Got pulled over need suggestion
08-13-2012, 07:47 PM
#21
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Professor Touge Emeritus
Posts: 8,570
Likes: 0
Received 9 Likes
on
8 Posts
I agree. No contest basically means you are admitting guilt. Its not the same technically but it's close enough for a judge to see it that way. I know this because I've been in a situation like that before.
08-13-2012, 07:50 PM
#22
I'm hoping things go my way. The nice thing is LEO's don't get paid to do the paperwork involved with a trail by declaration. However they do get paid to go to court.
08-13-2012, 09:20 PM
#24
Originally Posted by mr5parkle' timestamp='1344883244' post='21933662
file for trial by written declaration and just write "no contest" on it.
your chances of winning written declarations are usually slim b/c i firmly believe the "judge" reading the declarations has a giant stamp next to them that just says "guilty." no point in wasting time defending yourself even if you have a legitimate defense.
if you don't win, do trial de novo and hope you have a solid defense, cop doesn't show up, or you don't contest and take the punishment with hopes of traffic school and/or reduced fine. of course, a lawyer would help too.
your chances of winning written declarations are usually slim b/c i firmly believe the "judge" reading the declarations has a giant stamp next to them that just says "guilty." no point in wasting time defending yourself even if you have a legitimate defense.
if you don't win, do trial de novo and hope you have a solid defense, cop doesn't show up, or you don't contest and take the punishment with hopes of traffic school and/or reduced fine. of course, a lawyer would help too.
This is showing that your certain you are innocent but if by chance get found guilty you still have the possibilty to have the point removed from your record. Risky? Yes, but with the right documentation to back up your statement they will pay much more attention to what you have to say since you are putting more on the line.
"No contest" is always looked at as being an admission to guilt in court. You never wanna do that, It's almost incriminating yourself in a sense.. Just my thoughts. I'll let you know how mine goes
one thing to also consider is that once you go down the route of fighting the ticket, you give up the right to go to traffic school if you're qualified. most of the time, when you do trial de novo, the first thing the judge will say is if you qualify or not for traffic school. this "second" chance at traffic school is entirely up to the the discretion of the judge whereas the "first" chance is dependent on severity of charge and the last time you took school.
in my experience, i'd do the following:
1. file "not guilty" for trial by written declaration and hope the cop doesn't respond.
2. if found guilty, file for trial de novo
a. hope cop doesn't show up to court
b. if he does, depending on how confident you are, enter your plea.
08-13-2012, 09:47 PM
#25
Originally Posted by Thateguhate' timestamp='1344912412' post='21934866
[quote name='mr5parkle' timestamp='1344883244' post='21933662']
file for trial by written declaration and just write "no contest" on it.
your chances of winning written declarations are usually slim b/c i firmly believe the "judge" reading the declarations has a giant stamp next to them that just says "guilty." no point in wasting time defending yourself even if you have a legitimate defense.
if you don't win, do trial de novo and hope you have a solid defense, cop doesn't show up, or you don't contest and take the punishment with hopes of traffic school and/or reduced fine. of course, a lawyer would help too.
file for trial by written declaration and just write "no contest" on it.
your chances of winning written declarations are usually slim b/c i firmly believe the "judge" reading the declarations has a giant stamp next to them that just says "guilty." no point in wasting time defending yourself even if you have a legitimate defense.
if you don't win, do trial de novo and hope you have a solid defense, cop doesn't show up, or you don't contest and take the punishment with hopes of traffic school and/or reduced fine. of course, a lawyer would help too.
This is showing that your certain you are innocent but if by chance get found guilty you still have the possibilty to have the point removed from your record. Risky? Yes, but with the right documentation to back up your statement they will pay much more attention to what you have to say since you are putting more on the line.
"No contest" is always looked at as being an admission to guilt in court. You never wanna do that, It's almost incriminating yourself in a sense.. Just my thoughts. I'll let you know how mine goes
one thing to also consider is that once you go down the route of fighting the ticket, you give up the right to go to traffic school if you're qualified. most of the time, when you do trial de novo, the first thing the judge will say is if you qualify or not for traffic school. this "second" chance at traffic school is entirely up to the the discretion of the judge whereas the "first" chance is dependent on severity of charge and the last time you took school.
in my experience, i'd do the following:
1. file "not guilty" for trial by written declaration and hope the cop doesn't respond.
2. if found guilty, file for trial de novo
a. hope cop doesn't show up to court
b. if he does, depending on how confident you are, enter your plea.
[/quote]
Yeah I hear they are "required" to show up these days in any county unlike before. I'm sure things happen and they don't show up, however if mine does I'd probably just end up pleading guilty and saving myself the heartache of losing by pleading innocent and paying the full fine + $50 to do traffic school.
Might as well go out like a sucker at that point, and save $75-$100 to pay for my traffic school haha.
08-14-2012, 12:05 PM
#27
I'm not too knowledgeable in traffic infringements or law, but based on my own research and experiences you should definitely contest this, either in court or by mail.
They can definitely radar you from the opposite side of the road. The radar gun is more accurate when the car is coming directly toward you, so hiding out of the opposite side of the road works well. They'll U-turn and pull you over. This has happened to me, but I was not guilty.
On the other hand, if you show up to court and argue, the officer does not have accurate documentation of your individual speed. You appeared (by eye) to be going as fast as the one he did radar (if he did at all). The eye is not an accurate judgment of speed. He does not know how fast you were going. It is a personal estimate based on his measurement of another car. He was not driving next to you either to pace you, so it is based on his eye.
Also, it sounds like he did not tell you how fast you were going, he gave a range, which is an estimate, and he has no measurement of what that range actually is. It was nice of him to write 80 when you may have been going faster, but it is still off base. Plead not guilty. Do not infringe yourself in your argument. Officer might not show up to court, or he may not argue your statement by mail.
It sounds like you and the others may have been driving nearly 90mph. Please slow down. That is significantly above the speed limit. You were all probably driving safe just fine, but still better to just slow down.
They can definitely radar you from the opposite side of the road. The radar gun is more accurate when the car is coming directly toward you, so hiding out of the opposite side of the road works well. They'll U-turn and pull you over. This has happened to me, but I was not guilty.
On the other hand, if you show up to court and argue, the officer does not have accurate documentation of your individual speed. You appeared (by eye) to be going as fast as the one he did radar (if he did at all). The eye is not an accurate judgment of speed. He does not know how fast you were going. It is a personal estimate based on his measurement of another car. He was not driving next to you either to pace you, so it is based on his eye.
Also, it sounds like he did not tell you how fast you were going, he gave a range, which is an estimate, and he has no measurement of what that range actually is. It was nice of him to write 80 when you may have been going faster, but it is still off base. Plead not guilty. Do not infringe yourself in your argument. Officer might not show up to court, or he may not argue your statement by mail.
It sounds like you and the others may have been driving nearly 90mph. Please slow down. That is significantly above the speed limit. You were all probably driving safe just fine, but still better to just slow down.
He can declare that you were in a pack. But if he was traveling opposite your direction and not sitting by the side of the road he was likely going 70+ mph. Add his travel rate with yours (lets say 80mph) and that's 150mph. He had the time to estimate 6 cars in a matter of seconds while not getting any non sports cars in that same procession. He can't possibly lock in a speed on his radar and since his radar isn't car specific, and he's not a super hero with extra ordinary powers, I'd fight it.
My advice in just about any situation is fight the ticket, unless its stupid clear that you were an idiot, and even then I might still go to court. You can believe that he'll show up for 6 cars, unless each of you finds a way to get different court dates. Each person has to get an extension on the ticket due date a week or so apart or something to that effect. They don't want to give the guy 6 different days of pay to miss work.
Some back ground. I got a ticket going over to the Blacktraxx track day in March. The guy gave me a ticket for 80 in a 55. I wasn't going 80 , but 70 in a 2 lane passing zone that I thought was 65. Slapped every infraction he could find on the ticket. Long story short ticket was $925.00. That's freakin hilarious, I mean not really, but all you can do is laugh. I got an extension one day after the ticket was due (3 months), went to court about 2 weeks ago. Judge knocked it down to 190, and traffic school with another 90 days to pay. Go to court, it pays. Plus you get another excuse to drive your car.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post