Determine Where You Got Your MS Traffic Ticket

Mississippi tickets are handled by municipal and county courts. With this in mind, determine where you were ticketed. If you don't know the precise location, pinpoint the county. This will serve as your starting point. If you were ticketed by a Mississippi sheriff or a MS highway patrol officer your ticket will have been forwarded to a county court. If you were ticketed by a city police officer, your ticket will have been filed with the city's municipal court.

Thus, for example, if you think you were ticketed in or around Biloxi, but are unsure of the citing law enforcement agency, first try calling Biloxi's municipal court. If the court has no record of your citation, call Harrison county's justice court.

Wait at least 10 days from the date of your citation before calling. It may take several days for the court to enter your citation into its database.

Determine How You Will Plead

After obtaining your ticket information from the court, decide on how to plea. You will have three options:

• Guilty
• No contest
• Not guilty

If you decide to plead not guilty, you must do so in person before the court on your citation's appearance date. Be sure to enter your plea before your appearance date expires (usually you will have 30 days, starting from the citation date). Failing to respond could cause the suspension of your Mississippi driver's license and a warrant for your arrest.