Ticket from Game Warden Question

[TXHunter12]

How ridiculous

[gonzaleziam]

If he appears to court and has to pay a fee, KEEP THE RECEIPT!! I had to pay a fine TWICE. I couldn’t renew my drivers license until I paid it a second time.

[CEO]

There is a cutoff date. It is two years from the date the offense was observed.

I mean a more reasonable date. If there is a date for court set and the ticket has still not been turned in throw it out. You shouldn't have to continually follow up.

[Still Hunter]

Just a heads up, due to COVID-19 many internal offices are working with skeleton crews. Show up on the day you are supposed to (I hope he did if the day has since passed). That gets noted into the files that you showed up, and that prevents them from issuing a warrant for him. They will then contact you once they receive the ticket. I just had a pretrial hearing, for a traffic ticket that I was fighting, that was pushed back in the schedule an additional 60 days. Then they called me 4 days before the scheduled date and made the "pretrial" with the assistant prosecutor a "call-in" due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, the whole legal/law system it is just a racket to take your money and screw with your lives. It is all about money. Your son was probably just having fun jumping the wake and the GW saw a opportunity to throw his weight around and issue him a violation. The last thing you want is to have him in to get stuck into the "System". .

[Acameron52]

Probably didn’t get turned in to the courthouse. I had that happen with a speeding ticket from a trooper one time. Took them a while to get it there.

[tvc184]

Just to clarify, the speedy trial statement was made the day after the ticket was received. Now that the due date has passed, he said it’s on their part to contact my son.

There are two criminal issues here and they are separate.

The first is the original accusation, a citation for some offense. Under Texas law, you are under arrest for the crime charged. The officer can release you at the scene under you own recognizance. That is the citation. It is an arrest where you are signing yourself out of jail at the roadside.

What the person signed on the citation/arrest was a “promise to appear” for an arraignment to plea guilty or not guilty in lieu of being taken to jail.

The citation has a date that the person must make an appearance by. If the person does not show up by that date and time, it is a new crime of Violate Promise To Appear. So now the person is charged in two crimes, the original charge and violate promise. People often say, they double the fine if you don’t show up. They aren’t really doubling the fine, they are charging another crime.

By Texas law a misdemeanor must be filed within two years. So in this case the warden has two years from the date of the accused crime to file it with the court.

In your son’s case, he has complied with the promise to appear by showing up by the date on the citation. As suggested above, I might try to get that in writing.

But the complying with the promise to appear does not negate the original accusation which the warden has two years to file. Remember there are two potential crimes in this case, the wake violation and the promise to appear.

A judge can dismiss a charge at his discretion and I am sure that some may do so in a case like this but.... it might help to understand that there are two issues here, the original charge and the promise to appear. Showing up in court by the listed day does not dismiss the citation. The judge may but merely showing up does not.

in my opinion...

[Les]

Question about turning in the tickets... Do the officers have to enter the data themselves or do they just have to drop off the tickets to the clerks?

[tvc184]

Question about turning in the tickets... Do the officers have to enter the data themselves or do they just have to drop off the tickets to the clerks?

I have never heard of an officer doing anything more with a paper citation other than turning it in.

Ours are electronic and uploaded wirelessly.

[g2outfitter]

Ours are electronic also and when ticket writer gets back to Police department the ticket writer syncs and its sent to appropriate court. If we do write a paper citation, we turn them into records which are taken to court. Sometime tickets get stuck in la la land and it takes IT to fix issue.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[tvc184]

Ours are electronic also and when ticket writer gets back to Police department the ticket writer syncs and its sent to appropriate court. If we do write a paper citation, we turn them into records which are taken to court. Sometime tickets get stuck in la la land and it takes IT to fix issue.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Ours, like our body cameras, upload in the field. The cameras upload wirelessly and automatically.

[Mike]

By Texas law a misdemeanor must be filed within two years. So in this case the warden has two years from the date of the accused crime to file it with the court.

So in all reality, we just wait around for 2 years to see if or when he turns the ticket in to the JP? He’s leaving for two weeks to play baseball and then off to school a few weeks later. My FIL wants to call the JP and ask for dismissal as he’s old school, retired trooper, said if a man can’t get his paperwork done in a month, well, you know the rest of the story. Lol.

[Olphart]

I'd contact the GWs supervisor and politely inform him/her that he's tried to fulfill his obligation with the court but the ticket wasn't turned in and it's beyond the "due date", so the court can't document his appearance for a complaint that to this point isn't on record. Ask what he should do? It's ridiculous that GWs don't have to turn in tickets within a couple of days....especially to a JP office. That wouldn't fly at all at my PD (when I was there).

[tvc184]

So in all reality, we just wait around for 2 years to see if or when he turns the ticket in to the JP? He’s leaving for two weeks to play baseball and then off to school a few weeks later. My FIL wants to call the JP and ask for dismissal as he’s old school, retired trooper, said if a man can’t get his paperwork done in a month, well, you know the rest of the story. Lol.

I would be contacting a supervisor and see how it could be taken care of..... however, I was only trying to explain the law. The original accusation is one crime and not showing up by the date on the citation is another crime.

I have seen the comments above that have said if the gw doesn’t turn the citation in by the date, it is over. That isn’t true. It is just over for the fail to appear part. The case can still be filed. A judge can dismiss the case at his discretion and if he does, great. I would want some answers before I felt comfortable.

[westtexducks]

It is pure insanity that they get 2 whole years to take care of something that should be addressed within the week.

I had a speeding ticket about 3 years ago now that just magically disappeared. Followed all the instructions on the hard ticket and everything tried to pay them but they never showed any record of the ticket in their system I quit worrying about it after 6 months and went on about my business. But what if I move between time of ticket and 2 years expires? How does court know where to contact me? What if my number changes? So many things wrong on so many levels on why they should not be allowed 2 whole years to turn in a **** ticket.