pay a fine and go to court
yes, as long as you plead guilty. This is in NYS, im not 100% sure of other states
You would have to go to the court house of the area that you were first issued a summons/fine. Then have them look up your name in the computer and they would tell you depending on the charges what to do. They may let you plead guilty right there and pay the fine and go home, or you may have a court date scheduled for you where you should probably just plead guilty and pay the fine. If however, you are pulled over or I.D.ed by an officer before that and he runs your name through the system he will most likely take you to central bookings where you will sit in a cell with real criminals for about 2 days until you go see a judge. Best bet is to plead guilty and pay the fine.
Depending on the charge you can usually plead guilty and send in a fine.
In court, you must either plead guilty or not guilty to the charges against you.
plead not guilty and go to court or just pay the fine
That will depend on the violation in most cases. Usually if you plead guilty and pay the fine you don't have to go to court. For more serious crimes you may still have to see the judge.
What was the misdemeanor? Actually standing before a judge and pleading 'guilty' is not a necessity for a record. If you paid the fine you DID, in effect, plead guilty.
Guilty
In the majority of jurisdictions, when you go to court, you have the opportunity to plead your case, so you may or may not have to pay the fine listed on your ticket. If you are found guilty, you must pay whatever fine that's imposed but are usually given a certain amount of time in which to do so.
You don't plead guilty "on a traffic ticket" unless you post your fine, request a court date, and then fail to show up at the traffic court hearing.You are then automatically adjudged guilty by reason of your failing to appear to defend yourself. If you DO go to court you may plead not guilty to the offense, and the judge will grant a hearing in which you and the officer will give testimony, and then the judge will render his verdict. If you have previously pled guilty, or forfeited your fine, in court you will have to file a motion to re-open the case.
According to the DVM as of today 4/17/2007, there are no points assessed when you plead guilty and just pay the fine on a Seat Belt Ticket in California. At least that is what I was told.