I live on a corner lot in a subdivision. I constantly get so much litter it takes me as long to pick up litter as it does to mow. Someone left two huge yard sale signs on the stop sign post in my yard and never came back for them. The address was on the signs. I was going out later and decided to return the signs to the yard sale house two streets down. I wadded the signs up. This is a very quiet neighborhood with 25 mph limits. I go around a corner and start looking at addresses on the building. I see the building I am looking for and see no oncoming traffic in the narrow street so I move over to the left side of the street doing maybe 15 and toss the trash out. As I return to the right side of the street I am greeted with a city police SUV. I hit the brakes as did he. We stopped probably 15 feet from each other. I pulled around to his window and apologized and he told me to pull over which I did. The usual license, proof of insurance and registration. He sits in cruiser for 30 minutes which I thought was odd. He comes back, gives me my stuff back and a citation for Careless Driving and Criminal Littering. No payable fee. I have a court date on Oct 11. I was very apologetic but the young cop was a total dick. I always hoped my retired military veteran license plate might cut me some slack if I ever got pulled over but apparently not. My driving record is pristine. I have never had any accidents and one traffic violation (wrong turn) 50 years ago. Yes I screwed up but it seems to me there was a great deal of over reaction by the cop. Looking at the scene later I was distracted by the big black trash carts on the street with black bags stacked on top and the police came out of a curve in shadows with a black vehicle.

I have never had a need for a lawyer but I think I might need to chat with one. Do most states have a referral service? I would just like to get some preliminary advice to see if I actually need legal help.

    Sorry to hear this happened to you. I don’t know anything about obtaining legal advice on such matters, but I’m sure some states probably do have a service like you described. I’m on the corner entering our subdivision, so I share your irritation with the litter, broken bottles on the sidewalk, and the paper signs left taped to the two traffic signs on the curb side. The other day someone stuck a “We buy houses” sign Into the soil.

    Rick.
    You might try calling your town councilman or ombudsman, and see what they can help with.
    Or, you can act like Homer's dad and yell at the clouds. Not recommended.
    😁🤡😎

    Go into court with a straight outta Compton T-shirt 😎

    Sure a lawyer might help, but then again you admit you are guilty in your description of the events. Not sure what a no payable citation means, but go in, plead not guilty, at the settlement conference; tell your story to the city attorney/prosecutor, ask if you can do X amount of community service hours in lieu of a fine or other meaningless punishment in order to repay for your dumbass actions; and tell them it won't happening again and point to your record, etc. as evidence of that. If the city attorney isn't interested in what you have to say, then maybe time to pony up for a lawyer. You are at the mercy of the court either way!

    Other than that, think things through before you act! Your time would have been way better served knocking on the offenders door with a smile and saying you figured they'd want those really pretty signs back!

    Anyway, best of luck!

      ode Go into court with a straight outta Compton T-shirt 😎

      Sure a lawyer might help, but then again you admit you are guilty in your description of the events. Not sure what a no payable citation means, but go in, plead not guilty, at the settlement conference; tell your story to the city attorney/prosecutor, ask if you can do X amount of community service hours in lieu of a fine or other meaningless punishment in order to repay for your dumbass actions; and tell them it won't happening again and point to your record, etc. as evidence of that. If the city attorney isn't interested in what you have to say, then maybe time to pony up for a lawyer. You are at the mercy of the court either way!

      Other than that, think things through before you act! Your time would have been way better served knocking on the offenders door with a smile and saying you figured they'd want those really pretty signs back!

      Anyway, best of luck!

      Thanks for the reply. I have been running this through my head all afternoon. I don't know how this particular court works never having been in a court room before. Is my case lined up with druggies and murderers and others? Kind of reminds me of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's restaurant. I didn't throw "litter" into someones yard. I "returned" some signage they put in my yard and I was returning it. The cop made me pick it up and I have it in my truck with the garage sale addy on it. I have picked up litter in my yard for 33 fucking years and the first time I take it back I get stuck. I made a driving mistake but there are mitigating circumstances. I am concerned that if I seek legal help at this point not knowing if I need it I will get the "give me a $1,000 retainer and we will look into it."
      What puzzles me is with my clean record, a fucking paper wad toss and an not even close vehicle collision issue why did the cop not issue me a payable fine instead of a mandatory court date? Dick I mention that the cop was a little prick?


      • ode replied to this.

          Par4QC whoo hoo…..you gonna be on the Group W bench!

          Thanks Rex. This is actually some serious shit as Criminal Littering is punishable by a fine of $ 500 and one year in jail. Not funny to me.

              Rickochet

              Where are you going to court? Circuit court or municipal court, what foes the citation say?

                  Go back tonite and put the signs on their lawn ....at least get yourself some kind of satisfaction. Just do it from the right side of the street like u are making a delivery.😬

                  Good luck on the court thing...i think it might be like the speeding ticket I fought. U go in, the judge has a stack of similiar cases, u plead your case. Also the officer who gave u the citation has to be there for his side of the story.

                    ode

                    Where are you going to court? Circuit court or municipal court, what foes the citation say?

                    It doesn't say squat. It was a city cop that pulled me over. The citation I got printed from the cop car doesn't even show his name or badge ID.

                    • ode replied to this.

                        Rickochet Call your ins, agent and ask how much your ins. will go up if convicted on the careless driving(3 points against license!). $20-$100 fine + $134 court costs, and a possible huge increase of ins. rates makes this a 'see an attorney' case, imo. Not sure how long those points stay on your record down there though, but it could be very costly if something happened before they drop off.

                        This charge is the reason the cop could not give you a 'payable'. Fine is set by the court, varies as above.

                          Rickochet OK, the citation does have a date and presumably an address of where to show up at...what building is that address attached to.....just trying to figure out if its muni or circuit court.

                              Typhoon . Also the officer who gave u the citation has to be there for his side of the story.

                              That would be cool. The biggest thing that really pissed me off today was that the young buck cop was a total prick. With all of the other higher priority issues the cop has he busts a 68 fat man for littering.

                                ode Rickochet OK, the citation does have a date and presumably an address of where to show up at...what building is that address attached to.....just trying to figure out if its muni or circuit court.

                                Nope, no address to report to. Just a time.

                                • ode replied to this.

                                    I'm not a lawyer, but the whole thing might conceivably get dropped because of the officer's careless citation. What was he doing for 30 minutes if he didn't even complete the citation properly?

                                    I've heard of other cases being dropped completely because an officer made a mark in the wrong spot or omitted one thing or another on the citation. Might be worth running it by an attorney to see what the laws are in your state. Could be an easy way out.

                                    Rickochet wow, that's weird. Call the police dept. and ask tomorrow and go from there. Realistically the most that will likely happen is a fine and/or points off your license.

                                      I am thinking about going to the PD tomorrow and talking to them.

                                      • ode replied to this.

                                        Rickochet stop sign post in my yard

                                        Wait a minute, do you have a road sign in your yard?

                                            pellmell Wait a minute, do you have a traffic sign in your yard?

                                            I have a stop sign in my yard as well as a city street light. They are magnets for yard sale signs

                                              It's just not worth the hassle. The cop probably passed two meth houses on his way to your neighborhood. Unfortunately you happened to be the low-hanging fruit that makes the cop feel good about "serving the public."

                                              By the time you pay a lawyer for his counsel - you'd be better off perhaps offering to simply pay the littering fine in lieu of dropping the careless driving charge. Tell the judge the situation at your court hearing. You have no criminal record, nothing that would warrant them pushing the issue. You pay the $50 fine (or whatever) and go on your way.

                                              And if you go into the hearing with a good heart, explain why you felt compelled to do what you did to the magistrate judge - most likely this all gets forgotten. Worse case you end up with a small fine, no ding on your driving record.

                                              It's just not worth the hassle, no matter how much both you and I (and others) feel like you weren't in the wrong here.

                                              It's not worth a thousand bucks in lawyers fees to get this resolved imo.

                                              But again, that's jmo.