You should indicate in your written plea that you wish to enter a Plea of either; Not Guilty, Guilty or No Contest.

If you plead Not Guilty, that will not be held against you in any way. We will schedule your case for a pretrial with the Village Attorney to see if you can resolve the matter. Should the case not be resolved after pretrial, we’ll set it for a trial.

If you plead Guilty or No Contest, the Judge will review the facts of your case, find you guilty and impose an appropriate penalty. On a plea of guilty or NO Contest, you are giving up your right to a trial, your right to a subpoena witnesses to testify at that trial, as well as your own right to testify, or not.  A plea of No Contest is similar to a guilty plea, but a conviction from a No Contest plea can’t be used against you in a civil action, such as maybe involved if the citation arose from a traffic accident.

In your written plea you may also include a brief statement indicating any mitigating circumstances, you would like the Judge to consider. You are not, however, required to include anything beyond your plea of Not Guilty, Guilty or No Contest.

People facing traffic offenses should understand that you will be assessed demerit points on your driving record upon conviction of most traffic offenses.  If you accumulate more than 12 points in any one year period, you will lose your license to drive in Wisconsin for a certain period of time.

If the Court imposes a forfeiture, you will have 60 days to pay.  If you are unable to pay or can show that you are on some form of public assistance, please contact the Black Creek Bear Creek, Nichols Joint Court and we can set up a payment plan or grant more time for you.  If you comply with the plan, your license will not be suspended and you will not risk possible incarceration or other further penalty.