Q: I received a citation in the mail on 11/30/23..the case was filed on 11/29/23. Incident occurred on 7/24/23 per ticket
The citation says that inpedt the scene of an accident. Is this even legal first of all? 5 months later? 2nd, I can 100% prove it wasn't me. I can't afford the $450 fine and it's been a month already. I'm afraid my license will be suspended when I didn't to this. There is no way, if my car was involved that it did damage because there was nothing wrong with the car. I have no clue where my ex is and he had the car that day. What can I do? I don't even know what was hit.
A:
If the incident occurred on 7/24/23 and the citation was not filed until 11/29/23, you *may* have a statutory defense. 42 Pa.C.S. 5553(a) requires summary offenses under the vehicle code (Title 75) to be filed within thirty days of the offense. However, there are two exceptions which may be relevant to your situation. If the identity of an individual alleged to have committed a traffic offense is unknown at the time of its commission, police can file the citation after 30 days has expired, so long as its filed within 30 days of the discovery of the individual's identity - which could be relevant is this is alleged to be a hit and run. Additionally, summary offenses can be filed within 1 year of the alleged incident date if the offense involved an accident resulting in any bodily injury or death. So you don't know what is alleged to have happened, it is possible there was some bodily injury, which is pretty common even with minor accidents.
What you absolutely should NOT do is ignore the tickets, and contact the court to see what you have to do to enter a not guilty plea - if you have not done so already. Then you may want to consider contacting an attorney who practices in the area where your tickets were filed - most attorneys offer free consultations. Good luck.
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