Ah Yes, the Outcome...

My day in court ended in a fine show of the California Judicial system.  The judge called up groups of five and in my group of five I was called upon third.  The first two in front of me were appearing for some fairly serious fines and were not very respectful of the judge.  I grinned a little inside, knowing that my infraction was not as bad as driving without insurance or running a red light, and the fact that I said "your honor" and was very polite, if I do say so myself.  I asked the judge if there was a way that I could plead not guilty, but not have to pay the fine since it was more than I could afford.  The way it works is, you pay the fine when you plead not guilty then when it goes to court if you win the case you are refunded the fine.  The judge smiled at me and said, "if you plead guilty I'll waive the fine."  Before he could finish his sentence I sang like a bird.  "Guilty as charged your honor," came out of my mouth so quick I surprised myself.  Sometimes things work out well.  Now if I can find out how to get out of my $60 parking ticket, hmmm...