Open Letter to State's Attorney Bianchi

Dear Mr. Bianchi,

I am writing to call your attention to an unfair and expensive procedure, over which I understand your office might be able to exert some influence.

When the McHenry County Conservation District issues a ticket to a person found in an MCCD park after-hours, the ticket requires that person to appear before a judge, if he does not pay the $75.00 to MCCD within about 7-10 days.

A Guilty plea at the first court appearance results in an exorbitant amount of court costs and fees. On Monday the sum of $111.00 was assessed on top of the $75.00 fine.

The recipient of the ticket inquired before the court date about paying the $75.00 at the Payment Window of the courthouse and was told payment would not be accepted and that a court appearance was required.

Without disrespect to the court or to the judicial process, it seems reasonable to allow a first offender to pay the $75.00 before the court date. Perhaps a small "service fee" ($10.00?) could be added to pay for a clerk's time to accept payment, and probably few people would argue with that, understanding that they would be saving $100.00.

May I invite you to consider my request that the procedure for such petty offenses be changed to allow payment at the courthouse, in person or by mail, before a court date by those persons who intend not to contest the citation?

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Gus Philpott

Skateboarding Ticket Cost

What will a ticket for skateboarding on a sidewalk in the vicinity of the Square cost? Or for riding a bicycle on a sidewalk in the area of the Square?

The fine for a ticket for either of these can range from $5.00 to $500.00. It's up to the judge. If the kid shows up in a clean shirt and no holes in his jeans, the fine might be $5.00. If he shows up with an attitude, the fine might be $500.00.

And then you have to add the court costs. A clerk at the traffic court told me today that the minimum court costs would be $85.00-$100.00. And she couldn't tell me exactly how much the court costs will be (I've run into that answer before). When I asked if the court costs for a $5.00 fine and the court costs for a $500.00 fine are different, she said they are different. What? It costs more money to accept more cash or a check in a larger amount???

The police department has informed me that a judge sets the fine. This means that a court appearance will be required. And that means court costs.

Is this what our City Council figured out in advance?

You can get a speeding ticket (or a headlight ticket) and mail in the fine. No court appearance is necessary. And no court costs have to be paid.

Is riding a bike on a sidewalk on the Square more serious than a speeding ticket?

And will the police be less likely to ticket bicyclists and skateboarders on sidewalks on and around the Square, knowing that it's going to cost the kid and his parents over $100 to settle it?

Only time (and a FOIA Request) will tell.

Exorbitant Traffic Court Costs

Have you been to traffic court recently in McHenry County?

If you have, you know to take your high blood pressure medication before you ever go back. And, if you haven't, you'd better get a line-of-credit set up at your bank before you go.

The judges warn those in the court room as court starts that court costs are high AND that they are not set by the judges. Court costs are set by the State legislature and by the McHenry County Board. So, if you have a gripe, you know whom to call. And it won't be Ghostbusters!

Just try to find out how much your court costs will be, before you go to court. Right... just try. Unless policies have changed recently, the traffic court clerks will not tell you how much court costs will be. They'll have lots of excuses, like "It depends" and "We don't know" and "The computer calculates them" and ya-da-ya-da-ya-da.

Well, they should know, and they should be able to tell you. Of course, then they'd have to deal with the screams and gnashing of teeth over the phone (oh, the verbal abuse, you mean...).

I watched one person's case - no front license plate (hadn't replaced it after an accident) and a cover over the rear plate. I suspect the judge went easy on the guy, knowing how much the court costs were going to be. The driver probably felt some relief when the judge fined him $10 on each charge. But I'll bet the driver found out that the court costs would be $125 on each of the two tickets, thus costing him $270 to get out of the courthouse, not $20 and change.

Pick up a copy of the schedule of court costs at the traffic clerk's payment window. You'll have to insist on it. The first time I asked for a schedule, the clerk looked at me like there wasn't any such form. However, I could see it, right on the counter on her side of the window.

Is that bulletproof glass? Maybe so. You never know when a clerk might go postal and start shooting people trying to pay their fines. I wonder if employees are checked as carefully as visitors for contraband and weapons. Can we really feel safe in our courthouse?

I guess we can, because I inadvertently had a pocket dictator with me when I headed to court recently. I tried to check it with the guard at the door, but he told me in no uncertain terms that, if he took it from me, I would not get it back.

Of course, I was ready to argue that point with him, because NO court employee is going to confiscate a person's private property, voluntarily surrendered, and then going to keep it. His "take it back to your car or lose it" offer will be taken up another day with the person in charge of court security.

But back to the court costs. There should be an easy-to-use, court-cost calculator online right on the McHenry County Courthouse website. Even if it gave only a rough estimate of court costs, it would be helpful.

It would also help those with tickets decide whether to plead guilty or fight it. If you knew your court costs would be $125-150 on top of a $75 fine, would you fight it? Especially if you thought you were not guilty?

It's a shame that sometimes people plead guilty, because it's cheaper to pay a $75 fine than to go to court and risk a total cost of $225 ($75 fine + $150 court costs).

Many think the judge will automatically believe the cop, more so than believing the driver who got the ticket. I don't think so. It's just that most drivers don't know the law or don't know how to defend themselves. Knowing the law is critical; you have to know whether or not you did violate it. Defending yourself (whether with a lawyer or on your own) is important, if you are not guilty or if you believe the officer cannot prove you are guilty.