Today’s Court Watch is for cases filed during the week of October 30, 2023. There were no cases for the week of October 23, so there is no court watch for last week. This week, there were a total of 56 cases. They continued 4 cases. Defendants failed to appear in 50 cases, a rate of 89%. Guilty pleas were entered in 2 cases, with fines totaling $200.
There were 19 tickets for no insurance, 6 for revoked or suspended licenses, 5 for no license, 13 for plates and registration, and 8 speeding tickets. There was also one guilty plea to a $141 parking ticket, which was originally a ticket for driving 50 mph on West Florissant at Ferguson Avenue.
Our “FTA Superstar” for this session is Travon Bledsoe. Mr. Bledsoe, who will turn 30 this year, has failed to appear in 24 cases over the past three years. He has been charged with multiple counts of driving while suspended or revoked, no insurance, and expired registration. He did appear in two cases, both from the city of St. Charles. But he didn’t appear voluntarily. In July 2022, he was ticketed for driving while suspended. He failed to appear in November 2022, a warrant was issued, and they arrested him on February 17, 2023. He was given a court date for February 23, and again failed to appear. Another warrant was issued, and he was arrested on June 13. He was then given a court date of June 22, for which he did not appear. Another warrant was issued, and he was arrested again on December 21. His next court date on this offense is January 25. He was also cited again on February 11, 2023, for the same offense, and has failed to appear on that charge as well. Ferguson cited him on October 20, for driving while revoked or suspended, no insurance, and no registration. He failed to appear for his court date on December 5, and is scheduled for a show cause hearing on February 19, 2024.