Client was home from college and was driving to get some food.  As a police officer was writing a report for another case they observed our client go through a stop sign.  Unfortunately this was not a simple "California Stop" and they went through the stop sign without slowing down because the client did not see the sign.  The police officer stopped our client and wrote them a ticket for failing to stop for a stop sign under Virginia Code §46.2-821.  This is a 4-point offense in Virginia for purposes of DMV and is considered a moving violation.

Our client was young and wanted to protect their insurance so they contacted us to handle the ticket.  We had our client take a defensive driving course and to supply us with a copy of their college transcript.  We wanted the transcript to show the Judge that our client is in college and is otherwise doing very well in school.  They also had a good driving record and was polite with the police officer.

We appeared in court for our client on their behalf since they were away at school.  We spoke to the police officer, a sergeant, about the case.  While there were concerns that our client essentially "blew through" the stop sign the officer knew our client was young and they really helped us in front of the Judge during our argument by stating how our client was a pleasure to deal with on the side of the road and that traffic was not affected.  This is why we like to speak to the police officer before going before the Judge so we can gauge how they feel about a case and, many times, change their tune about a case.  After hearing evidence the Judge agreed to reduce the charge to Failure to Pay Full Time and Attention under Fairfax County Code 82-4-24 with a fine.  This is a great result because the county code is not reported to the DMV so it doesn't go on the driving record.  This will avoid points on the DMV record and will maintain a clean driving record for our client.