Tulsa Municipal Court Is Cracking Down on Aggravated Speeding
Video Transcribed: Jail time for speeding in Oklahoma? I’m an attorney in Tulsa, James Wirth and we’re talking about how most people are surprised to learn that Oklahoma law does provide for the possibility of jail time just for a speeding ticket. And the reason I’m bringing this video up now is that in Tulsa Municipal Court they’re cracking down on aggravated speeding and actually the standard recommendation from the prosecution now on an aggravated speeding case is jail time. We’re getting a lot of calls on that. Let’s go on what is the range of punishment for speeding?
First off, we’re looking at the state statute. And the state statute lists the range of punishment for a first offense, speeding is a $500 fine or up to 10 days in prison. If it’s a second offense within one year, then it goes up to a maximum of 20 days imprisonment. And if it’s a third offense within one year of the first ones, all three within one year time period, then it goes up to a possibility of six months in jail. But we’re not seeing a lot of prosecutors try to get jail time in the county court where they’re using state law, where we’re seeing it, where we’re getting a lot of calls, is actually for people that are prosecuted for speeding in Tulsa Municipal Court. Let me pull up the code on that.
And that’s Title 37 Section 617 related to speeding under the Tulsa Municipal Code, and it divides it up into regular speeding and aggravated speeding. And aggravated speeding is where we’re seeing the problem. And it provides that aggravated speeding is speeding greater than 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. If you’re over 20 over the speed limit, then the officer can prosecute that or write that in and suggest prosecution of aggravated speeding.
And then for that, it includes the possibility of up to $500 fine, and, or up to 10 days in jail. That range of punishment, very similar to the state law, but what we’re seeing is that the prosecutors are wanting that jail time in the municipal court. We’re getting regular calls and we’re handling actually a lot of cases where somebody goes to court on an aggravated speeding ticket.
And when they show up, the judge tells them, they’re going to need an attorney because there’s a potential jail time. Or they try to talk to the prosecutor and the prosecutor says, “You’re going to have to do some jail time on this”. Sometimes there’s requesting a couple of days, sometimes a little bit more, but they’re wanting at least some jail time on all of these.
We’re getting pulled into a lot of cases, but you’ve got to remember from a defense perspective, it’s not all about what the prosecutor wants. We work with prosecutors all the time, try to work out deals, provide mitigation, make arguments on why our clients deserve a better deal. But also we have other options. We have the option of doing a blind plea to the judge or putting on a trial and forcing the city to prove their case. And through that, we’ve been able to get deals worked out for our clients.
But just want to let you know that, yes, in the state of Oklahoma, a speeding ticket does have jail time within the range of punishment. And yes, now we are even seeing prosecutors who want jail time if it’s excessive speeding, over 20 miles over the speed limit and it’s aggravated speeding in Tulsa Municipal Court. If you’re facing those circumstances, and you need to speak with a Tulsa Traffic Ticket attorney, you’re going to want a confidential consultation with an attorney in Oklahoma. To get that scheduled, you can go to MakeLawEasy.com.
