by Ron Johnson » Mon May 07, 2007 8:04 am
David:
As an attorney I am disgusted by this. It is a complete ethical violation for an attorney to directly approach a person and solicit business. It is equally unethical for an attorney to "guarantee" some type of outcome or base his fee on some type of guaranteed result. This really makes me sick. I sometimes appear in nigh traffic court for friends, and everytime I am there I see these scumbag attornyes prowling the hallways of the courthouse to offer "advice" to people and then set upon them with this kind of sales pitch. If they are being particularly offensive, I will approach the same people and offer to do their case for free in order to deprive these leeches of their $50.
As for the possibility of amendment of the speeding violation to a lesser violation such as defective equipment, the answer is yes it can be done and it does happen, but there is often a good reason for it. The criminal justice system is largely based upon plea bargains. If every single case went to trial, especially every traffic case, the system would shut down. There are probably more than 500 traffic cases handled everyday in Jefferson County alone. Can you imagine the backlog that would develop if every one of those speeding cases went to a full jury trial? It would be a disaster. So, the way this is handled is to accept guilty pleas from the defendant in order to more quickly dispose of the case. In order to persuade a person to plead guilty it is often necessary to offer them a slightly reduced charge. This is very common, completely ethical, and happens everyday in cases from speeding tickets to murder. For example, someone charged with assault II may be allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of assault IV, especially if there are mitigating factors present like self-defense.
The judges realize that not every speeding ticket case is perfect. Sometimes police make mistakes. Allowing someone who is going 15 mph over the limit to plead guilty to a lesser charge like defective equipment is a compromise. The state still recovers the court costs, the guilty party still pays a hefty fine, but he or she avoids having their insurance rates go up. It's a win-win for everyone. However, the prosecutors will not agree to this plea bargain if someone is speeding excessively, were intoxicated, driving recklessly, etc.
As for if you run someone over in your car; the charges there would depend on a lot of factors. Your outcome could range from no charge at all to being charged with murder.
As an attorney, I am very sorry that you were approached by a lawyer who directly solicited business from you in such a manner. In the future if an attorney ever approaches anyone here like this, please take his or her card and bring this conduct to the attention of the presiding judge or the bar association.