One unfortunate fact of life is that if you write tickets for moving violations, you have to go to Traffic Court. Traffic Court judges know that my cites were issued following a crash, so I'm going to have multiple parties testifying, as well as witnesses. Since that takes time, my cases are inevitably heard last.
On this particular day, though, when Judge X calls the roll, the defendant isn't there.
"Officer EightyTwo, I think we're going to hear this matter first and get it out of the way."
Woohoo!
This was a rear-ender in which the defendant slammed his POS sedan into a large SUV. Defendant's POS was totaled, the only problem being that the crankcase ruptured, dumping oil all over the roadway (and creating a huge traffic backlog). Pretty straightforward; 22350 VC, unsafe speed. He was none too happy when I towed his vehicle for blocking the roadway, and probably less so when he got the cite, as he had multiple moving violations already.
So the SUV driver and the witness come up and do their thing, and the judge renders his opinion: guilty, with a $300 penalty for the failure to appear. Suh-weet! In and out in under an hour, as opposed to the usual three. I might actually get some stuff done this morning.
As we're walking out into the lobby, the witness says:
"I think that was him."
"Who?"
"The defendant. I think he just walked by on his way into court."
"Oh, well. He's a little late. Judge X already ruled on his case."
Except later that afternoon, I get a subpoena. For the same case.
Turns out he showed up, gave Judge X a sob story about why he was late, and the judge vacated his earlier judgement and put the matter back on the calendar for the following week.
So we ended up (all of us), going back to court to hear the matter a second time. And yes, the defendant lost a second time, in front of a different judge. I got OT for both appearances, so I suppose it evens out in the end.
But man, do I hate doing stuff twice.
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