Yesterday a cop pulled me over and gave me a ticket for using my cellphone. I was using my GPS. He saw me pick it up at a red light when I checked it. The ticket doesn’t say to appear in court. I went online to pay but it says that paying for the ticket is not eligible. I called the court house and she said that in all of New Jersey you have to appear in court for cellphone violations. This made me very anxious as I never had anything like this happen to me before. I asked what it was like – no jury, just go in front of a judge.

Do I still need an attorney or something? The hell is this like? I just want to pay the penalty and move on with my life. Supposedly in NJ first offense is anywhere from $200 to $400? Maybe the reason why I need to talk to a judge is to figure out the exact fine? I can get my cellphone records to prove that I was not texting or calling, if that accounts for anything – just using my GPS.

Topics: law, justice, lawyer, law school, law enforcement, justice system, states, New Jersey, attorney