Registered Member
Join Date: May 1999
Posts: 5,246
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Don't waste your time with a lawyer. Quite frankly, they are worthless in the courtroom vs traffic citations. I've seen at least 10 instances with a lawyer present for a traffic violation, not one SINGLE incident has ever been anything but guilty.
You won't see a judge at your first visit. You'll have an arraignment where you talk to a prosecutor. If you have a lawyer there, and he knows the other lawyer, he may get a little slack, but it's very very doubtful. It'll be one favor for another. (You plead guilty, they reduce it, you still get fucked)Bottom line, you wern't racing.
Here's what you want to do. Talk to the prosecutor at the arraignment. Tell him what really happend. You weren't racing, and if you were, you would have killed that crappy pile 'o Camaro. Tell him you certainly weren't over the speed limit (that ticket is very weak if it's only got that little tidbit written on it), and that just because a car fly's past you doesn't mean you were racing it. Harass the police department. Make sure you get a copy of the officers written report on the incident. He MUST have that document to refer to as the traffic citation isn't worth **** for memory. The officer should have written up the incident at the end of his shift, or soon afterwards so he could use that as a refresher when court time rolls around. Get a copy, and harass the cop shop until you do. If they don't release it to you, tell the prosecutor that you have been asking for it, name off people that you have spoken with at the police department in an effort to obtain that document, and when you called/dropped in, and that you really would like to see it. They MUST by law let you have that document. If they don't, it's withholding evidence.
My best guess is the ******* doughnut eatin, flatfooted, overweight, under brained, powertrip with a nightstick either didn't write up anything worth crap, or there will be so many holes in his document that it'll be worthless.
Memorize that thing, if it exists, and find every conceivable hole in it. Make sure you know more about the cops testimony than the cop does. If the prosecutor claims the officer said something that you know wasn't on the document, point that out to him at the arraignment. Say you have a copy of the document the officer is using, and he doens't make any references to that? How would the officer remember? He makes 20 stops a day, and it's been weeks since then. You'll blow a hole 10 miles wide in the case with that.
Here's the truth, prosecutors do NOT like to lose. They really HATE wasting their time, the judges time, and other people's time with a case that doens't hold water. Did they catch the other party? If not, they are way in **** creek. If they did, try to get to the other party first, let them know that you are going to plead not guilty, because you weren't really racing.
If you get an ******* hick prosecutor and he doesn't see it your way at all, ask for some time to consult a lawyer, and reschedule a brief meeting before the trial itself, it actually goes to trial, and the prosecutor is an *** and doesn't listen. Go ahead and see what the lawyer can do for you. I don't think it'll do you any good, but take all the odds you can get.
This post may be a little disorganized, but I've beaten the ticket you have before.
The prosecutor didn't have any info on me when I showed up for the arraignment, all he had was the citation. He literally asked "Why are you here?" I had to point it out to him on the ticket. He then told me the three possibilities for what would happen based on my story, since the cop is rarely there for the arraignment.
#1 If what you say is true, we'll be dismissing the case.
#2 If the officer that wrote you the ticket isn't the officer that actually witnessed the event, we'll be dismissing.
#3 If the officer really said that ("All I have to go on is what the other officer said he thought he saw." ticketing officer), we'll be dismissing.
#4 If I don't get some more evididence very soon, we'll be dismissing.
Anyway you look at it, we'll pretty much be dismissing.
Good luck, man.
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