You will have to contact the court to find out how they operate.

 

[fredrikklaw]

Cases should be dismissed!

Alexandria:

A little clarification, please!

O.K., you forgot the court dates for two correctable, traffic-related citations and I take it you were recently arrested on two F.T.A. (failure to appear) bench warrants; so why are you going back to court on two dates and what are you pleading to, and what are the D.A. and the bail bondsman doing here?

If you are going to court to still answer for the expired tag/expired registration (unless you were arrested on some other matter), then DON'T, as there is nothing for you to plead guilty or not guilty to and you should ask the court straight up to dismiss the cases. Because the offenses you were cited for over a year ago were correctable traffic offenses for which you had opportunity to renew the registration on the car, pay a small civil admin fee and would have been done with them. But the car (as you said) was destroyed in a flood soon after you were cited and before the court date. In other words: there is nothing to fix anymore and hasn't been since the car was totaled; there is no longer a car; the subject matter is gone.

You should not enter a plea but should be asking the court to dismiss the cases against you as there is no longer anything that can be corrected.

fredrikklaw

 

[army judge]

A bench warrant has no expiration date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mightymoose]

There is nothing to correct, but there is still an applicable fine for the time she was driving without being properly registered. I'm sure they still want their money.

 

[Alexandria]

I was never arrested. My mail eventually caught up with me and I got a letter from a law office regarding my warrants. I immediately went and posted a pre-arrest bond. The car WAS totaled before my court date...it must have been because it was totaled less than a month later. Now I don't know what to do all over again!

 

[mightymoose]

It is really simple. You will owe a fine for driving unregistered up to the date the vehicle was totaled. The fact that it was totaled does not relieve you from the responsibility at the time you were cited, and for however long you were unregistered prior to that.

 

[Alexandria]

Well, this is what happened. The DA called me up to her desk. I gave her the statement from my insurance company saying when the car was totaled. She saw that it was before the court date I missed. She offered to drop the 2 most expensive tickets (which included the FTA) and left me the cheapest one to pay.......over a 2 month period. It was quick and easy. I have to go to court for my second set of tickets next week, and I hope it's just as simple. I thought there would be greater ramifications for Failure to Appear, but I am not complaining. One strange thing, however, is that the officer that appeared for my tickets was NOT the officer who gave me the tickets.

 

[mightymoose]

I'm surprised that they didn't handle all your tickets at the same time... you must not have mentioned them?

 

[Alexandria]

I got the first tickets in south Houston, so I was sent the the South Houston Annex courts. My next set are at the downtown courts.