You get pulled over by the Springfield Police Officer and given a ticket. Maybe it’s a speeding citation. Maybe it is a Driving While Intoxicate charge. On the top left-hand corner there is a box that reads: “Court Date.” That is the date you, or your criminal defense attorney, go to Court and appears in front of the Judge, right?
Well, I hate to sound like a lawyer, but it depends.
It depends on what jurisdiction you are in. In my experience, the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s office has such a backlog they can take up to three months to file a speeding case and up to 9 months to file a first time DUI. What’s worse is if you have an old address on your ticket, the summons that is sent out may not reach you and you may not find out what the real court date is until it has already past and a warrant has been signed by the Judge.
Springfield Municipal Court, and the surrounding municipal courts, tend to be much better about the dates. So you can rely on those tickets to be more accurate as far as the date is concerned. But what if the municipal court sends the case to State court? Then the date might change yet again!
What can you do about this issue in the Greene County, Missouri court system?
- First, and I am biased here, you should hire an attorney to assist you. Criminal Defense Attorneys should have a system in place to catch these cases as they are filed and enter their appearance. That professional assistance is going to put you a step ahead of where you would be on your own.
- Second choice, you can call the Prosecutor’s and check on a frequent basis about if the ticket is filed and make sure your information is up to date in their system.
- Third, you can check casenet and hope you find it on there.
Here is the website for casenet just in case you want to do a quick search:
https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome.do
Let us know if we can help you with this issue of navigating when your first appearance may be. Whether you are charged with federal crimes, state felonies, DWIs or DUIs, misdemeanors or traffic tickets. MRD Lawyers can help.
Put National and State award-winning former Greene County Prosecutors to work for you. We have three decades worth of experience winning cases in Greene County, and we want to help you with your legal issues.
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