i recieved a criminal traffic ticket for leaving the scene of an accident. no injuries and I was not at fault. no priors, what can i expect ...

Question

i recieved a criminal traffic ticket for leaving the scene of an accident. no injuries and I was not at fault. no priors, what can i expect at court. how do I plead?

Answer

The particular citation to the law for which you are being cited is A.R.S. 28-662

It is a class 2 misdemeanor if you were "involved" in the accident and did not remain at the scene.

Your defenses are did not know or have reason to know that damage was done, was not involved or duress.

Since the purpose of the law is to prevent hit and run accidents, and no one was hurt I recommend pleading not guilty and ask to waive counsel to speak to the prosecutor. If you weren't even involved, and just witnessed the accident, you have no obligation to stop and fill out a report.

If found guilty, I doubt you would get probation time let alone jail. A steep fine would be more like it and you face the possibility of the judge ordering your driver license to be suspended or restricted.

I hope this helps.