Did you receive a citation following a crash and there’s an allegation that your driving caused a death?
You’re probably experiencing a lot of mental trauma and are wondering where to turn?Luckily, you have landed on our website, where we have handled hundreds of cases involving similar citations. This is not a criminal violation, and we understand that accidents happen every day and our job is to navigate you through this and get you the best possible result. In many instances, an accident may occur and a citation may not be issued at that specific time but sometimes a month later a law enforcement officer may mail (certified) you a citation to your house or personally serve you with a citation involving a mandatory court appearance.Most importantly, time is of the essence in gathering critical evidence in cases such as this. Evidence such as 911 calls, video surveillance and witness statements if not obtained within the first 30 days, could be erased forever. Typically, what happens when you receive a citation involving a fatality is that the clerk will code the violation in their computer system as a mandatory court appearance and therefore will not allow you to make a payment on that sort of violation because the box is checked on the citation for fatality. What you will have to do is wait for a court date to arrive in the mail if one is not printed on the front of your uniform traffic citation. In the State of Florida officers prosecute their own cases so it is up to the officer to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were the driver, that the violation was committed by you, and that there was in fact a fatality and that fatality was a result of your driving actions. The penalty for an infraction involving fatality will be rather severe as it could result in a mandatory loss of your driver’s license for a period of 6 months. Remember, the court must find that your driving conduct caused the death of another individual. In certain circumstances, causation is an issue and the fact that you were issued a citation for an infraction involving death doesn’t necessarily equal a conviction or a case that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The other penalties that you must be aware of with an infraction involving a death include a $1,000 fine, possible public service work hours in a trauma center, traffic school, as well as 4 points on your driver’s license. Regardless of whether the court withholds adjudication on an infraction involving a fatality, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will still take action to suspend your driver’s license for minimum of 6 months if the court finds that the violation was committed. If you have received a ticket in the State of Florida for an accident involving a fatality, we encourage you to call us so we can discuss the particular facts of your case to determine any possible legal defenses. In addition, we will go over the accident report and immediately start gathering any evidence that may be in your favor.
