• 25
  • July
    2011

In Pennsylvania, when people receive traffic tickets, they typically have a predetermined amount of time to resolve the fines. Although the exact amount of time varies by city, individuals typically receive a certain amount of time to pay the ticket, and they face additional penalties after that.

One woman, however, took matters into her own hands when she received a few traffic tickets.

City judges are able to dismiss tickets that they believe were incorrectly written or issued. But what happens if a judge decides to dismiss her own tickets? At this point, it's not clear, but the matter may be under investigation.

A city district judge in Pennsylvania is accused of dismissing parking tickets that were issued to her before she became a judge. According to court records, she was issued a no-parking ticket last November, when police reported that she parked in a no-parking area in front of her house. That same afternoon, she received another ticket for allegedly having an expired registration. Less than a month later, she received another no-parking ticket for parking in the same area in front of her house.

According to court records, the first two tickets were dismissed nearly two months after the woman received them, and the third ticket was dismissed about a month later. Each of the tickets was dismissed after the judge received a summons to appear in her own court for not responding to the tickets.

If the tickets had been paid immediately, they would have each carried a fine of $20. By the time they were dismissed, the charges had accumulated to nearly $90 per traffic ticket. At this point, it is not clear why she dismissed the tickets.

Source: Lancaster Online, "Judge nixed her own tickets," Cindy Stauffer, 14 July 2011