ORIGINALLY POSTED JUNE 1, 2015
I used to use the slogan, “Hire me to go to court so you don’t have to.” Those days are gone, for now, because the New Orleans City Attorney’s Office has temporarily ended the practice of negotiating plea deals for reduced charges and non-moving violations in the New Orleans Traffic Court. As of a few weeks ago, Traffic Court is basically telling you that you can plead guilty to every citation the office ticketed you for, or go to trial. The office of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu confirmed this policy change.
Why The Sudden Change in Tune?
The spokesman from the Mayor’s office, Brad Howard, stated that the city is hoping to reduce repeat offenders by implementing these harsher punishments. The policy basically states that the penalties for all offenses in Traffic Court will be fully served by the offenders.
Criminal Defense Lawyers in New Orleans Speak Out
Trials for traffic offenses are rare. During my time as a traffic ticket lawyer in Louisiana, I’ve fought tens of thousands of tickets and I’ve probably tried less than five of them. The only time I go to trial is when my client doesn’t want to plead to a non-moving violation, a non-moving violation isn’t offered, or there is a chance the defendant’s license will be suspended. Aside from my own trials, I can only recall another 5-10 traffic ticket trials tried by other lawyers. One criminal defense attorney even stated that he hadn’t been to trial in Traffic Court in New Orleans in his seven years as a defense lawyer.
There are no more plea deals on any traffic tickets in New Orleans right now. While more than 99% of all criminal cases nationwide are resolved by pleas, a trial in traffic court requires the police officer who wrote the ticket or made the arrest to show up in court. Remember: NOPD eliminated the special traffic enforcement division in order to cope with manpower problems and this means an already depleted police force will be pulled from the streets to take the stand as witnesses in wasteful and inefficient trials, which could easily be resolved by pleas.
How Will This Policy Affect Traffic Offenders in New Orleans?
Since the officers who wrote the tickets for the traffic violation haveto be present in court at trial, and the fact that it is difficult to even get police officers to show up, we can probably expect to see a number of cases dismissed (rumor has it that many cases have already been tossed by frustrated judges). Preparing to go to trial requires preparation, time, and money.
The City believes guilty pleas/verdicts will curb habitual offenders, but I disagree. I speculate that with so many officers in court for trials there will actually be less ticket’s issued by police officers because they are not on the street. The Mayor’s Office insists that this new policy was not implemented to increase the cash flow from fines.
Finally, I am sending a message to all of my clients to inform them of their court date. While their presence may not have been required in the past, it will be absolutely necessary until this policy is changed.
If you’re a resident of New Orleans, I urge you to contact your City Council member and ask them to discourage the City Attorney’s office from using this inefficient method in traffic court.
Drunk Drivers Beware
Another speculation on the decision to implement this new Traffic Court policy is to make sure that New Orleans is effectively addressing the drunk driving laws in the city. New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux’s office put out a draft report analyzing enforcement of the roughly 1,500 DWI cases the court sees each year. “Does the system we have to enforce the laws against drunk driving work efficiently and effectively?” Quatrevaux said. “Safe to say, we think there’s room for improvement.” But, DWI cases are, on average, more difficult to plea down than other traffic violations. On the other hand, if you have a slew of violations such as expired plates and brake tags, the court used to take a plea deal to pay for one of the violations. Even before this policy, more than 1 in 4 DWI cases were dismissed in New Orleans.
Hire a Knowledgeable Criminal Defense Lawyer
Orleans Parish’s Traffic Court is the last of its kind in this country – an independent Traffic Court – according to a 2014 Wall Street Journal story. It’s imperative that if you are getting sent to trial in Traffic Court, you have an experienced and reliable criminal defense lawyer with you. Crescent City Law has extensive knowledge of working in the New Orleans Traffic Court covering many different traffic violations such as speeding, expired plates, DWIs, and other moving and non-moving violations. If you recently received a ticket, or were arrested, for a traffic violation, please call (504) 264-9492 or e-mail us here, for your free initial consultation. We are available nights, weekends and off-site and offer translators in Spanish, French, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese.
PS: There were 3 murders in the first 6 days of this policy in New Orleans. Police Officers should be on the street stopping would be murders, not sitting in court rooms waiting for trials on traffic tickets.
