Government

You can enter a Not Guilty plea to explore settlement options with the City Attorney or proceed to trial. Choose from the following convenient ways to submit your plea:

Enter “Not Guilty” Plea On-Line: Click on the link below to enter your plea via the provided webform here.

Enter “Not Guilty” Plea by Mail: “Not guilty”: pleas can be mailed to the Clerk of Court for the City of Racine Municipal Court, 800 Center Street, Racine Wisconsin 53403.

Enter “Not Guilty” Plea In Person: Your Not Guilty can be entered in person at the first appearance in court.

Your citation (ticket) lists the date and time of your First Appearance. Your ticket is not the only ticket that will be heard on that date and time. Please note that multiple cases are scheduled in batches throughout the morning. When you arrive, you will need to sign in. Cases are generally heard in the order of sign-in. While the Court runs efficiently, please allow up to two hours for your visit.

What Happens at Your First Appearance? You’ll let the Court know how you’d like to proceed by entering one of three pleas:

• Not Guilty – You’re challenging the charge. You’ll be scheduled to meet with the City Attorney on a different date to try to resolve the case. If no agreement is reached, a trial will be scheduled.
• Guilty – You accept responsibility, and the Court will issue a sentence, usually a forfeiture (fine).
• No Contest – You’re not admitting guilt but won’t dispute the charge. A sentence will be imposed without a trial.

Need to Reschedule? If you can’t make your scheduled date, just call the clerk at (262) 636-9263 before your court date to request a new one.

Want to Skip the Appearance? Municipal Court is not mandatory. You can either pay your ticket or enter a Not Guilty plea in advance.

If you’ve received a traffic citation and want to request a reduction in points, you can speak with the City Attorney during your pretrial meeting or ask the Court at your First Appearance.

Your case will be reviewed based on all relevant details—including your explanation, the police report, and your driving record (especially the past 12 months). Submitting a written Not Guilty plea and discussing the matter at pretrial may result in a shorter wait time.

Keep in mind: If a point reduction is granted, the financial penalty may increase to ensure a fair resolution.

If you are within two weeks after a missed First Appearance, simply call the clerk at 262-636-9263 and she will give you a time to come in.

If it has been more than two weeks, you will have to ask to reopen a default conviction. To bring a Motion to Reopen a Judgment that has already been entered, you must follow this procedure:

1. Call the Clerk (262-636-9263) or write a letter to the court briefly explaining what you want to reopen and why. The court’s address is 800 Center Street – Room 115, Racine, WI 53403. You can also contact the clerk online via the following web form.
2. We will send you a hearing date.
3. Be aware that the Court can order you to pay costs for reopening the case, depending upon the circumstances.

The Pre-trial meeting is a relatively brief meeting held in the courtroom. You should bring along any evidence you want the City Attorney to consider, but this conference is not a trial. The judge will not be present.

The City Attorney is the prosecutor in municipal court. They are the people assigned to bring the case against you. At a Pre-trial meeting, you will meet with a representative of the City Attorney’s office. If you can come to an agreement with the City Attorney on what should happen in your case, you can probably work the case out right there. If, however, you are not satisfied with the offer of the city attorney, you will have the option of setting your case for a trial in front of the judge.

A trial is a formal hearing where both sides present evidence to a judge, who decides the facts and applies the law to determine if the City has proven its case against the defendant.

What Must Be Proven at a trial depends upon what the charge is. Each charge includes specific legal elements. The City must prove every element to establish guilt. The defendant does not have to prove innocence.

Evidence is shared through witness testimony. Witnesses must answer questions truthfully under oath. Both the City and the defendant can call witnesses. If a witness won’t attend voluntarily, a subpoena can be used to require their presence. Each side is responsible for ensuring their witnesses appear.

When a witness takes the stand, the side calling the witness asks the witness questions (“direct examination”). Then the other side gets to question that witness (this is “cross-examination.”)

The City goes first in calling witnesses. When they are done with their case, they “rest.” Then the defendant may call witnesses if he or she wishes, although the defendant is not required to call witnesses.

The Rules of Evidence apply at Municipal Court trials. This is a protection designed to make sure that only reliable information is considered.

The City will be represented by an attorney. The defendant is free to be represented by an attorney but is not required to be. Since this is not a criminal charge, the Court does not provide free legal counsel.

Each case is different, so you cannot be sure what the court will find appropriate in any one case. Generally, time to pay a money penalty (a “forfeiture”) is given from 30 to 90 days. Someone who has made a good faith effort to pay but fallen short can typically get a reasonable extension or other accommodation by coming back to court and asking.

IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN TO COURT : If you don’t pay before your first court date and you don’t come to court, we will wait about two weeks and then enter a plea of “no contest” for you and find you guilty. You’ll have 90 days from the citation date to pay the penalty listed on your citation. If payment isn’t received on time, the court may assign a consequence—usually a license suspension or, for adults, possible jail time. A notice of forfeiture will be mailed to you.

IF YOU COME TO COURT : If you attend court and are convicted either on a plea or at a trial, the court will impose a money penalty (forfeiture) and will give you time to pay the forfeiture. Either a deadline for payment of the entire amount will be set or a payment plan will be set. If payment isn’t made on time, consequences may apply, which is typically jail time for an adult but sometimes a suspension of driving privilege. You will also be given a date to come back to deal with any payment issues.

Sometimes it turns out that a ticket has consequences you did not expect when you plead to it or paid it. Typically this happens in the case of your driving privilege. Thus you may have to reopen a conviction that you voluntarily caused or accepted. (If you are seeking to reopen a conviction that resulted from a missed court date, click on the FAQ above.)

To bring a Motion to Reopen a Judgment that was entered, you must follow this procedure:

1. Call the Clerk (262-636-9263) or write a letter to the court briefly explaining what you want to reopen and why.
2. Make sure that the underlying forfeiture is paid.
3. We will give you a hearing date.
4. Be aware that the court will normally impose “terms” for reopening, depending upon the circumstances. Expect it to be $50, payable in money order form.

WHY? If your license is suspended for NON PAYMENT OF A FINE/FORFEITURE: The simple thing to do is pay your fine or forfeiture. You can do this at the police department counter. Your driving privilege can be reinstated in 24 to 48 business hours after the court electronically lifts the suspension through the DMV and a $60 reinstatement fee is paid to the DMV.

If your license is suspended because a CONVICTION resulted in too many points or a suspension order: If you did not appear in court and were found guilty of the offenses by default (upon non-appearance), then follow the procedures under I Need to REOPEN a Ticket.

Arrest orders from the Municipal Court are called Commitments. Basically, the only reason the Municipal Court will have issued a commitment is if you did not pay a forfeiture within the time given.

If you simply pay the forfeiture, the commitment will be canceled. It can be paid at the counter of the Racine Police Department. If you cannot afford to pay, you can simply call the clerk’s office and ask to come before the court. While you are waiting for the court date, the commitment remains outstanding and you continue to be in danger of being arrested.

When you come before the court, it would be a good idea to be prepared to pay much of what you owe right away. You should also be prepared to explain (1) how much you can afford to pay in monthly installments or (2) how long it will be for you to pay the balance due in a lump sum. The judge may also ask you to explain why you didn’t take care of seeking an extension before it got this far.

If you do not want to contest your citation (ticket) or attend your initial court date, you may simply pay the amount on the citation prior to the scheduled court date.

Pay On-Line: Click on the link below to pay. (Only Parking Tickets are available to pay online at this time.)

Online Payment – Click Here to search for parking tickets by your plate number.

Pay by Mail: At this time, the City of Racine Police Department processes payments for the Municipal Court. Please mail payments to:

City of Racine Police Department

730 Center Street

Racine, Wisconsin 53403.

If you are paying by check, make sure to write the number of the ticket in the memo section on the check, to be sure that it is properly credited to your account. Checks should be made payable to the “City of Racine.”

Pay in Person: You can also visit the counter at the Police Department to pay a citation in person. If you are paying in person, you may pay by credit card, debit card, check, cash or money order.