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shall is mandatory, may is permissible as you well know.
Shoonra,
The courts at least in California have held that the citation MAY be used as a complaint if, at the time of arraignment the Defendant does not request that a verified complaint be filed by the prosecution. I respectfully direct you to California Penal Code ¥¥ 740, 853.9(b), 949, and Vehicle Code ¥ 40513(b).
I have been to traffic court many, many times and have had successes based upon simple principles in respect to the above-referenced law. I did get smashed pretty hard the first couple of times, simply due to inexperience. However, I pity the prosecutor, judge, or officers in any traffic case should I have the unfortunate experience of receiving an invitation to traffic court nowadays.
My determination regarding traffic court is that even if you win the case, you still loose if you consider your time spent, fuel, lunch and the like. But again, traffic court is a low stakes venue where one can learn some fundamentals regarding court procedure.
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NOTICE & CAVEAT: This post is provided "AS IS" and without warranties of any kind either expressed or implied and is not to be construed as legal advice in any capacity whatsoever.
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