Innovative System Resolves Cases Without Court Appearance
The citizens of Bay County now have access to a easy way to resolve minor offenses without appearing at court. The system first appeared at the 14A District Court in Washtenaw County. Then it was released in Bay City on August 25.
District Judge Dawn Klida is heading the pilot program in the Bay County court system. There are three components to the program. First is traffic resolution. The second is failure to appear. The third part is failure to pay fines and costs. All three issues may be addressed with this system.
Previously, the main route in resolving a traffic ticket was a person admitted responsibility, denied responsibility, or visited the court to negotiate other options.
“We are often willing to negotiate, but most drivers find it difficult to take a day off during the work week to attend court in person,” Klida said. In other words, the program saves people time in making court appearances.
The Bay County webpage for online case review is located at www.courtinnovations.com/BayCounty. People with minor infractions will be asked a series of questions to determine their eligibility to have their case handled online. Not everybody qualifies for this program. Convictions for certain offenses will exclude some people from being able to take advantage of the program.
For those who fail to appear in court, the person can go online, give a reason and get a new date. In addition, for neglect to pay fines and costs, the system allows a way to cancel the warrant as well.
All of this is time saving,” Klida said. “On any given Thursday and Friday, the halls are just filled with people here for pretrials, and everyone has to wait their turn. They could be scheduled for 8:15 a.m. and not get out until 10 a.m. For people who have these minor infractions with limited or no prior record, it gives them the opportunity to take care of this without missing school, without missing work.”
The program is on a three month trial run with no set ending date.