I have about 5 or 6 driving with a suspended license citations along with no insurance and no registration in the past 5 years (cuz im broke). San Francisco wants over $10,000 to restore my license. Can I do a small amount of jail time and get this nonsense over with? No license isn't just a hardship, it's ruining my life.
Randall Tyson LongwithCriminal Defense AttorneySanta Ana, CA ·
Possibly. A judge has discretion to convert certian fines, not fees, to jail time. Fines are usually converted to using the following ratio: one day of jail time for every $30 of the fine. This is actually better than it seems because most of your $10,000 is not your actual fine, but penaltys and assestmens atached to your fees. It is a complicated formula but as an example a typical DUI offense would result in approximately $2000 in "fines." However, the true fines are $390 plus penalty and assessment. When you add the penalty and assessment to the $390 it totals $2000. When you convert the fines to jail you dont convert the entire $2000, but only the $390. At $30 dollars a day a typical DUI fine converts to 13 days of jail ($30 X 13 = $390). Consequently, a $10,000 "fine" would result in approximately 65 days of jail using the same formula. You need to talk to an attorney.
Peter Anthony FitzpatrickCriminal Defense AttorneySan Francisco, CA ·
Ultimately the answer to your question will depend on where in the process your cases are. If you have all ready been sentenced, and the fines were imposed as part of those sentences making them outstanding fines, then you might have to apply to do community service to work off these fines. Project 20 is the program in San Francisco that administers community service towards working off outstanding fines. If sentencing has not occurred then your attorney could try to structure a deal wherein you serve jail time for fines or fees. However, as the San Francisco courts are having to close courtrooms because of budget cuts and the Office of Judicial Administration has singled out the San Francisco trial courts as being negligent in their collection of outstanding fines getting fines waived will likely become more difficult in the future.
I would also like to add that if you can persuade a judge to give you jail time in lieu of fines, whatever jail time you get should be quick because the jail will not want to house a traffic offender. I've seen cases where a person facing a significant amount of jail time for traffic "crimes" gets released that same day. The jails are overcrowded and if a person can do the time, it generally is a viable option for the indigent. Getting around fees is difficult. Courts used to waive fees, but getting them to do it now is extremely difficult.
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