A few weeks ago I was pulled over and given a traffic ticket for going 61 mph in a 50 in Bristol, Indiana. After looking the ticket over and seeing what I had to do to pay it, I realized the cop mistakenly marked "Information and Summons" rather than "Complaint and Summons" on my traffic ticket.

I'm wondering whether this is something worth bringing up in court, since the back of my ticket states that under an "Information and Summons" charge I am required to personally appear in court. Clearly, going 11 over the speed limit is only a traffic citation, and should have been marked "Complaint and Summons," which allows me to plead guilty or no contest (this was further verified as a mistake when I called into the court personally). Could this error hold enough weight in court to get me out of my ticket?

I think my course of action will be to show up in court and play dumb, saying that the reason I am in court at all is because the ticket told me I had to be and go from there. If they do end up making me plea something, however, would it be better to plead not guilty and fight this in court or just try and get a penalty reduced through pleading guilty with the prosecutor and/or cop before the trial?

If you do have court experience, please tell me what state it was in.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

You were clearly guilty and have no excuse that the court would accept so you can just check guilty and send in the payment.
His written mistakes will not get you out of the ticket.

Just to play it safe I would show up at the court date and pay the ticket in person.

You may try and call and just pay the ticket, But you can bring this up, but it will not make a differnce in guilty or innocent. Not a small town judge may feel sorry for you having to take a day off from work and not pay the fine

Yeah the Judges feeling sorry may be the only ticket out but I doubt it.

dreweh, how did you end up handling this? I just had the same thing happen to me. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by schneiguy

dreweh, how did you end up handling this? I just had the exact same thing happen to me. Thanks!

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Actually, I was able to get completely out of the ticket -- it was well worth it. What happened was I went into the Elkhart County courthouse (located in Goshen) and was sent to a room with about 60-70 other traffic violators. Each person was filed into a room to talk to the judge (no cops present, mind you), who assessed their ticket and gave them the appropriate penalty. When my turn came, I described my situation honestly and told her that it was my first traffic ticket ever (which is true). She was impressed with that and understood the circumstances of my story and wrote it off. Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by schneiguy

dreweh, how did you end up handling this? I just had the exact same thing happen to me. Thanks!

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Im looking at the same mistake on my ticket, how did yours turn out.