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Fighting a Traffic Ticket in Court - UPDATE: I WON!!!!!!!!!!!
Jdurg:
--- Quote from: mr.Curmudgeon on January 31, 2008, 12:50:03 pm ---Well, I just got out of my New England court this morning, fighting almost this exact same ticket...and I WON! :woot
No insurance increase for me.
As it turned out, I had a 10:15am appt, got there at 9:30 and preceded to wait until 11:30am. And it wasn't one of those deals where you get to go off into a side room to make a deal with some representative of the court. I had to walk into a court-room and speak before a Magistrate and make a case.
I was going to initially plead "guilty with explanation" and request a reduced fine (or no points), but the way they presented the case to me, they just flat-out asked me defend myself against the citation.
I about freaked, but thank goodness I've got some negotiating skills. My dad always wanted me to be a lawyer. :)
--- End quote ---
Congrats! I'm still awaiting a response from the court regarding my Not Guilty plea. Doesn't bother me if it takes this long. In the meantime, I've found out from many people that the particular officer who pulled this on me isn't well liked by his peers or the general public. In addition, he's not "new to the force" like I thought he was. He apparently came aboard last year and has been a royal PITA to many people. (One of my poker buddy's Brother-In-Law works on the force in the same town).
The thing I may have going for me is that this cop rarely shows up to court and just expects people to plead guilty and pay the fines. So I may luck out here.
mr.Curmudgeon:
I don't think the cop showing up or not matters in my area, since there were no police officers in the court-room and certainly no officer in my hearing, and the Magistrate didn't seem bothered by it at all.
shardian:
--- Quote from: mr.Curmudgeon on January 31, 2008, 01:19:21 pm ---I don't think the cop showing up or not matters in my area, since there were no police officers in the court-room and certainly no officer in my hearing, and the Magistrate didn't seem bothered by it at all.
--- End quote ---
I've never understood this "if the cop doesn't show up you get off" thing. I would surely hope that cops wouldn't have to spend a bulk of their time showing up to traffic court for every single ticket they write. That is just crazy.
Jdurg:
--- Quote from: shardian on January 31, 2008, 02:25:29 pm ---
--- Quote from: mr.Curmudgeon on January 31, 2008, 01:19:21 pm ---I don't think the cop showing up or not matters in my area, since there were no police officers in the court-room and certainly no officer in my hearing, and the Magistrate didn't seem bothered by it at all.
--- End quote ---
I've never understood this "if the cop doesn't show up you get off" thing. I would surely hope that cops wouldn't have to spend a bulk of their time showing up to traffic court for every single ticket they write. That is just crazy.
--- End quote ---
The basis of it is that if you show up and the cop doesn't, whatever you state under oath becomes the only evidence in the case and you can refute anything and everything the cop has in his "notes" and it will become valid evidence. As a result, most courts don't want to waste the time of actually having to hold the trial if the officer doesn't show up so they just rule in favor of the defendant to save themselves time.
SithMaster:
Just dont insult the judge it may negatively impact your case.
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