Legal Question in Criminal Law in Kansas

Is the officer required to write your permenant address on the ticket when he is writing a citation? The reason I am asking is because about a year ago I received a window tent ticket and a seat belt violation when I was visiting my grandparents in another city. This is a small town so when I was pulled over the officer asked me where I was coming from because I did not have local plates. I told him my grandparents address and he wrote me a citation. But on the ticket he wrote my grandparents address and not my permenant address(the address on my license). So I went to court and I qualified for diversion and I decided to do that. They told me that they would send the agreement by mail and I will just have to sign it and send in the money. Well the agreement never came so I called for a couple of months and nobody really had any answers. well about 9 months later I get pulled over for a speeding ticket and he says that I had a suspended licenses and it was for the window tint case. So I finally get a hold of somebody and they tell me I should have known that they would send the information to the address on the ticket and not my home address. What should I do?


Asked on 4/20/10, 10:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sean Santoro Santoro Law Office

In Kansas, if a police officer writes the wrong address on a citation, it will ordinarily not be a defense to the charge. If you fail to adjudicate a citation, your license will be suspended. So the first advice I would give you is to stop driving until your license is reinstated. Secondly, you would need to adjudicate the window tint citation. Then you would need to adjudicate the speeding citation. It is unclear from your letter if you were cited for driving while suspended. If you were, do not plead guilty or you will face jail time and an additional suspension. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss your options.

Sean Santoro/Licensed in KS and MO

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Answered on 4/26/10, 7:06 am


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