ANATOMY OF A TRAFFIC CASE IN TEXAS

The vast majority of Texans have, at some point in their lives, received a ticket for a traffic violation.  Unlike most other violations of the law, a traffic ticket doesn’t bear the same stigma of criminality and is often viewed as a minor offense that even the most law-abiding citizens may be guilty of on a frequent basis.  However, don’t let the prevalence and the commonality of a traffic ticket fool you.  Trying to resolve a traffic ticket in Texas is at best an annoyance, and at worst, a convoluted maze of red tape that can have you banging your head against the wall in no time.  From the moment you see the red lights flashing in your rearview mirror and hear the dreaded siren, you enter the confounding world of Texas traffic law.

While not considered a serious offense by most people, many Texans don’t realize that a traffic violation is still a criminal offense in the state of Texas.  The list of possible traffic violations that you can be guilty of in Texas seems endless: speeding, speeding in a construction zone, speeding in a school zone, running a red light, failing to signal, failing to yield to right of way, loud muffler, expired registration/inspection, driving without a valid driver’s license etc. (maybe here we can add a link that people can click on to see the sheer variety of cases that they could be charged with).  The list goes on and on.  Each type of case has varying degrees of repercussions and different methods of resolution.  For example, a speeding or moving violation may result in a fine, put negative points on your driving record, or raise your insurance rates.  Other, more straightforward violations such as expired registration can be dismissed with a ten dollar dismissal fee if you update your registration within ten days

Considering how varied the steps can be to resolve each type of case, it is not surprising that many people find dealing with a traffic ticket a very stressful process.  That is where Sullo & Sullo can step in to relieve that stress and confusion.  We are a law firm that specializes in traffic ticket defense and you can have peace of mind knowing that only the most experienced and thorough attorneys who are skilled in traffic law are managing your cases.  While it would be impossible to discuss all the nuances of traffic procedure and traffic law, we would like to provide a general overview of the anatomy of a typical traffic case.  This step-by-step guide to how traffic cases work in Texas is a service provided to you by Sullo & Sullo to help demystify the process for all our clients.

At the scene of the alleged violation

Let’s begin with the cardinal rule of traffic stops.  When you see the flashing red lights behind you, make sure that you pull over quickly.  As you roll down the window full of anger at the realization that this police officer is going to make you late to your very important meeting, just roll down that window and bite your tongue.  The biggest mistake that people often make when they are pulled over is talking too much.  Listen to what the officer has to say, nod your head, and be pleasant.  No matter how much you are tempted to do it, the golden rule is: DO NOT ARGUE WITH THE POLICE OFFICER. 

We cannot emphasize that enough.  There are two very important reasons why saying too much to the officer is not a good idea.  The obvious one is that you don’t want to anger an officer who has your ticket in his hands.  He can make the process of receiving a ticket very unpleasant for you.  The second reason, and the one that many people don’t realize, is that the more you say and do, the more likely it is that the officer will remember you.  The moment he pulls you over, the officer is making a mental note of your attitude and if you begin to argue, you can be sure that he is writing everything you say down on his copy of your ticket.  The ones that the officers usually don’t remember are the ones that are pleasant and don’t say much.  This is one of those rare situations in life where you want to be completely boring and forgettable.

Once the officer hands you your ticket and drives off, don’t crumple your ticket and stuff it in your glove compartment or deep into your pockets.  Although you may be seething at the audacity of the officer to pull you over when you clearly didn’t violate any traffic law, don’t let your anger cloud your judgment.  That piece of paper is a legal document and happens to have on it a very important date.  If you read your ticket closely, you will discover that you have just signed a promise to appear at your arraignment date.

The Arraignment

The first step in resolving your ticket is to show up for your arraignment.  During your arraignment, you will appear to court at the designated date and time, the judge will tell you what you have been charged with, and then you will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.  If you enter a plea of not guilty, a future trial court date will be set for you.  You must tell the judge whether you want a judge or jury trial.

It is your responsibility to show up to your arraignment at the specified date and time.  While the arraignment process appears simple, it often goes awry when people fail to appear on their court dates.  Many people simply forget to show up, but others find it difficult to appear due to professional and personal responsibilities.  Your arraignment may be scheduled at an odd time for you.   For instance, your court date may be set for the middle of the day when it is impossible for you to leave work, or it may be set at night when you have family responsibilities that make it difficult for you to make the trip downtown.  If you find yourself in such a situation, you will quickly discover that the court is not sympathetic.  If you fail to appear for your arraignment for any reason, the court will issue a warrant for your arrest. 

If you have hired Sullo & Sullo to handle your case before your arraignment date, you will not have to worry about any of these potential pitfalls.  Our attorneys will appear at your arraignment, plead “not guilty” on your behalf, and set your case for a future jury trial date.  You will not have to appear for your arraignment and worry about a potential warrant for your arrest.

Jury Trial

“But, wait!” you say.  “I don’t want a jury trial!  I just want my traffic ticket handled in an efficient manner so it can be dismissed or, alternatively, kept off my driving record.”  We know, and believe us when we say we have your best interest at heart.  The majority of cases that we set for a jury trial never get argued to a jury.  Why?  Because most of them are resolved on that date through either a dismissal or a program that keeps the ticket off your record. 

At Sullo & Sullo we set the majority of our cases for a jury trial because we feel that is the best chance of getting your case dismissed.  Setting the case for jury trial forces the state to prepare a case against you.  On the day of trial, the prosecutor must have a witness present whose testimony can prove the case against you beyond a reasonable doubt.  If the prosecutor cannot offer a suitable witness or if she feels she does not have a viable case, then she is forced to dismiss the case.  If the prosecutor feels that she has sufficient evidence to go forward with your case, then, based upon years of experience, we feel that a jury, rather than a judge, would be a more fair and impartial decider of your case.

Arriving at the courthouse for your jury trial

As stated earlier, if you hire Sullo and Sullo before your arraignment date, then you do not have to appear for your arraignment.  Please do not confuse this with the jury trial date.  You MUST appear at your jury trial date.  Also, the most important thing you can do to help your case is to show up to court ON TIME.

This may sound relatively straightforward, but the Houston Municipal Court issues a large number of warrants everyday for all the defendants who show up late to court.  To ensure that you arrive on time, if your court begins at 8am, plan to arrive at the courthouse about an hour earlier.  Although that may seem excessive, you must consider Houston morning traffic, the time it takes to fight for a parking spot, the time it takes to find your courtroom, and to account for any other unexpected hurdles you may encounter on the way to court.  Even the most well-intentioned defendants have shown up to court late.  Most judges are very strict when it comes to showing up to their court on time.  If you are late to court, the judge will issue a warrant for your arrest.  If this happens to you, then you will have to post a bond to get a new court date.   

Although each courtroom may have different rules, you would be wise to adhere to the following:  do not wear shorts to court, do not bring food or drink into the courtroom, do not wear hats, turn your cell phones off (that means no texting), and do not talk loudly to other people around you.

The morning roll call

Once you get to court, sit down in your assigned courtroom quietly and turn off your cell phone.  Don’t panic if no one has come up to you and introduced him/herself as your attorney.  The Sullo attorneys are going from courtroom to courtroom calling the names of all their clients in that particular courtroom.  You will see many attorneys walking into the room and calling names of their clients.  Listen carefully for the attorney that introduces himself as an attorney from the Sullo and Sullo law firm and make sure to answer when you hear your name.  If you don’t hear your name called, make sure to let the Sullo attorney know. 

When the judge walks out to the courtroom to take the bench, you will hear the bailiff say, “All rise.”  Make sure that you stand up.  You do not want to get on the bailiff’s bad side first thing in the morning.  The judge will introduce himself and begin calling the names of all the defendants on the docket.  At this point, you want to listen carefully to make sure that the judge (or bailiff if he is handling docket call) calls your name.  Some defendants believe that since their attorney called their names, they can sit back and relax during the docket call.  We cannot emphasize enough that this is not the case.  If you do not hear the judge or bailiff call your name, you must make it known to the court.  The judge will usually ask if there is anyone in the courtroom who did not hear their name called.  Make sure your raise your hand.

The long road ahead: the jury trial docket

After docket call, you must be prepared for a long day.  You can bring reading material, but just make sure you don’t read anything when the judge is on the bench.  While you may be one of the fortunate few who are released early, it is more likely that you will be in court anywhere from three to eight hours.  The process is long and can be tedious but the Sullo attorneys are utilizing those hours to research your cases, look for any possible errors or defects in your case, to speak to your police officers and to prepare for trial.

Your attorney will call you up and speak to you individually.  Please be patient.  The attorney must speak to every client in the courtroom and this will take some time.  When you are called up, the attorney will introduce him or herself and discuss your options with you.  In most situations, the attorney will explain to you that he is working on your case and that the officer is present and ready to testify against you in trial.  The attorney needs time to speak to the officer, research the facts of the case, research the law on the case, and discover any weaknesses of your case.  In order for your attorney to do all this in a diligent manner, you will need to stay for the remainder of the day.  If you are not willing and ready to stay for the remainder of the day, then the attorney will provide you with options to resolve your case through a program that keeps your ticket off your record.  Some judges will require a fee and a period of probation during which you may not receive any more tickets.  Other judges will require you to take defensive driving.  While we would prefer that you be willing to stay and fight your case, we also understand that your time is valuable and that you may have other commitments. 

By 11:00 a.m., some of the cases will have been resolved and you will notice that the courtroom may appear to be thinning out.  By that time, the Sullo attorney will have resolved a number of cases through dismissals or special programs that keep the ticket off the defendant’s record.  Some defendants wonder why they are still sitting in the courtroom when other people in the courtroom had their cases resolved.  The simple answer is that no two cases are exactly the same.  You may have hired Sullo for a speeding case while the person sitting next to you was charged with a registration violation.  Clearly, those two violations would be handled very differently since a registration violation is a much simpler case.  Even if the person next to you was charged with a speeding case as well, your two cases may have to be handled very differently depending on how fast you were going, where you were pulled over, and which officer pulled you over.  While each case is resolved differently based on the facts of the particular case and the client’s willingness to remain in court, you can be confident in the knowledge that the attorney on your case is working diligently to try to get your case dismissed. 

If you are still sitting in the courtroom when the judge announces the lunch break, that means that you are most likely in the pool of cases that are ready for trial.  Do not be alarmed.  Although you may never have testified in a jury trial before, you have an experienced attorney by your side who will walk you through the process step-by-step.  The attorney will explain to you that if you are found guilty at trial, the jury will have a fine range to consider based on the particular offense.  Furthermore, depending on the violation, it could go on your driving record.  While this may seem like a big risk to take, you should know that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  At Sullo & Sullo, it is our position that since the law says the state has to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, we should hold them to that burden.

When you return from lunch, the attorneys continue to speak with the police officers and try to get your cases dismissed.  Once the attorney knows for sure that your case will not be resolved without a trial, your attorney will sit with you and hash out all the details of your case.  During this conversation, please tell your attorney everything that happened at the scene of the alleged violation and any other information that you feel may be relevant to the case (Were there other cars around you that the officer may have clocked?  Did the officer say anything inappropriate to you?  Could anything have obstructed the officer’s view? Etc.).  The attorney will usually prepare you for the questions that you will most likely be asked when you take the stand to testify.

When the judge is ready to call the first case to trial, he/she will usually begin with the oldest case on the docket.  If your case is not the oldest case on the docket, YOU WILL HAVE TO RETURN ON ANOTHER DATE.  While this is very frustrating, the reality is that the court doesn’t have the resources to try more than one jury trial a day in each courtroom.  The court clerks will give you another court date and the Sullo attorney will return with you on that date.

If you are the defendant chosen for trial, then your attorney will instruct you to take a seat at the front of the courtroom next to him/her at the attorney table.  After a few administrative tasks are taken care of, the bailiff will bring in a group of prospective jurors.  Make sure to stand up when the jurors are brought into the courtroom and to smile at them. 

Voir Dire

The first part of the trial is voir dire.  Your attorney will conduct the entire voir dire so you can take this time to sit back and listen.  Voir dire is the opportunity to question and examine the jurors to determine any hidden biases and to determine who could be fair and impartial jurors.  The attorneys will ask questions and, based on the jurors’ answers, will eliminate those jurors that he feels cannot hear your case with a fair and balanced viewpoint.  The first six jurors of those that remain will constitute your jury.

The remainder of the trial will consist of the state putting on its case and its witnesses, the defense putting on its case (which usually involves your testimony), and the closing argument.  Usually, the state will only have one witness who will testify: the police officer who pulled you over.  If the traffic ticket involved an accident, then there may be other witnesses who may testify. 

When it is time for you to testify, the judge will ask you to take the witness stand.  You will be instructed to raise your right hand and take an oath that what you are about to say is the truth.  Then your testimony will begin.

Your Testimony

When you are testifying, you must not underestimate the importance of body language.  Many jurors will study your body language and sometimes your body language will make more of an impression than your words.  When you answer questions, speak loudly and clearly.  Feel free to look at the jury while giving your answers, but definitely do not look down at your hands or close your eyes.  You don’t want to give the jury any reason to doubt the veracity of your statements.

One of the quickest ways to destroy your case is to make contradictory statements during your testimony.  Try to keep your version of what happened clear in your mind.  The prosecutor may try to confuse you; be prepared for that and just answer all questions in a consistent manner.  For example, don’t testify that you saw the yellow light when you passed through the intersection and then later say that you were looking down at your cell phone when you passed the light.  That is a surefire way to have the jury discount your story.

Remember that when you take the stand, you are giving your side of the story but only in a question and answer format.  Do not lose focus of this.  Some defendants will get up on the witness stand and begin telling the story of what happened in narrative form.  You will be quickly shut down by the prosecutor and the judge.  If you continually try to testify in a narrative form, you will only irritate the judge and, worse, the jury.  This will be detrimental to your case.

Cross-examination is when the prosecutor has the opportunity to ask you questions.  The prosecutor may ask you questions in an adversarial manner.  In such a situation, the best way to respond is to remain calm and polite.  The prosecutor may be trying to get an angry response from you.  If you become argumentative, it will only come across in a negative manner to the jury.

The final piece of advice is to relax and tell your version of what happened.  Remember that you were there, the jury wasn’t.  They are relying on you to get a clear and accurate depiction of what happened on the day of the alleged violation.  Only answer what is asked, and if you don’t know the answer or can’t remember, be honest.

Conclusion

This article, while shedding some much needed light on the often clouded process of handling a traffic ticket in Texas, barely scratches the surface of the complexities involved for each individual violation.  By hiring Sullo & Sullo to handle your case, you can be assured that you will be informed of all your rights and defenses under the law, and that you will have by your side a skillful attorney who can navigate the complicated waters of the traffic court legal system with ease. 

While this article has provided an accurate description of the resolution of a typical traffic ticket, it is important to keep in mind that each violation is unique and may not follow the typical path.  Furthermore, court procedures and Texas traffic law are constantly in flux and can change at any time.  Therefore, if you have any particular question about your traffic ticket, we encourage you to call our office.  We look forward to hearing from you.