You may be able to get out of the ticket by getting your registration and inspection taken care of. Call the court and see if they'll waive the ticket cost if you bring in your up to date registration and inspection sticker.
The inspection sticker on my car expired in April (oops!)... The dealership wanted $400 to fix the emergency brake on my car so that it would pass inspection. I live in Houston -- there are not any hills here -- so, um, NO. I figure that a ticket for the expired registration can't be more than $125 or so, so even if I get a couple of tickets I'm ahead
Of course, I need to find one of those places that is just going to give me the sticker without worrying about thinkings like emergency brakes!