<human>: Can you condense the text into a few key points?

Hello,

I received a 33.1-56.3C CIVIL VIOLATION - HOT LANES VIOL 1ST on January 31, 2014. My court date is Monday morning. The whole violation was a complete accident and I am wondering if I have a way to prove it.

So on the major road in the DC area, there is an expressway that you pay between $1.00 and $3.00 per way to use if you are alone or it is free if you have 3 people. It has surge pricing like Uber. You have an ezpass that has a switch between paid and free due to this. At some point my ezpass became about an inch into the free zone which I did not realize. I was on my way to work and a cop pulls me over. I ran through my head about all the things and I wasn't speeding.. etc. So I take a look at the ezpass and see the problem. When he walks up, I apologize profusely and explain I looked at the ezpass because it was the only thing I could be in violation for. Well he rolls his eyes and takes my info. He comes back with a ticket and I am on my way. I notice I do have a charge from the road that morning for $1.35 at 9:39AM.

So, what I am asking is, do I have to be of guilty mind to have committed the violation? Does it matter that there was a paid fee that morning? Or do you think I may get any leniency from the judge? I know you can't really predict the future but I was hoping to get some sense of my standing. He said I could pre-pay it but it is not giving me that option online and I would prefer to go to court anyway.
<bot>: Received HOT lane violation in VA due to inadvertent equipment failure, payment was charged to ezpass. is there any defense or do I just pay the man?