Trial by Declaration

[Justinminh02]

I plan on writing a TBD, and was wondering how often you guys respond to these compared to showing up in court. do you guys see these as inconveniences, or are you required to do them by your department?

All in all, i know you guys get paid overtime for showing up in court, i'm just wondering what you guys think when u get these...

[retdetsgt]

Whassa trial by declaration? Never heard of it.

[Justinminh02]

Short description, Basically you can fight a ticket without going into court. Not all states allow this though. I'm not sure how much paperwork it is for cops or if its even optional.

[retdetsgt]

Short description, Basically you can fight a ticket without going into court. Not all states allow this though. I'm not sure how much paperwork it is for cops or if its even optional.

So you can testify without taking an oath?

Here you can write an explanation along with your guilty plea, but a trial is a trial. What state are you in?

[Justinminh02]

1) California
Here is the California Law (Vehicle Code Section 40902) that allows trial by declaration:

40902. (a) (1) The court , pursuant to this section, shall, by rule, provide that the defendant may elect to have a trial by written declaration upon any alleged infraction, as charged by the citing officer, involving a violation of this code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to this code, other than an infraction cited pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 23152) of Chapter 12 of Division 11.

(2) The Judicial Council may adopt rules and forms governing trials by declaration in accordance with this section. Any rule or form adopted by the Judicial Council pursuant to this paragraph shall supersede any local rule of a court adopted pursuant to paragraph (1).

(b) If the defendant elects to have a trial by written declaration, the defendant shall, at the time of submitting that declaration, submit bail in the amount established in the uniform traffic penalty schedule pursuant to Section 40310. If the defendant is found not guilty or if the charges are otherwise dismissed, the amount of the bail shall be promptly refunded to the defendant.

(c) Notwithstanding Division 10 (commencing with Section 1200) of the Evidence Code, the rules governing trials by written declaration may provide for testimony and other relevant evidence to be introduced in the form of a notice to appear issued pursuant to Section 40500, a business record or receipt, a sworn declaration of the arresting officer, or a written statement or letter signed by the defendant.

(d) If the defendant is dissatisfied with a decision of the court in a proceeding pursuant to this section, the defendant shall be granted a trial de novo.

As the law states, defendants are required to prepay their ticket (which acts as bail) and are refunded their money if found not guilty. Also, it’s important to note that if a defendant is found guilty they can request a “trial de novo” or new trial. This wipes the slate clean and allows the defendant a second chance to prove his or her case, this time in court.


Here is the full description of what it really is. I live in california.

[Samuel]

I see someone has been reading up on "how to fight a ticket"...

I'm not a traffic nazi so I've only had one TBD. Took me all of 5 minutes to write a couple of paragraphs... NBD...

[Legoate]

I like trial by declaration. I write in a few paragraphs and mail it in. No big deal.

Much easier than going to court, and I haven't lost a case yet that was TBD.

How bout this thought: If you are guilty pay the fine and move on with life, if you aren't guilty go to court. TBD is basically saying- Im trying to get out of this ticket but i'm too lazy to show up in court.