What are the recent changes to the court procedure in Osceola County, Florida?
Osceola county has moved from a one hearing to a two hearing process.
What does this mean?
In the past there was only one hearing. If you requested a court date yourself or through an attorney or were issued a ticket requiring a mandatory appearance, you were assigned one court date. On that court date you or your attorney was required to appear in court. The Law Enforcement Officer was also require to appear in court. The case would be heard and resolved in one hearing. Unless there was a subsequent appeal, there were no other appearances required.
What happens now that there are two hearings?
Effective in February 2009, if you request a court hearing OR if you were issued a "court mandatory" ticket, you will be sent a notice for an "INITIAL HEARING". The Law Enforcement Officer is NOT required to appear at the initial hearing.
If the Officer is not there, what is the point?
At the initial hearing, the hearing officer/Judge (Michael Irwin) determines if you will qualify for a withhold of adjudication (no points, no conviction) by reviewing your driving record and the current ticket allegation. If you qualify for a withhold and do not want a hearing, the case will be resolved at the first hearing. If you want a trial, you or your attorney will be required to come back to court on another day for the final hearing where the officer will be present.
Ok - so I guess it is best to just request the second hearing because the officer will not show up?
While that may be the case for some situations in South Florida, just setting a ticket for a final hearing in the hopes the officer will not appear is not an effective defense. Cases where there are contested positions, speeds over 30 mph and accident cases are the types that will usually be set for a final hearing. Yes, if the officer does not appear at the final hearing there is a chance that the hearing officer will dismiss the ticket, but it is not as typical as in other Florida counties. Law enforcement in Osceola County is set for court in blocks meaning, a particular officer will usually have several tickets on the same day reducing the chance that he or she will fail to appear.
Given these changes, why should I hire a traffic ticket defense attorney to take care of the ticket?
If you elect court yourself, this election will result in spending hours of time in court appearing for up to two court hearings. When you attend court yourself, you will see that attorney cases are handled first. Most dockets have 50 or more cases for each session. There are usually 3 sessions a day. Out of those cases a large percentage are handled by attorneys. You will have to wait for those cases to be resolved first, only to find out your case is better resolved with a second hearing. By hiring the an attorney, you will avoid all that waiting and up to two court appearances.
Attorney Jason Shepelrich and The Shepelrich Law Firm, P.A. is a Kissimmee, Florida Traffic Ticket, Traffic Citation, Traffic Infraction Law Firm dedicated to defending traffic tickets, traffic citations, traffic infraction, speeding tickets, suspended license tickets, habitual traffic offenders, leaving the scene of accident cases, DUI, and other moving and non moving traffic violations. Attorney Jason Shepelrich has handled thousands of traffic and traffic criminal cases in the following counties since 1998: Osceola County Florida, Orange County Florida, Lake County Florida, St. Lucie County Florida, Martin County Florida, Indian River County Florida, and serving the following cities: Kissimmee, Florida, St. Cloud, Florida, Celebration, Florida, Harmony, Florida, Orlando, Florida, Tavares, Florida, Port St. Lucie, Florida. All cases are handled by Attorney Jason Shepelrich and The Shepelrich Law Firm's Network of Co-Counsel and Coverage attorneys throughout the State of Florida.
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