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of Contents
Typical Offenses Charged by way of Pink Summons In New York
City
- Drinking Alcohol in Public
- Being in a Park after Dark
- Riding a Bicycle on the Sidewalk
- Various trespass offenses
- Disorderly Conduct
- Unlawful Possession of Marijuana
- Reckless Driving
- Various Trucking Offenses (HUT stickers, etc.)
- Urinating in Public
- Possession of a knife over 4 inches
- Ticket Scalping too close to stadium (even for face value)
- Unlawful Eviction
- Harassment
These are merely the most commonly charged offenses. The New
York City Administrative Code is filled with exotic ways for people to
be given a summons.
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Pink Summons Options
If you have received a Pink Summons, you have the following basic
options if your goal is simply to try to resolve the case by way of some
settlement:
- Appear yourself without a lawyer.
- Appear yourself with a lawyer.
-
Hire a lawyer to appear for you.
- Ignore the summons. (not a good idea -
see below)
NOTE: If your goal is to CONTEST the charges at
some sort of a trial, then it should be obvious that you absolutely need
a lawyer and your personal appearance will be required. Despite
the apparent lack of seriousness of some of the more common summons
accusations, you will still need a lawyer to have the highest likelihood
of success at your trial. A lawyer understands the rules of
evidence and a lawyer understands how to cross-examine witnesses.
If you do not then it would be unwise to attempt to conduct your own
trial.
Option 1 - Appear Yourself Without a Lawyer
Depending on the amount of free time you
have, what you have to lose by making an error in judgment, and your
taste for that risk, this option may be for you. Here are the pros
and cons of appearing yourself without a lawyer:
Pros:
Cons:
- Your time and aggravation. Many people do not want
to have to take time away from family or work obligations to deal
with summons cases. In some cases, the income lost by having
to appear in court could exceed the cost of hiring a lawyer.
In other cases, people may not be able to take time off from work.
Furthermore, some people just hate having to deal with the
bureaucracy of the system. Some people do not find it to be
the most pleasant and uplifting experience.
- Lingering doubts about Outcome. Even if the outcome
is fairly standard and routine to the court staff, many people who
are not intimately familiar with the court system are uncomfortable
enduring even the summons process without some legal advice.
Some people think of hiring a lawyer for a pink summons like going
to the doctor when you are pretty sure all you have is a common
cold. Some people don't need the reassurance of a doctor in
that situation, while others want to be absolutely certain and hear
it from a professional. Having a lawyer help to navigate
through the process, even if it is a relatively trivial process,
makes some people more comfortable with the ultimate outcome and
allows some people to rest assure that the matter was concluded in
the most sensible manner.
- Chance Lawyer will Identify Issue or Obtain Rare Result.
While frequently these pink summons matters do not generate
substantial legal issues, from time to time there may be some legal
defect in the summons that would permit your lawyer to obtain a
better result than you would. You can not always rely on the
judge to locate your best argument for you. If you do not hire
a lawyer, you many not obtain the best result you could have if your
case happens to be one of the cases in which there is a legal defect
you will not see.
Option 2 - Appear Yourself with a Lawyer
Pros:
- No lingering doubts about Outcome. You have a lawyer.
Everything is explained to you to your satisfaction. You
understand the significance of all the terms and you understand as
much as you care to ask your lawyer about.
- Lawyer may find some legal argument you will miss because you
are not a lawyer.
Cons:
- Out of pocket expense for lawyer.
- You still have to take off from work or interrupt your daily
schedule to appear.
Option 3 -
Hire a Lawyer to Appear for You.
Pros:
- You don't have to appear. You don't have to take
time off work. You don't have to travel back to New York City from
out of state just for a summons. You don't have to deal with
the system. This single reason is frequently the primary
reason people from out of state or out of the country choose to hire
an lawyer.
- No lingering doubts about Outcome.
- Lawyer may find legal argument to work for you that you would
not find.
Cons:
- Out of pocket expense to hire lawyer.
- A tiny minority of the judicial hearing officers who handle
summons cases are unwilling to accept appearances by lawyers, even
when we have our own original extremely thorough authorization from
the client. In our view, and in the view of most of the
judicial hearing officers, it is most certainly legal. But a
few of the judicial hearing officers hold different views.
While this is frustrating, it is the right and obligation of judges
to interpret the law as they see it.
Option 4 - Do Not Appear at All
-- BAD IDEA
This is not an option that makes any sense and is not a good idea.
Failing to appear when directed is illegal. A warrant will be
issued for your arrest. If you are arrested on a warrant, you may
then need to hire a lawyer at a considerably greater expense than you
would have to deal with your summons matter. Furthermore, being
arrested on a summons warrant is more than likely going to happen at an
extremely inconvenient time and depending on where and when, it could be
exceedingly embarrassing.
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I Want to Appear on my Own but need a different Court Date.
Can I just call the court and get a new date?
In theory the answer might be "yes". In fact, according to
former clients, the police will frequently make highly optimistic
statements about the willingness of the Court to advance cases for
people with date conflicts. There might be anecdotal evidence of
individual defendants managing to convince Courts to advance summons
cases for the convenience of the defendant, but it does not seem like a
common occurrence. For a variety of reasons, not the least of
which is the extremely busy calendars, it is not always possible to get
a case advanced and added to any given day's calendar. So if you
received a summons while on vacation and want to take care of it before
you leave New York City, it can't hurt to go down to the court and take
a crack. But do not be surprised if you are turned away.
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The Police Officer who issued me the Summons said that it would
just be dismissed and that I didn't need a lawyer.
Well, depending on your taste for risk and
your legal experience, perhaps you don't need a lawyer.
(See options above). On the other hand, I wouldn't
necessarily assume that any case was going to be dismissed for no
particular reason. Remember, the police officer isn't going to be
there when you appear the first time. When your case isn't
dismissed, you won't be able to ask him about it and he won't be there
to jump up and defend you. His job was finished when he finished
writing you your summons. The person who wrote you the summons is
not your lawyer.
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Can't I just mail in the summons with a fine?
Not usually. In some cases, when
you are charged with Drinking Alcohol in Public, the police may provide
you with a form that permits pleading guilty by mail. If you
haven't been given that form or if you are not charged with Drinking
Alcohol in Public, then you will not be permitted to resolve the matter
by mail. We have come across cases in which the police have
provided the mail-in form in error and the clerk rejected the payment by
mail. In most cases, you will not be permitted to resolve your
summons by mail.
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