Hi, I'm Jeremy Crosby.

And I'm Nick Bouchet.

We're your host for the program.

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And good evening.

Before we start, I would like to explain the process that we'll be following tonight.

Tonight's session is an arrangement session.

You're going to be asked a very simple question, and that is what plea would you like to enter.

Now we have three alternatives.

And the first one is to enter a plea of not guilty, which means you believe you are innocent or you believe that should the case goes to trial, the city will fail to prove its case.

The burden of proof is on the city to prove that you are guilty.

You do not have to prove that you are innocent.

The second alternative is the opposite.

That's to enter a plea of guilty, which means you are accepting the facts and circumstances that are stated in the citation that you have already received.

The

third alternative is called a plea of no contest, which means, though in your heart you believe you are innocent, there are lots of evidence against you, and you would rather say, I will enter a plea of no contest instead of entering a plea of guilty or not guilty.

If

you enter a plea of no contest, you'll be found guilty.

However, there's one advantage to appeal no contest in cases involving potential liability, civil liability claims in civil court.

That's when somebody alleges that because of your negligence or your violation of the statute, you have also uh cause them injury.

So in these cases, if you enter a plea of guilty, it may be used against you.

So if you have a civil claim and you are worried that somebody's gonna sue you for for damages and contemplating entering a plea of guilty, my advice to you is to enter a plea of no contest instead.

Now most of you are here for alleged traffic citations.

You should understand if found guilty, in addition to the fine that I'm gonna ask you to pay, I will take from you something called demerit points.

In the state of Wisconsin, if you accumulate 12 demerit points in one single year, your driving privilege will be revoked.

If you are here for the offense of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence, also known drunk driving, you should know that you have the right to request a jury trial.

If you do so, the trial will be held at the Dane County Circuit Court.

It will not be held in Fitchburg.

So briefly, I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about our philosophy in Fitchburg.

It's our philosophy to see that justice is individualized.

What I mean by that, that I'm gonna let you have the opportunity to um advance any mitigating circumstances that you may wish to advance.

However, if you do that, you have it has to be believable and it has to be reasonable.

The

other variable that I use is um I look at your past record right in front of me, uh, any record that you have accumulated previous to coming here.

So based on those two variables, I'll come with a verdict.

It may then mean that two people faced with identical association may have different outcome.

And that's the case in all traffic citations with the exception of traffic citations where alcohol or drugs played a factor in the issuance of the citations.

In these cases, I do not have any willingness to compromise the verdict.

You'll pay the maximum uh verdict as stated in the statute.

The

same thing could be said about city ordinances where there is a criminal law parallel to this to the city ordinance.

So let me explain that to you.

Fitzburg have opted to adopt city ordinances that are exactly similar to the criminal code.

So in Pittsburgh, you would have a city ordinance for battery, disorderly conduct, carrying concealed weapons, prostitutions, and even ours.

Now, if a police officer complained against a citizen alleging that citizen have violated the penal code and you are being prosecuted in municipal court, you got a very big big advantage.

And that is no matter what.

Now I say all of this because if you have one of those citations, do not expect me to lower the to to lower the fine no matter

what.