What to do if I received a pink summons for public consumption 3 months ago but have since moved away from the US?
Question Details: I want to pay the fine or just settle this in some way but I cannot seem to be able to pay this online. I cannot get back to the US to appear in person. What can I do to settle this?
I am unaware of any mechanism that will allow you to pay this ticket online. You may be able to resolve this by mail by paying $25 fine. If you are unable to resolve this by mail, you will need to retain an attorney to appear on your behalf or a bench warrant will be issued for your failure to appear. If that happens, you will be detained and possibly incarcerated upon trying to re-enter the US in the future.
New York is fairly progressive in offering online payment systems for offenses like public consumption. However, they do offer options for plea bargaining and paying the ticket by mail. Here is a link to the site with instructions on how to fill out the form and where to mail your payment to: http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/criminal/specialprojects.shtml
Since you are out of the U.S., you would want to follow-up a couple of weeks after you have made the payment to insure that the court has received the payment.
A secondary option is to retain an attorney over the phone. Not all attorneys like to enter into employment options over the phone, but a few will. You could retain one for the purpose of completing, filing, and paying the fine for you to insure that the paperwork is properly delivered.
