“Plea Bargain Procedure”

Hi all,

Im brand new here, a young driver and just got my first traffic ticket ever. It happened to be a Red Light Camera tickets with the hefty fine of $320.

After reading through the forum on the topic i'm leaning toward taking the Plea Bargain to reduce the fine and just wonder how it works.

So in order to get the Plea Bargain i have to chose option 1: go to court and talk to the prosecutor. Do i tell him i want the Plea Bargain?? or do i tell him i'm pleading not guilty and want to fight it in court resulting in him offering me the Plea Bargain to reduce the fine??? i just want to clarify it so i dont screw myself over.

You don't need to play hardball and say, "I'm going to fight this" and hope they offer you a deal instead. You can just tell them, "I'm willing to plead guilty and spare the court the burden of a trial in exchange for some consideration on the fine."

That's what plea bargains are all about: you get rewarded for taking responsibility for your actions and sparing the state the time and money on a trial.

Thank you Simon for the help, i really appreciate it.