Milwaukee Municipal Court now offering online not guilty pleas

Milwaukee court officials are trying to make it easier for people to fight traffic tickets in court, by allowing people to plead their case online, and also select a preferred pre-trial hearing date. In the past, defendants who wanted to plead not guilty in municipal court had to go to court themselves, or send their plea by mail. Many people ended up just paying the ticket, because they didn't have time to fight the case, but now, officials are trying to make the process more convenient.

"We hope this will make it easier for them to fit it into their schedule, and will reduce the number of people who contact us saying, 'the date you gave me is the date I am going to be on vacation,' or, 'I can never come on Thursdays,'" Milwaukee Chief Court Administrator Kristine Hinrichs said.

Hinrichs says there was a need for the change, and that the idea for online pleading came about five years ago. Hinrichs says the new system goes along with the fact that the municipal court is a tech-savvy court, as they've had an electronic case management system for several years. In addition to being able to plead online, the municipal court's website is now optimized for mobile devices as well.