Here's the thing. You may remember that a couple years ago I totaled my Ford Escape. Well, when that happened, I got a ticket & also a "Driver Responsibility Fee" from the Secretary of State office. I promptly payed the ticket & replaced the car w/ a Ford Taurus that died a month ago, but was unaware of the state fee. Apparently it came in the mail. Who knew? Fast forward to last Dec. 22nd. I was pulled over for a burned out light on my licence plate @ which point the officer told me my licence had been suspended for not paying the $200.00 fee. When I said I didn't know I'd had the fine, he said that most people find out about it when they are pulled over & told by the cop. I got the light fixed, paid the fee, but w/ the holidays I forgot to take care of the actual ticket.
A couple weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail reminding me to take care of it. Sure, I thought, no problem. So last Tues. I called the court to find out how much I owed & if I could just pay over the phone. What follows is a rough recreation of the conversation (that occurred after 10 minutes on hold).
Me: "Hi, I need to take care of an old ticket."
Her: "What's your name?"
So far, so good. Nothing out of the ordinary. I explained the situation & waited for the total. Here's where things went south. After another couple minutes on hold, the conversation continued thusly (I know there are plenty of problems w/ the word "thusly," but it makes me chuckle):
Her: "There isn't a fine, there's a warrant & you need to come in & speak w/ a judge."
Me: "What to you mean, 'a warrant'?"
Her: "A warrant for your arrest. Driving on a suspended licence is a misdemeanor."
Me: "SHIT! What happens now? Can I take care of it today?"
Her: "No, there are walk-in meeting w/ the judge on Thursday [remember, this was Tues.]. When you see the judge, he or she will determine the penalty which could be up to $500.00 &/or 93 days in jail."
Me: "WHAT???"
I canceled my 11:00 class on Tues. & went to court. As it turns out, I was the only walk-in person who looked anything even resembling decent. I wore a coat & tie. Everyone else was either ready to go hunting in orange & camo, or go do a drive-by. I was admittedly shocked by their appearance. I was 3rd in line so I got to see what happened to 2 people before me. They needed to take care of old fines & set up payment plans which went smoothly so when the judge then proceeded to read me my rights, ask how I plead, & advise me to get a lawyer, I freaked out. I'd spent the previous 2 nights sleepless fearing the worst, while I was sure that they wouldn't actually lock me up for this. The reading of my rights reawakened all those fears. I plead guilty, to which she re-advised me of my rights, the possible punishment, & made sure I didn't want a trial.
What would a trial have done though? I'd clearly done what I was charged w/ doing & a lawyer would only have increased my end cost. She then swore me in & listed to my whole story. Afterwards, she (& here I'd like to interject that she was really nice, pleasant, & kind of cute) agreed that I was clearly guilty, gave me a fine of $300.00 & sent me on my way. In hind sight, it was so easy! I even told the bailiff on the way to the cashier about how scared I'd been. He said, "We try to be a user-friendly court house." It was funny, & in the end, I came out w/ 2 things. 1) a bloggable story; 2) a misdemeanor on my record. I looked through a list of misdemeanors, & it turns out, mine is about as boring as they come. Next time, maybe I'll try for indecent exposure, public drunkenness, or suspicion of mischief. Fingers crossed!
