Reckless driving violations are tickets, but they are a more serious type of ticket called a misdemeanor. An officer can arrest you for the violations but usually just issues a citation with a court date on it to address the misdemeanor charges. If the reckless driving ticket is in the downtown San Diego court location these charges are prosecuted by the City Attorney's office. If the charges are filed in the El Cajon, Chula Vista, or Vista court locations then the charges are prosecuted by the District Attorney's office. Ultimately on these charges you have one of two paths to go down: (1) You either work out a deal to resolve the charges, or (2) you have a trial to see if the prosecution can prove you are guilty of the violations. An attorney can represent you on the charges, handle all the court hearings for you so you would not have to go to the court, and try to work out a deal to reduce or dismiss the charges. 

​

Possible Punishment 

​

The punishment for misdemeanors is up to one year in jail (most cases do not result in any jail time), fines around $600, being placed on probation to the court for two to three years, and two points going on your driving record for these sorts of violations which would very likely cause a substantial increase in your auto insurance rates for the next few years. Most people do not want misdemeanor offenses on their records. 

​

How Can an Attorney Help? 

​

Hiring an attorney to represent you on your reckless driving charges has several benefits. First, you will have an experienced attorney who will be able to discuss the facts of the case with you, determine if there are valid defenses, review the prosecution evidence to see if any mistakes were made, and provide you with valuable insight into what can be done on your case. Second, an attorney can handle the court hearings on misdemeanor charges for you and you would not need to go to the court. That could save you several days of missed work and several hours of being at the court for each hearing. Third, an attorney will negotiate the charges with the prosecuting agency for you. Using years of experience, we prepare the best course of action to try to convince the prosecuting agency to allow you to earn a dismissal by completing some form of community service or diversion program or to work out a different resolution that is much better than having the misdemeanor charges on your record. 

​

Give us a call, or send an email, today to get a free case evaluation to learn more about your charges, the way the court your ticket is in handles those charges, and what an attorney can do to help you get the very best possible outcome in the case. 

​