More New York traffic courts

Our traffic court database is growing rapidly. We've got over 300 courts in the database in 32 counties. Some examples of new additions include:

Mount Pleasant Town Court and Harrison Town Court in Westchester County;

Goshen Town Court in Orange County;

Niagara Town Court and Niagara Falls City Court in Niagara County;

and both Grand Island Town Court and Evans Town Court in Erie County.

There has been a dramatic increase in traffic to the site. We're now getting over 1500 visitors a week. It was only 300 not too long ago. Come to think of it, the site has only been up in its present form since roughly March of 2006, about 6 months. The original site debuted in roughly December of 2005, but the new site is a real database implementation.

Several attorneys have mentioned to me that they like the site and have found it useful. We have gotten some surprising negative feedback about some of the more colorful comments on the site. I don't really understand that since most of the complaints are either about things that are plainly true or about a merely neutral mention of someone where something positive was said about someone else.

If you want to make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs, I guess.

A simple request

As you may know, I'm running for Congress in NY's 21st district. The media will not cover the campaign. There appears to be a deliberate policy of not covering challengers except in rare circumstances. What kind of a democracy do we have if the voters don't know who the choices are?

If you think newspapers and other media should cover challengers, please contact the appropriate people at the media outlet of your choice.

For the Albany Times Union: http://www.timesunion.com/forms/emaileditor.asp

For the Daily Gazette (Schenectady): opinion@dailygazette.com
or
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
c/o The Daily Gazette
P.O. Box 1090
Schenectady, N.Y. 12301-1090

For the Troy Record: newsroom@troyrecord.com

For the Leader Herald (Fulton County): http://208.15.24.251/vnr/add_submission.asp?categoryID=625&publicationID=47

For the Recorder (Amsterdam): news@recordernews.com

Thanks,
Warren

Traffic Courts in Saratoga County now complete

We've managed to finish entering the traffic courts (and criminal) in Saratoga County. Total of about 225 courts in the database and growing strong.

Feedback is appreciated. If you see anything incorrect or inappropriate about a court, please enter a comment on that court's page.

Traffic Courts and Traffic Violations Bureau

Our ny traffic court directory project is going well. We now have about 200 courts in the database. We have completed all or part of 29 counties (there are 62 counties in New York State, with roughly 2000 courts). My friend Dave Cheng, who work in executive coaching for women, has helped me with his skills in Human Resources. He's put together a team that is entering data.

I'm most excited about getting the New York City traffic courts in, since that is something we get a lot of calls for but can't help with. New York City handles speeding tickets and other traffic matters in the Traffic Violations Bureau, an arm of New York State's DMV. The NYC TVBs are:

Traffic Violations Bureau - Brooklyn North
Traffic Violations Bureau - Brooklyn South
Traffic Violations Bureau - Bronx
Traffic Violations Bureau - Manhattan
Traffic Violations Bureau - Queens North
Traffic Violations Bureau - Queens South
Traffic Violations Bureau - Richmond - Staten Island

There are also TVBs in the cities of Rochester and Buffalo, as well as in parts of Suffolk County.

A good day for my speeding and marijuana clients

Had a good day the other day, handling three cases in two courts. For one speeding ticket client, I got a typical reduction from a high 6-point speed to a 3-point speed. Usually you hope for a little better but her driving record wasn't clean.

For the next client I made a big difference. I'm handling three high speeds for this particular client in three different courts. The speeds range from 95 to 101. My main concern here is getting at least one of the speeds reduced to something other than speed, even if it's a lot of points. You can save your license from points by taking defensive driving, but you can't save it from three speeds in 18 months.

My of-counsel got the 101 reduced to 80 mph a couple weeks ago. This is a big deal because a ticket at 15 over the limit should not affect insurance under Insurance Law 2335 (depending on the interpretation of "two or more violations of other statutes ..." in the last item on the list). It's also a big deal because judges and prosecutors get sticky at speeds over 100, and this reduction from 8 points to 4 is more difficult at such high speeds.

The 95 mph ticket is down the road, and has some other violations with it. Not sure we'll be able to get that one out of speed. I managed to get the 96 mph ticket out of speed by taking it to a 4-point moving violation (1129 - following too close). How? By being open and honest with both the prosecutor and the judge. A good attorney who has credibility with cops, prosecutors and judges can lay it out for them -- this is what I need, this is why I need it, and this is what we can do to get there. It helps when you're dealing with a reasonable prosecutor and a reasonable judge. This particular judge is one of the best judges around - experienced and a good listener.

It's probably surprising to see me refer to a "reasonable prosecutor". My concerns about prosecutors are mainly limited to criminal matters, especially felonies. Almost all prosecutors are reasonable when it comes to traffic cases. This is probably because of some or all of the following: (1) they speed too; (2) they've got bigger fish to fry; (3) there's too many cases and they just want to get home; and/or (4) they know it's just a revenue thing. Prosecutors are also generally reasonable on misdemeanors, mainly for reasons 2 and 3, above. When it comes to felonies some of them get more difficult. I don't like when that happens, but that's pretty much what the public wants I guess.

Turning to my marijuana client, he had a UPM (unlawful possession of marijuana violation) and a CPCS 7th (criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree) misdemeanor for psilocybin. This kind of case presents a particular problem that some defense attorneys might miss. If your client pleads guilty to any drug violation, they become ineligible for financial aid - forever (or until the law changes). This client is roughly 21, and is working now but may go to college at some point. Thanks (again) to a reasonable prosecutor and a fair judge (in a different county mind you), the client gets a disorderly conduct violation (aka dis-con).

And I handled all three cases in a span of roughly 2 hours, including a half-hour drive and an errand between courts.