If you wish to plead "not guilty," you may inform the court clerk before court convenes. This will allow you to leave without having to wait in court until the judge calls your case. You may enter a plea of "not guilty" when the judge calls your case in court. You may also come to the court counter during regular business hours and enter your "not guilty" plea.
A plea of "no contest" under Oregon Law results in a guilty finding by the Court. The benefit to a "no contest" plea is that you do not have to admit guilt in open court. The fine or other penalty, assessed by the Judge, will depend on your explanation, your driving record, and the seriousness of the offense. Therefore, if you believe that you are not guilty of the alleged offense you always have the right to retain an attorney to defend you in the matter.
You also have the right to proceed in court pro se representing yourself because the only punishment that can be administered is a fine. This means that you have the right to represent yourself.
You should also be aware that some traffic offenses could result in additional consequences that can be very costly. The first thing that has to happen is that you must make an appearance regardless of whether you plan to admit guilt or not. When you received the traffic ticket the police officer more than likely pointed out to you the date to appear. You must plead guilty, not guilty or no contest on or before your appearance date.
You can either appear in person with or without an attorney by taking the citation with you to court, or mailing it to the court by the appearance date. It must be postmarked by the appearance date if you decide to mail it.
You can choose to contact the court prior to your appearance date to find out the total amount of the fine. By doing this you can pay the fine when you make the appearance. If you do not pay the fine with your appearance the court will send you a notice and you will have 30 days to pay the fine in full. At this time you can also choose to plead guilty, not guilty or no contest. If you refuse to enter a plea the court will enter a not guilty plea for you.
The Commonwealth, usually being represented by the police officer who issued the citation, must prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The officer must prove the date, time, and location of the offense and that you were operating a motor vehicle on the highways or trafficways in Pennsylvania.
Of course, the officer must also establish that you were operating your motor vehicle in excess of the posted maximum speed limit. While this may seem straight forward, there are specific issues that an officer must address or the case may be dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
More specifically, the officer must prove that he utilized a state approved speed timing device, such as radar or vascar. In addition, the officer must prove that the specific speed timing device utilized was tested for accuracy and was properly working during the time period at issue.
People think pleading nolo contendere to a speeding ticket is like shooting a werewolf with a silver bullet or stabbing a vampire through the heart with a stake. Unfortunately, pleading nolo contendere to a speeding ticket is no magic solution. By the way, pleading nolo contendere and no contest are the same thing.
Nolo contendere is latin, and the English translation is no contest. They are exactly the same thing. The answer to this question is a big, resounding, NO.
As a traffic ticket lawyer, I think there are very few cases where you should plead nolo contendere to a speeding ticket.
Contrary to popular belief, a nolo contendere plea will NOT keep the speeding ticket from being reported to your driving record.
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