Can I Go To Court Before Date On Desk Appearance Ticket

If a traffic ticket has a court appearance date, but no check-mark in either box labelled “court appearance required” or “court appearance not required,” does he need to appear in court for this case or not?

If the box is not checked, you have the option of paying the bailment, and not appearing.If you pay the bailment and do not appear, you are agreeing to forfeit the bailment as a plea of nolo contendere (“no contest”, as opposed to “guilty”).This is commonly known as “paying the ticket”; and if there are points, they go on your license, and your insurance is notified, and your insurance rates likely go up.You could also — optionally — show up, and if you haven’t had traffic school in the last N months (the value of ’N’ is statutory, and varies by location), you can request traffic school, and pay a bunch more, but assuming completion, you don’t get points and your insurance doesn’t go up.If the box is checked, you have no option but to appear.DUI, reckless driving, exhibition of speed, excessive speed, and other violations where you have to face the judge get the box checked.You will generally only see the “court appearance not required” box checked when they don’t want to see you in court.Examples might include a broken headlight, a broken taillight, a broken signal light, a cracked windshield obscuring visibility for the driver, etc..For these, you generally get whatever it was fixed, go into the department where the ticket was issued, and have an officer sign off on it; they are typically “pay the fine at the desk” tickets (or in rare cases, you will still need to mail it in).Under no circumstances does having a ticket with neither box checked mean you can ignore the ticket.If you still have questions, call or visit the court clerk.

If an officer writes the wrong court date on your ticket, what effect does that have?

Since it's impossible for you to show up last year, show up on the date in February on this year (as if the year on the appearance date were 2015).  You could try to get a dismissal on a defective summons.  (Some judges are annoyed at sloppy cops and will grant the motion, most will take the attitude that since you figured it out, the error has no effect on the matter.  If it's a major error, however - wrong location, wrong car, wrong driver - always move to dismiss on the error - once you cross examine the officer and have him state under oath that the car was ... or the driver was ...  whatever the error was.  Also make sure the violation you were accused of is a violation.  Most officers don't memorize the entire state's vehicle laws and know the sections they normally write for.  In some cases, the law says that you can't do X ... then in the next sub-paragraph, it says that you can in one case, if xxx.  The officer may not remember the sub-paragraph and cite you for something that's not illegal.)The old NY VTL (Vehicle and Traffic Law) section 1618A prohibited passing on the shoulder.  1618B allowed it if the vehicle you were passing was making or preparing to make a left turn and there was a single lane in that direction.  Most officers I knew weren't aware of B, only A, and wrote many tickets for people passing cars waiting to make left turns.  If you don't move to dismiss, the judge will find you guilty - he's not there to make your case for you.  (The new law doesn't permit passing on the shoulder in that situation.)

What happens when you get a bench warrant?

used from: What to Do When Facing a Bench WarrantA bench warrant is an arrest warrant that is ordered by a judge against the defendant in a criminal case or a similar proceeding such as for a traffic ticket. A bench warrant is typically issued in the case of a failure to appear for trial, sometimes abbreviated “FTA.” The “bench” is the traditional term for the judge's seat.In serious criminal cases, a failure to appear will most likely lead to a “regular” arrest warrant, which would spur immediate attempts to find and jail the defendant. A bench warrant, on the other hand, usually does not mean the police will be at your door the next morning. But, your name will go into a statewide computer system that serves the entire law enforcement community. Once your name is in the database, if you have to deal with the police for any reason – even resulting from an incident that was not your fault, such as someone hitting your car from behind – you will be taken into custody for the outstanding bench warrant.Once you are taken into custody, you will have to post bail before you can be released. Typically, bail on a bench warrant for failure to appear will be enough to cover the fines and court costs for both the original offense and the FTA. Then, you'll get a new court date.If you know that there is a bench warrant out for your arrest, you can usually call either the clerk of the court or the local police department and arrange to come in and pay the bail so that the warrant will be recalled. You should find out, when you call, what kinds of payments they will accept, since a paper check is almost always not good enough, and not all localities are able to take credit cards.If you had posted bail before the missed court date, that money has almost certainly been forfeited at this point. If you had a very good reason why you weren't at the court on time and didn't call, you might be able to persuade the judge into letting you get that bail back, or at least having it credited against your fines and costs. Naturally, having an experienced criminal lawyer arguing on your behalf during this process will show the judge not only that you take the charges against you seriously, but also that you are genuinely contrite about your failure to appear.