hit-and-run traffic violation

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delmarca

Registered Users (C)
I had a hit-and-run traffic violation(this is a criminal traffic violation right?) in Jan 1996 that needed me to go to court and did a no contest/plea bargain and paid the fine.

Now I want to apply for citizen and having read all the information on the forum decided that I need to get the court certified copies of the case.

Since this has been more than 5 years the court says that they do not have any copies becuase they only keep open cases. This is in Arizona.
They even sent me a letter saying they do not have any records for this individual.

So what are my options?

1. I know I need to put all of this in the application. I will Should I also include a copy of the above letter that Arizona Court has sent me.

2. Should I go to arizona MVD (motor vehicles department)?

3. I presently stay in california? Can I got to my DMV an ask for record?

4. Do I need to get a laywer?

5. Since it has been almost 10 years and have letter, Is that enough info?

thanks.
 
delmarca said:
I had a hit-and-run traffic violation(this is a criminal traffic violation right?) in Jan 1996 that needed me to go to court and did a no contest/plea bargain and paid the fine.

Now I want to apply for citizen and having read all the information on the forum decided that I need to get the court certified copies of the case.

Since this has been more than 5 years the court says that they do not have any copies becuase they only keep open cases. This is in Arizona.
They even sent me a letter saying they do not have any records for this individual.

So what are my options?

1. I know I need to put all of this in the application. I will Should I also include a copy of the above letter that Arizona Court has sent me.

2. Should I go to arizona MVD (motor vehicles department)?

3. I presently stay in california? Can I got to my DMV an ask for record?

4. Do I need to get a laywer?

5. Since it has been almost 10 years and have letter, Is that enough info?

thanks.
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you can go to CA DMV to require a personal driving record. i think it is only $5. i got a copy of my driving record.
you should get a copy of AZ MVD and see what it stays under your previous AZ driver license.

you might want to talk to a good immigration lawyer who knows about about how hit-n-run would affect your application thou.

do you even keep any records from the court about what happened in 1996 onyour case? hit-n-run is a serious offense thou (at least from what i *think*)

are there any laws in AZ that court would not keep your court paper work after x number of years? it is hard to belive if someone has a criminal offense and court does not keep the record at all (regardless how long ago the incident happened)
 
Were you arrested and fingerprinted along with your Hit and Run? Was a warrant issued against you? Was there property damage or personal injury?
Also you can check with the clerk in the county you leaved in Arizona when you got the hit and run to see if there is any criminal record against you.

I think it is very important to first understand whethere you have a criminal record which never goes away or just a civil fine from the dmv which usually disappears after some years.
The dmv doesn't track criminal records I am not sure about the court system.

If there is any criminal record or you were ever arrested/fingerprinted the FBI will pick it up in the background check and you'll have hard time explaining during your interview why you didn't report it.
On the other hand if it's just a civil matter you may want to check the exact civil code infraction you violated and mention it.
I think you should seek the advice of a lawyer b/c when people hear hit&run they think it's very serious matter and so will the interviewer. There me be a way to mention it in a way that won't seem so bad.
 
ocworker said:
are there any laws in AZ that court would not keep your court paper work after x number of years? it is hard to belive if someone has a criminal offense and court does not keep the record at all (regardless how long ago the incident happened)
Click to expand...

I will get the DMV copies.

The letter sense by the Tempe Court (Arizona) was that Pursuant to the Rule 29, Rule of the Supreme Courts any CLOSED court cases are destroyed/purged from the system after 5 years.
 
gcardo said:
Were you arrested and fingerprinted along with your Hit and Run? Was a warrant issued against you? Was there property damage or personal injury?
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No Never was arrested. No warrant. Police called me and they came home to see the damage on the car. They said I need to go to the court on a particular date. I went there and judge asked me and I said I did the accident. He said they you can pay the fine about $300. That's it.

gcardo said:
If there is any criminal record or you were ever arrested/fingerprinted the FBI will pick it up in the background check and you'll have hard time explaining during your interview why you didn't report it.
On the other hand if it's just a civil matter you may want to check the exact civil code infraction you violated and mention it.
I think you should seek the advice of a lawyer b/c when people hear hit&run they think it's very serious matter and so will the interviewer. There me be a way to mention it in a way that won't seem so bad.
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That's why I asked the court and they said they have no records. I guess I need to ask a lawyer.
 
In that case since you were never arrested fingerprinted etc... the fbi will not find out about the ticket. However not mentioning it can also cause a problem although very remotely.

If I were you I wouldn't just put in hit & run b/c it has a bad connotation of bad moral character. The interviewer might think you hit someone and ran away which I understand is not what happened.

I think you should find the exact code under which you were charged (for example failure tor report propery damage). This may not look as bad as putting hit & run. Also you need to make sure INS really understand this is a minor civil infraction and not some criminal hit & run where a bunch of people were killed and you were drunk for example (god forbid).

Just do anything you can so that the INS officer doesn't freak out about this issue.
 
gcardo said:
I think you should find the exact code under which you were charged (for example failure tor report propery damage). This may not look as bad as putting hit & run. Also you need to make sure INS really understand this is a minor civil infraction and not some criminal hit & run where a bunch of people were killed and you were drunk for example (god forbid).

Just do anything you can so that the INS officer doesn't freak out about this issue.
Click to expand...


The main problem is that the Arizona courts do not have anything in their systems or archives (they sent me a letter saying there is not record of this invididual with DOB, SSN - and all closed records are purged after 5 years).
So I do not know how to get a code?

I called the Arizona Police and they also do not have the records.

I will put it in the application, but I do not have the records to prove that I satisfied the case.

What I am worried is that I have no way of proving that even though this is a "hit-and-run", I am not of bad moral character since there were no other interactions with the law before that and since then.

any suggestions?
 
I would suggest you put it in as cited for failure to report an accident with NO bodily injury. In the interview explain exactly what happened and that no one was hurt and it was a civil matter. They cited you because you didn't make a police report of the accident which you didn't know you had to do.
also bring the court record showing they have discarded the information and both your dmv records to show your record is clean. This explanation with the fact that it happened 10 years ago should be OK. However, you can never know with the INS like that guy who first was rejected for a fishing license violation. He did get it later. It all depends on the DO and specific officer you get.

On the other hand some people never report traffic tickets in their N-400 and many interviewers don't even care about them. You can also do that and if they do ask, you can say you got a traffic ticket in 1996 and didn't know you had to report it and then show that they no longer have a record of it and your two clean dmv records.
 
Got the California DMV Record and it had a violations from Arizona (Violation was Dated 11/13/95 and Court date was 1/22/96) and violation sec was 19 ( that means Hit and Run - Out of state - 2 points on the license).

Other than this, there was nothing else on the record.

Will ask for the Arizona MVD record also.

This is what I will do. Please let me know if there is anything wrong.

1.(Q16) I will answer YES to Have ever been cited by law enforcement officer
2.(Q17)I will answer YES to charged with commiting any crime or offense
3.(Q18) I will answer YES to ever been convited.
4. Put a note saying "All traffic violations -- NO DUI"
5. Attach a seperate paper explaining the situation.
6. Send the DMV copies for CA/AZ.
7. Send copies of the documents that the court sent me.
(saying all satisfied/closed cases are purged from the system. and this
individual doesn't show up in our records.)
 
I myself had 4 traffic tickets (mostly speeding) during the last 10 years.
I answered "yes" to question 16 and "no" to all the other questions (15, 17 etc...). and also listed my tickets.
Traffic tickets are not crimes. I don't even think they are considered offences (they are infractions).
However, they are citations this is why question 16 is different and needs to be answered "yes".
With civil citation such as traffic tickets they want to make sure you paid them. The other criminal questions it's a all different problem.
 
Figure out first if your offence was Criminal or Civil etc. IMO Hit and Run is atleast a misdemeanor. Check your state law.

If you have no records of the incident (past 5 years) get an official copy of the such and produce @ interview time.

Do you need a lawyer? Well if you can afford one ($1000 approx) then yes. If not, then prepare best you can. Visit any AILA member lawyer for an initial consultation (100 bucks or so) atleast
 
delmarca:
mostly agree with all the suggestion given by gcardo. I had traffic ticket and I answered only q 16 YES and explained it in a note. If you have the receipt of $300 fine that you paid that would help to show the interview officer if needed.
Also if you can afford Lawyer , as Rahul mentioned, than that would ne good since either they or their assistant accompany you to interview to help answer technical issue.
Good Luck!!!!
 
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