61st District Court
Online Case Review

About 61st District Court Online Case Review

November 1, 2017

The 61st District Court of Grand Rapids is pleased to offer both an online traffic ticket review program as well as an online warrant intervention program.

Online Traffic Ticket Reviews

The online traffic review process allows you to request a review of your traffic ticket online at your convenience. Shortly after you log in and submit certain information, we will evaluate your eligibility. It depends on your driving record and other criteria set by the City Attorney and the Court. Just enter your ticket information and do a search to find the eligibility criteria. If you are eligible, submit a request. Whether your request is approved is entirely up to the court and law enforcement. Once you are deemed eligible to participate, you can sign up to receive emails and text messages with the status of your review as well as the outcome.

It's no different than requesting a hearing and appearing in court other than the fact it's much more convenient. A police officer and Magistrate will review your citation and make a decision about your case based on the same criteria they would if you went to court. It just takes place through this website. Everyone makes mistakes. If you have a good driving record, the Magistrate and police officer may be willing to give you a lesser charge that does not add points to your license. The court will send an email or text as well as update the message on your status page when you come back to the website. Full payment is due within 10 days.

Online Warrant Intervention

The goal of this program is to alert citizens who have failed to appear for a show cause hearing that they're in danger of having a bench warrant for their arrest issued.

Depending on the situation, defendants may be reluctant to voluntarily appear at court due to potentially having a bench warrant for their arrest or simply feeling overwhelmed by legal procedures and processes. Court Innovations offers a method to initiate contact with the court for those defendants who have missed a court date and are apprehensive about appearing before a judge.

When a defendant fails to appear for a court hearing, a bench warrant is normally issued for that person's arrest. Instead of an immediately issued warrant after a failure to appear (FTA), a postcard may be sent to the defendant with a website address. The defendant can then visit the website and answer a few questions regarding the FTA as well as update contact information. Court personnel then review responses to determine if sufficient explanations exist for missing the court appearance. If appropriate, the court will reschedule the hearing and afford the defendant another opportunity to appear. For those defendants who visit the website, it shows initiative to communicate with the court, allows them to do so without fear of repercussion, and may eliminate a possible arrest.

Gary P. Secor
61st District Court Administrator