Error in Traffic Citation in Los Angeles, California?

Question

My sister made a right turn ( 4-way street) on to small street and Police officer on the motorcycle (parked on the street) pulled her over and issued a citation. Ticket states that she went straight on Right Turn Only sign. She was confused so she signed the ticket.

When she checked the ticket, car description wasn’t correct. She drove 4 door IS250, but office wrote down 2 door LS.

To make thing more interesting, officer sent a court certified letter stating that he wants to move the court appearance date and wrote wrong citation issuing date on the revised document. Under penalty of perjury he stated that he issued her the ticket one week later than the actual ticket date.

I am not sure if the office felt bad and giving her chance to fight her ticket. How do I dismiss her ticket in California court?

Answer 1

A traffic ticket cannot be dismissed simply because of some errors on the ticket.    

If your sister wants to fight the ticket, she can go to court and plead not guilty and ask the judge to set the case for a trial.    At a trial, she will get to present her side of the case and the cop will tell his side of the story.    The judge will decide if she's guilty or not.     Your sister can hire an attorney to represent her in court if she wishes.    Your sister could also hire an attorney to talk to the prosecutor handling the case to see if he will dismiss it.  

By signing the ticket, your sister acknowledged that she received a copy of the ticket.    By signing the ticket, she did not admit guilt.

A charge can be amended anytime until a person enters a guilty plea or the case is dismissed by the court.

Answer 2

Unless you are a judge, you don't dismiss a ticket in a California court.

That appears to be the answer to the question you asked.  A few other comments:

Confused or not, your sister had no choice but to sign the citation so it's a good thing she did.  California law requires that anyone who refuses to sign a citation (otherwise known as a promise to appear) is to be taken into custody.  You can be confused, you can disagree with the violation, but if you refuse to give your promise to appear and let the Court decide the situation, you're going to jail.

Four door, two door.  IS250, LS.  Not going to have any bearing on the violation.  Get over this - you're just wasting mental energy on harmless mistakes.

I'm not sure I'm following you on the certified letter thing.  Hard to comment on that, given the way it's written.

Whether the officer feels bad about the ticket or not, he does not need to give your sister a chance to fight her ticket.  People always have a chance to contest a citation - always.  Officers don't need to provide that opportunity, it's one of those constitutional-type issues that is pretty much guaranteed by virtue of living in the US.

Answer 3

Can't dismiss on a simple clerical error. The officer or prosecutor can amend the complaint (ticket) any time with the courts permission. Errors happen in all walks of life and most can be corrected some way.