James Lawrence Yeargan Jr.’s Answers

I used to be a prosecutor in the City of Atlanta Municipal Court which should be the same court your ticket is in. Check the court address on your ticket, and if it's 150 Garnett Street that is the same court. This court offers Pre-Trial Diversion for traffic tickets. What this means is if you go to court on your court date, enter the diversion program, you pay a fee of $100 to $150, and they dismiss the ticket against you so it will not go on your driving history. They allow you to participate...

Go to the Atlanta Municipal Court, and show ten your tag. Participate in their Pre-TeialIntervention Traffic Program. You'll pay around a $250 to $200 "fee" to participate, and they will dismiss the charges against you so they won't go on your driving history. Speeding in Georgia is punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The maximum fine for city ordinance violations is usually a $1,000 fine and 6 months in jail. You are not likely to get this though. You may want to speak about the prosecutor to see if you can get into some type of diversion program to get the arrest removed from your record.

You can call the court, and ask to speak to the prosecutor. Ask him to reduce your speed to 84 in a 70, and this should keep the charge from appearing on your driving history (assuming you have a Georgia driver's license and it is not a commercial driver's license). You will have to pay the fine, but it keeps the charge from appearing on your driving history.

Correct. There is no DUI conviction. That's the beauty of a Reckless Driving plea. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

I have done many expungements with the Atlanta Police Department, and from my experience they take about nine to twelve months. I do not know anyway to speed them up, and whenever you are dealing with the Atlanta government it always takes a long time.

I do not recommend "nolo." I equate nolo with a suckers bet in a casino. Everyone is familiar with nolo, and they like to use it because it can keep points off of your license. However, it is a "suckers" bet because most insurance companies care more about the charges appearing on your driving history than they do about how many points you have on your driving history. The only people who really need to be concerned with points are people who have a commercial driver's license. You can ask the...

I'm afraid he cannot use his First Offender Plea again. However, there are several alternative pleas that can be used in connection with drug offenses that can ultimately end up in having the charges against him dismissed. It would be a good idea for him to speak with an attorney so he can understand, and weigh, all his different options and solutions.

I would not waste your Nolo plea on this charge as you may have other options available since this is your first offense. It is good you were just ticketed, and not arrested. However, some type of pre-trial program may result in the charge against you being dismissed. Normally, a Nolo plea is used in these situations to try to avoid the 6 month license suspension that a conviction to poss. of marijuana carries. This is not always the case, and certain additional steps must also be taken such as...

The officer charged you under the wrong code section. He should have charged you under O.C.G.A. 40-6-273 Failure to Report an Accident. In order to charge you under the code section he did charge you with O.C.G.A. 40-6-270 the vehicle you struck must be "attended" meaning someone must be in it, or near it. Since the vehicle you struck was parked, and unoccupied, you are not guilty of Hit and Run. You can either try to have the charge amended to 40-6-273 (which is just a normal moving violation...