Q: 18 year old son 2 speed tics ..4/2014..5/2015...supervision for both...can he get it again for 3rd speeder?
A:
Hello Asker,
No for the most part, he is not eligible by law for court supervision for a third speeding offense. The Legislature forbids court supervision for any person from receiving court supervision if they have previously been assigned court supervision in the 12 months preceding the ticket in question if they were all moving violations.
That said, there are ways to make it possible to obtain court supervision in spite of this restriction. You could bring an attorney and argue that he does not fall within the rule in that he has not received court supervision twice in the 12 months preceding the issuance date of his tickets despite having had supervision twice prior. This is an obtuse legal argument I have made in the past though in practice, most courts won't entertain it even though it can serve as a loophole for three or more supervisions within 12 months. Making this argument work requires a very literal reading of 730 ILCS 5/5-6-5(k) and is best made by an attorney.
Even though he legally isn't eligible for court supervision, some courts may grant it to him simply based upon ignorance of his driving record. Prosecutors have to pay for driving records and it is not uncommon for some counties to cheap out. If your tickets are from different geographical regions, the prosecutor MAY not have any tickets they can actually see in your background. Kane and Lake county (particularly for local/village prosecutors) tend to have these sorts of deficiencies while some counties like DeKalb and DuPage tend to be more thorough in their record searches. If you plan on taking this approach, you would do well to request supervision, shut up, and wait for them to tell you you aren't eligible. I would however voluntarily request traffic school. It will be a requirement of any sentence of supervision due to your age and asking for it may distract them from inquiring into how many prior tickets your son has.
Lastly, you may want to consider mail in conviction for $120. It will be the cheapest and most likely end result. Only difference is if you mail in, you won't have traffic school, you won't have court costs, and you know you will pay the lowest fine possible.
Hope that helps and let me know if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
Jason A. Wilkins
Attorney at Law
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