Part 3

He said, "Well since you're a student, I can charge you for 85 in a 80, which is the normal limit and that will be $50 and 2 demerits. You can also have more time to pay it. You don't have to take it, you can go before a Judge."

I said, "No, I'll just pay the $50."

I'm really glad that I held out for the extra $20 off. I feel like a really good negotiator now. Looking back, I should have pressed for more, but at the time I was just glad for the $69 off. It's hard to believe that he took off more that half the fine just because I went down to see him. I don't think that I will ever pay the full price of any ticket ever again. I mean I got there at 8:10 or so and was out the door at 9:35. That's $69 for an hour and a half.

He told me to wait outside until the Justice called me in, and about 5 minutes later the Justice called me in, and said, "Ok, your new fine is $50."

While I was there, I asked her about the Cop not showing up issue, and she said basically that it depends, but more often than not, it's not true.

The fact of the matter is that the cop shows up. The thing I went to today was just a first appearance. If I would have plead not guilty, we would have set a time for an actual court date and the cop would have been sent a letter notifying him. Why would you spend the day putting yourself at risk out in public, when you can spend the day getting paid to hang out at the courthouse? It's like a day off.