Getting out of a ticket on a technicality

[splashpot]

I appealed one and won. The cop wrote my father's name instead of mine on the ticket. He must have gotten it from the registration by mistake and got mixed up. My brother just appealed and won a few weeks ago. He basically had no defense but the judge (or whatever) was kinda in a rush and gave my bro "the benefit of the doubt."

[ItalianFX]

OP, bring a map of the layout like you have shown here and show how close it is to the intersection. I think that will really help you out alot.

[RoundGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
Now that I think about it, I remember seeing a guy going about 20 feet in a "DO NOT ENTER" because his house was right there and it would be stupid to go around the loop every single time. It definitely stuck out to me and I was like, "HMMMM," but I saw what he was doing and I let him go. He didn't cause any problems, nobody was coming the other way except for me - he did it with safety. Could I have done something about it? Sure, the law said that I could. Would it have been reasonable? Not in the least bit.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have no problem with anything you wrote in this post. I would like to believe that all cops use the same level of discretion and judgement -- and I believe most (many?) do.

However, this is all relatively moot, and actually serves to help me in my point. That is, someone just like you already used his discretion and decided that the OP deserved a citation. We don't know why that is. Perhaps he whipped around the corner at an unsafe speed, hoping no one would notice. Perhaps there was a car coming the other direction, not real close, but a little too close for comfort. Maybe a pedestrian had walked into the street, not looking in OP's direction. Why would he, there isn't supposed to be a car there.

We don't know. The point is, someone just like you made a discretionary decision to cite the guy.

Now, let's say you are that cop. You've made your decision. Something in an otherwise minor situation made it a citable incident, at your discretion. Now this smartass decides he's got the gonads to fight you on it. He's guilty. You know he's guilty, and he knows he's guilty. Now he wants to waste your time, the judges time, and the courts time.

Tell me you're not going to walk into that courtroom wanting to nail his ass to the wall. Tell me you're not praying you catch him speeding tomorrow so you can nail him again -- for being stupid.

I will graciously concede the point to all who have pointed out my deficiancies. He has every right to fight anything he wants. Maybe he'll win, but likely he won't.

But, please at least allow me my opinion that it just isn't worth it.

[ItalianFX]

Round,

I'm glad you took a different view point of it all, or at least described your opinion in more detail. Your stance is much more credible.

OP didn't describe the circumstances around why the officer cited him. Some officers will cite for everything. Some depts. say that you must cite someone if you stop them. Some depts say you have to cite for speeding and not for disobeying a traffic control device.

You may be possibly right now that OP wants to fight the ticket that the officer may be on the lookout for him. Sometimes that isn't the case though. I went to a court case while I was in the police academy of a lady who was cited for speeding. She pled not guilty and got a lawyer. When she got to the hearing, all that happened was that her lawyer asked to have the speed reduced, the trooper agreed and the case was over. I doubt he was on the lookout for her again between the time he found out he had to go to court and the time that the court case took place. I don't know what area OP is in, but some officers are too busy to care. Court is basically a huge game. I have only been to court 4 times. 1 was for harassment and that got thrown out by the judge because the two guys were going back and forth the judge was tired of it. Another was for a criminal mischief case when a girls b/f punched and dented her van. I withdrew that at the hearing because the girl requested me to withdraw it. Another was for a kid riding his 4-wheeler on the streets where I later got into a chase with him that night. He was found guilty on all counts, but he is claiming it wasn't him. Did I make a mistake? Possibly. Maybe it wasn't him. He appealed it and now I have to go to court again in June. I cited him for 4 different things because "he" ran from me and when someone disrespects my authority, I will jam them big time. [insert how I'm corrupt and blah blah blah here] = I don't want to hear it.
And 4th was a disorderly conduct case. Now all of these were pled not guilty, but I wasn't out to get anyone after that. I do my job and then the next day when I see them again, I act like nothing happened. I stop people all the time and see them a little while later and act like I never stopped them. That is how I am - I can't speak for everyone.

Now, when I cite someone because they disrespect my authority and then they plead not guilty, I will definitely be looking to nail them in the court room. When I go to court for something else, I'm just doing my job. There is a difference when I'm arresting someone for something they do to someone else and when they completely disrespect the law. That's just the nature of the job. Also, there are those people who are just [censored] and need to have some fines handed to them, but I definitely don't go and watch people to try to catch them on everything. There are some people who are just troublemakers and those are the people we/I will try to catch because they NEVER learn and so we just keep getting them time after time.

Concerning OP, he has a right to fight it if he feels like it'll do him justice. If he never tries, he'll never know if he can get it thrown out and keep a clean record. People get out of citations for many things, and try to find angles. If an officer takes it personal that one of "his" citations gets found not guilty, then he isn't looking at the job the right way.

[hlacheen]

Just got my first ticket (I'm 18/m) for going 81mph in a 55mph zone. $189.50. Any point fighting this? I don't care about the fine as much as the 5 points on my license and insurance costs.

[ItalianFX]

[ QUOTE ]
Just got my first ticket (I'm 18/m) for going 81mph in a 55mph zone. $189.50. Any point fighting this? I don't care about the fine as much as the 5 points on my license and insurance costs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Go to court and ask for a reduction in the speed. That is about the only thing you can do.

[ohgeetee]

sometimes they allow you to plead no contest which keeps the fine but removes the points.

I was ticketted for rear ending a guy because i was driving due east into the sunrise, and was adjusting my visor when he slammed on the breaks. he completely understood, cop arrived and was the coolest cop ever, told me to make sure to show up to court to get the ticket dropped, and that he understood completely regarding the difficulty to see.

While I was there in court, they basically called out the name, and any traffic violation that a person plead not guilty too was dropped.

there were people who drove through stop signs, a whole slew of people from this one apt complex that disobeyed a retarded do not enter between the hours of x sign that contradicted another do not enter sign. basically, cop camped out at apts, ticketed like 15 people, then they all banded together and took pics of the signs, and if the signs were all obeyed, you wouldnt be able to enter this complex at all between certain hours. it was hilarious seeing all these moms there with their teenage kids totally pissed at this cop and the whole system.

what did i learn from this?

anytime I am ticketed for something like the OP, i am going to court to contest it.