May 18, 2004

How to prepare for your municipal court appearance

by W. Timothy Howes, Esq.

Municipal court appearances require preparation, punctuality, and clear-headed decisions regarding the disposition of your plea. If we prepare for court properly, we will achieve the best result possible for you.

We must prepare for your municipal court appearance thoroughly and in advance. In most municipal courts, the prosecutor, the judge and the police officers have many cases to handle during each court session. We will usually have a short window of opportunity in which to negotiate, and will have to make important decisions in a very short time.

In each case, the prosecutor must provide every document that he or she intends to use against you. This is called discovery. After you retain Howes & Howes, we will obtain discovery, then provide you with a copy. Once you receive your discovery, you should call the office so that I can answer your questions, and determine whether we need to provide any discovery to the prosecutor.

After our consultation, you should understand the range of likely results, and we will develop clearly-defined goals.

On the day or night of court, you should be on time, but not early. Dress neatly, but comfortably.

I will take the first step on court night by going to speak to the prosecutor. We will discuss a plea offer. The police officer who wrote the summons is required to be present, and will have input into the prosecutor’s plea offer.

Next, I will tell you the prosecutor’s offer. It is at that point that you must decide whether to accept the offer, or take the case to trial. You must be ready to make the decision at that point because if you elect to accept the offer, then we will go before the judge then and there. If you elect to take the case to trial, we will do so that night after the court has accepted all of the guilty pleas.

The vast majority of municipal court matters are resolved by a plea bargain. However, there are cases that must be tried, and we are quite willing to stay as long as it takes to try a case if need be. If we prepare for court properly, then we will achieve the best result possible for you.

This article can be found on the web at: http://www.njcases.com/32/

If you need legal help in matters similar to those described in this document, call Howes & Howes for a prompt, confidential consultation.

Howes & Howes

26 Anderson Street

Raritan, New Jersey 08869

Telephone: (908)704-0037

email: info@njcases.com