Summons Courthouse Date

[ldarkwarriorl]

Hi. I am 18 years old and i live in NY. This past friday i got caught drinking in a park after 9pm and got 4 summons. They were...

1)Posession of Alcohol by minor
2)Open Container
3)Tresspassing
4)Littering

The date on the summons says August 9th and i was wondering if i can simply walk in the courthouse tomorrow and get it over with.

Thank you.

And also, am i expected to dress up when i go there?

[Whitebear]

we were not there we cant say if you cant get over it..... but yess dress up

[ldarkwarriorl]

Whitebear, thanks for your reply but it doesn't seem to make much sense to me.
I mean, i think i understand it but your points don't seem very relevant to my questions.

I understand that i should dress up but i still don't know if I'm expected to show up in court on the date written on the summons or if i can show up any day earlier than that date.

[KiDWoNDeRZzZ]

Show up on the return date.

[ldarkwarriorl]

Can i show up sooner?

And if i just plead guilty to all 4, how much do you think i'll be fined?

[Lawson]

They gave you a court date and time because that is when court is available to see you. We issue court dates here according to the day of the arrest. So if you were arrested on 6/1/2007 you might get a court date of 6/14/2007, If you were arrested on 6/2/2007 you would get a date of 6/15/2007.

Now if you were arrested on 6/2/2007 and you showed up on 6/14/2007, you are going to be enroaching on the hearings of the people that were arrested on 6/1/2007. Our courts wouldn't even hear your case as far as I know.

I'm not from NY, so I do not know your bail/fine schedule.

[ldarkwarriorl]

Thank you.

You just saved me from wasting a trip tomorrow haha.

If anyone else has anything to add, i'd really appreciate your advice.

[Plazoo]

Not sure how things are done in your state but here there are instructions on the back of your citation that give you options on how you can respond to the citation. However, as stated previously, don't show up prior to your court date cause they won't see you.

And definately dress your best, slacks and tie with a nice shirt if you dont have a full suit. And be sure to address the judge as "Sir"!!

[Creeker]

Just a little to ad that if you have an absolute emergency, in my state it is possible to get a short continuance of the court date... but that is usually done only on traffic summonses.

This shouldn't affect a case with this much lead time, though.

I don't know about your state.

[InTheEnd]

Hi. I am 18 years old and i live in NY. This past friday i got caught drinking in a park after 9pm and got 4 summons. They were...
1)Posession of Alcohol by minor
2)Open Container
3)Tresspassing
4)Littering

Wait a week. 1 and 2 are the same and I'm guessing 25 dollars and a speech. 3 Maybe probation for a couple months or dismissed. I don't know why you didn't get the park violation for that one. 4 either dismissed or a small fine. I'm giving you an educated guess, and the penalty is determined by the judge when you show up.

[InTheEnd]

Keep us updated.

[mcsap]

Hmmmm, in PA there is a requirement to appear at the judges office within 10 days and either pay it or plead not guilty and request to go to court.

Thats it. You dont even see the judge unless you want a trial.

[phantasm]

if you READ THE BACK OF THE SUMMONS it clearly gives the instructions for answering summons, to plead guilty, or to plead not guilty. Yes you can go to the court before the date. You just need to plead guilty/not guilty by the date. Additionally I'd follow intheend's suggestion about waiting a week or 2 so that the summonses get into the system.

[ldarkwarriorl]

I plan to plead guilty and on the back it says "To Plead Guilty You must personally appear at the court and location specified on the face of this summons."

[Mike Romeo]

Hi. I am 18 years old and i live in NY. This past friday i got caught drinking in a park after 9pm and got 4 summons. They were...

1)Posession of Alcohol by minor
2)Open Container
3)Tresspassing
4)Littering

The date on the summons says August 9th and i was wondering if i can simply walk in the courthouse tomorrow and get it over with.

Thank you.

And also, am i expected to dress up when i go there?

The possession of alcohol by a minor and trespassing charges would require a must appear in court in my jurisdiction, and showing up on a date earlier than the assigned courtdate would not usually happen. We have assigned court dates to testify to our cases, both traffic and criminal.

As for dress and appearance, some presume that people wear their attitude. Although court is not a wedding or church, it's a professional setting, but there is no dress code for defendents. However, I personally would not go to court and present myself in an unprofessional manner. Then again, I'm required to dress to a standard. If I was a defendent, I would still dress professionally.