Q: How can police arrest me because I refused to sign a ticket I know I did not do.by what I read ealyer they don't need it

A: Tickets are class c misdemeanors, and an officer has the right to arrest an individual charged with a class c misdemeanor (except for speeding), take them to jail, make them appear in front of a judge, have a bond amount set, then post bond. Local jails, however aren't big enough to have everyone who is issued a citation taken into custody, so the law permits the signing of the physical ticket to act as a personal recognizance bond. If a person refuses to sign a ticket, she/he is refusing such a PR bond, so the officer can make an arrest.

A: I agree with attorney Grant St Julian III. Signing a ticket is NOT an admission of guilt, it is simply a promise to appear at court to answer the accusation. At court, you can still enter a plea of NOT GUILTY and demand a trial by jury. You don't forfeit any constitutional rights by signing the promise to appear.

There is a lot of wrong information floating around the internet about law and courts and government authority and sovereign citizens. People who spread nonsense like the earth is flat, vaccines and flouride are dangerous, and the laws don't apply to you because the yellow fringe on a flag means something... those people are not letting you in on a secret. They are just frightened little kids on the inside who are terrified by things they don't understand and the uncertainty of life. The allure of secret knowledge is powerful because it offers a sense of control. It is easier to believe something when surrounded by others who share that belief. They are spreading the "secrets" to help themselves stay in the bubble and feel better about the beliefs that help them cope with their own fears. Feel sorry for them, but don't believe them.

In reality, you have six options:

1) Spend several hundred dollars paying the ticket and accepting the conviction.

2) Show up at court and ask if they have a deferral program like defensive driving or whatever that you can take instead of accepting a conviction. The upfront cost is probably a tad higher than just paying the ticket but this can pay off in the long run with lower car insurance rates.

3) Hire a local traffic ticket attorney to basically do option #2 above for you. This is a good choice if you have a well-paying job, if you live a long way from the court, or if you have anxiety about appearing in person.

4) Hire a trial attorney to fight the charge all the way to jury trial if necessary. This is the longest and most expensive way to deal with a ticket, but sometimes it makes sense if you NEED to keep the case off your record... for example if it was ASSAULT and you work in a childcare or elder care profession.

5) Roll the dice on defending yourself. To increase your chances you'll need to invest hours in learning, and time is money. You'll need to learn which sources are reliable and which are filled with garbage about sovereign citizens.

6) Put your head in the sand, fail to appear, get a warrant, get more fines, ignore it some more, and get arrested at some future traffic stop.

I can't tell you which is the best decision for you but obviously #6 is the wrong one.