Violations and Citations
Violations include citations for traffic, fish and game, and state park violations.
Please review your citation for your appearance date and time. You need to decide what you are going to plea and how you are going to submit your plea to the court. Your plea must be submitted to the court before the appearance date and time on your citation. Failure to do so will be considered a Failure To Appear and will result in a default judgment entered against you.
Plea Options and Filing Instructions
What it means
This is the same as pleading guilty. The plea will be taken by the Court Clerk and you will not go before a judge. The Court Clerk will assess the fine that you will pay when your plea is entered. A judgement will be entered against you that indicates the options you have to pay the fine. A copy of the judgement will be sent to you.
How to do it
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Pay the fine online. Violations can be paid online using the
OJD Courts ePay system. Paying online automatically assigns a plea of no contest to your case and no further action is needed.
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Submit a no contest plea in person. Come to the court and speak to a clerk at the cashier windows. They can take your plea and assess your fine at the window.
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Submit a no contest plea in writing. Fill out and mail in the copy of the citation that was given to you by the officer. Select one of the options for "No Contest". Mail these to:
Lane County Circuit Court
125 E 8th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
What it means
If you plead not guilty, the case will be set for trial and the judge will decide the outcome based on the evidence presented in the trial. You will receive notice of the trial date in the mail. At the trial you may present evidence and call witnesses. You have a choice of two different kinds of trials:
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Standard trial: You will come before the court and have a trial before the judge with the police officer present. Be prepared to present your case at the time listed on your trial notice. You should check in at the Information Window, located on the second floor of the courthouse and a clerk will direct you to the correct courtroom. You do not have to testify if you do not want to. If you choose not to testify, the judge will not hold that against you and will base his or her decision on the evidence that is presented. If you fail to appear for trial after a plea of not guilty, the court will take testimony from the officer and make a ruling from the evidence presented.
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Trial by Declaration (aka trial by affidavit): The court will provide you with a
Notice and Waiver Regarding Trial By Declaration and a
Declaration Form. The completed forms must be returned to the court 10 days prior to your trial date. Once the court receives the completed forms a declaration will be sent to the officer. When the court receives both declarations, a judge will review them and make a decision. You can choose not to submit a declaration, however, the court will consider the officers declaration in reaching a decision.
How to do it
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Submit a not guilty plea in person. Come to the court and speak to a clerk at the cashier windows. They can take your plea and will flag your case to be set for trial. You will need to provide a mailing address to the court at this time and keep this address up-to-date until the trial is completed. You will receive notice of the trial date and time in the mail.
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Submit a not guilty plea in writing. Fill out and mail in the copy of the citation that was given to you by the officer. Select the option for "Not Guilty". Mail these to:
Lane County Circuit Court
125 E 8th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
Failure To Appear
If you do not appear on or before your first appearance date the clerk will enter a default judgment. The entire presumptive fine will be charged along with any additional fees or assessments.