Prohibited right turn on "red" Light

[nocturnalpoet]

Hi,
A week ago I was stopped at a light with a cop directly behind me. I saw him clearly and was unfazed since I was not in a rush and was driving perfectly normal. The light to turn right turned green and since there were just two cars ahead of me I thought I made the green or at least the yellow since a car in the turning lane next to me also went through. 25 seconds later the cop that was behind me and clearly turned after me pulled me over and said I am getting a ticket since the light was going from a yellow to a red when I turned.I did not want to argue since this was my first ticket and so he wrote me up a ticket. The questionable part was when he gave me the ticket and told me I had to go to court. I was confused and asked how much I had to pay and all he said was that I had to go to court. Not wanting to cause any trouble I thanked him and drove off.

I called the court 2 days later to find out the problem and reschedule my court date for an earlier time since I would be leaving for college out of state before my court date. The clerk I talked to was confused also as to why I had to appear in court since I was not under the age of 18 and since it was just a traffic infraction, but she could not help me since it was still not in the system.

My question is; should I go to court and plead non guilty since I know for sure that I turned on a green or at least a yellow, and also could I get the whole ticket waved since the cop did not officially give me a ticket and just told me to go to court which will not be possible unless I get it scheduled for an earlier time?
Thank You so much

 

[tpajet]

YES - go to court. You should be able to fight this one easily enough and win. You said you were given a ticket. If you just opt to pay the fine, then that is pleading guilty, if you tell them you want to take the ticket to court, then that is pleading not guilty, and not guilty is the route you want to take. Here's what you do in court:

If you notice at any intersection (other than a residential area) you have that white line that goes across the road at a stop light or stop sign. That is called the stop line.

All you need to do is tell the judge that you were already past the stop line BEFORE the light turned red.