springerdave
Regular Member
imported post
SpringerXDacp wrote:
SpringerXDacp wrote:
Try to play this all the way out to the end. If you are found responsible for a civil infraction, and you do not admit responsibility for that infraction and you refuse to obey the court in paying the fines/fees assessed, then ultimately you will find yourself at the point of a gun lead in handcuffs to jail. It may not come immediately, but at some point the court system will want it's pound of flesh. They will be patient and wait till you fail to signal a left turn or something on that order, and then you will be taken into custody(bench warrant) to pay for your (now) crimes of not accepting responsibility as they TOLD you to do. It is a money thing, not a safety thing.springerdave.http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/resources/publications/manuals/magis/mag_sec6.pdf
[align=left]The decriminalization of minor traffic offenses in 1979 substantially changed the court procedures for handling these cases. Because the defendant in a civil infraction case does not face the possibility of going to jail, he or she is not entitled to all the procedural safeguards associated with a criminal trial.[/align]
[align=left]Accordingly, civil infraction hearings in traffic cases differ from criminal trials in the following respects. [/align]
[align=left]$ Jury trial is not allowed. (MCL 257.746[1], MCL 257.747[4])[/align]
[align=left]$ A defendant may be found responsible for a traffic civil infraction by only a preponderance of the evidence, rather than by the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. (MCL 257.746[4], MCL 257.747[5])[/align]
[align=left]$ Because civil infractions are not "crimes," findings of responsibility are not reported on the defendant's criminal record. However, most civil infractions must still appear on the defendant's driving record maintained by the Michigan Secretary of State. (MCL 257.6a, MCL 257.732)[/align]