court date

So this speeding mess that Ryan got himself into was a lot more serious than we first thought.  Since he was going 32 mph over the 35 mph speed limit, it was defined by law as "excessive speeding," which meant an automatic required court appearance.  Anything 30 mph or more over the speed limit or driving 80 mph is considered "excessive speeding."  Penalties include license suspension, up to $1000 fine, up to 5 days in jail, and 36 hours of community service, not to mention having a RECORD.  And that's for first-time offenders.  I agree with the law in principle (if you are a habitual speeder or are racing and endangering others, yes, you deserve the penalties), but Ryan was just being a dumb kid and has definitely learned his lesson.

One of Ryan's friends also was caught doing the excessive speeding (another dumb kid) and went to court before him.  Turns out that this mandatory court date that was written by the police officer on the ticket is only the arraignment, when you plead guilty or not and set up another court date to plead your case.  The friend was told to come back to court later with an attorney.

So I contacted my intermediate/high school classmate who is an attorney for a referral for Ryan.  He is a criminal attorney; I remember telling him once that it's good to know a lawyer and he told me he hopes I never have to call him because he handles criminal cases.  He had a schedule conflict for the court date so couldn't represent Ryan himself but referred us to a friend.  I called that attorney and he was helpful (but reminded me three times about sending the retainer fee in that first conversation).  But it turns out it was worth it.  The attorney contacted the prosecutor's office and since he is a juvenile and a first-time offender, they were willing to drop the speed to 29 mph over the posted limit, so it becomes "regular" speeding rather than "excessive" speeding.  We still did have to show up at the appointed time at District Court on Alakea St.

We found the courtroom (there were two dedicated to traffic violations, like speeding, driving without license or insurance, etc).  There was a list of maybe 100 people each posted outside of each courtroom.  Ryan's name was at the top of one list, with two other juveniles (why does that sound worse than "minors"?).  The bailiff told us to go in and sit down.  Ryan took a photo before everyone came in.  It got packed by the time the judge came in.  The attorney was late but met us there in time.  The prosecutor and bailiff had people who only had to show proof of license or proof that they had insurance coverage line up first, before the judge came in, and he processed these first.  Once the judge came in, the prosecutor called the defendants up one by one.  Thought they would go in alpha order, but it seemed that those with attorneys got called up before everyone else (the attorneys sat in the area right in front of the prosecutor's table, where he kept all the defendants' files).  When Ryan's name was called, we went up together and our attorney mentioned the "plea deal" agreed upon with the prosecutor's office - drop the excessive speeding charge down to regular speeding, charge a $200 fine plus various other fines, mandatory drivers education course.  The judge approved this and dropped the other fines because he is a minor, and we waited until the paperwork was done.  We then had to go outside to pay the fine to the cashier.  He has to meet the drivers education counselor November 30; not sure what happens after that.  He just needs to finish this obligation by next June or he has to go back to court (there was someone in court who asked for an extension of the deadline for completing their obligation; I guess that's another reason for being in court).  It was interesting that there were two other juveniles there too, but when they were called up, their parents weren't there so they were told to sit back down.  Hopefully their parents did show up later.  I told Ryan how lucky he was that his mom was there and that we were able to afford an attorney who took care of things for us.  Hopefully he has learned his lesson.  I was concerned that when he went back to school after court he told people where he'd been, and they were giving him props for being "bad-a$$."  Seriously, not something to be proud of.

And hopefully this is the last time we have to deal with something like this.  At least he was safe and didn't hurt anyone else either.