Q: In illinois,have you ever heard of getting pulled over then given a court summons to appear in court to prove that I
renewed. Plates expired 3/31/15, pulled over 3/10. Now I have to miss work to go prove something that was not illegal?
A:
I have heard of this though it usually happens with officers writing insurance related tickets because the driver failed to produce documentation of the policy soon enough and excuses like, "I've already started to write the ticket" become commonplace.
As for taking care of your court date, you could optionally pay an attorney a nominal fee (less than what you would make going in to work) so you can prevent taking up your vacation time or save money (if you make $200/day, you may optionally pay an attorney $100-150 to appear and get the matter dismissed preventing you from running afoul by needing to take time off work). This can in effect save you money or vacation time at little cost to you.
I would however recommend calling the secretary of state and asking them if you are validly registered and if there was a computer error that led to you being seen as invalid by the officer. I would also, before the court date, renew your registration as scheduled and appear with that in hand as well as your proof of registration on the day of the offense. This should cause the prosecutor to dismiss the case against you.
Hope that helps and I'm sorry for the trouble this officer caused
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