Question about a traffic ticket
 

If an officer doesn't have me sign the ticket is it no good if I choose to fight it in court?

I would tend to doubt it matters - how would one square that with red-light cameras that result in tickets being mailed to your home? No citing officer is having you sign those, yet you're still expected to pay them.

There might be a way to beat the ticket, but I have to think "he didn't have me sign it" is going to be a loser.

Grasping at straws I guess. I was speeding and admit it but what kills me right now is how many folks are driving drunk at this moment and I watched some guy blow a red light not 10 minutes before I got pulled over.

I feel your pain, but it probably doesn't matter a bit.

I contested a ticket one time because a cop pulled the guy in front of me over as well as myself. My whole argument was that there was no way he actually clocked me with his radar gun (he only clocked the guy in front of me). When we went to court, I asked one question, "isn't it true you never clocked my speed as over the limit?" He said, "That is true." I fully expected the court to go crazy and the judge to have to bang on his gavel and scream, "Order! Order!" Well, that didn't happen - 5 mins later I was writing a check.

"Those other guys broke the law, too, and they didn't get caught" generally isn't a good reason to do something that carries a penalty with it.

But hey, that's just my two cents. :)

I know....I know...CraigSca, I'd love to write a check but they won't even take one of those. I also have to call to see how much the fine will actually be!

i am not a police officer, but have worked closely with the law enforcement community for more than 10 years and have never seen a summons that was actually signed by the offender. I believe that the "if i dont sign it it isnt a valid ticket" defense is an urban legend.

Awesome :).

Sorry.

I've read quite a few stories and heard some 2nd hand accounts of people beating tickets because of minor mistakes, but never known anyone to actually beat a speeding ticket. I've known two that have tried, one ended up paying and the other ended up paying 4 or 5 times more than he originally would have and spent a night in jail.

most municipal judges will toss a ticket if it isnt completed properly, such as having the box for AM checked instead of PM or the wrong intersection being written in as the location of the stop because the cop pre-filled his tickets because he always runs traffic at the same location. those kind of things are ususally held in the defendants favor, and end up in dismissals.

dola, it is pretty impossible to get a speeding ticket dismissed....ususally you can bargain it down a level or have the add-on tickets (reckless driving, failure to signal, etc) dismissed if you plead guilty

If you get a lawyer to go to traffic court with you, typically the "Special Prosecutor" will bargain it down to a parking ticket if it's your first ticket.

I remember this story of your's from a couple years ago and whenever the topic of speeding tickets come up I remember it and it makes me chuckle.

I got a prosecutor to dismiss once because the officer miswrote my license plate by 2 digits. Other than that, I haven't had luck with my other 2 attempts.

Yeah, I was wondering if anyone would remember. It's cool to think my life is already running re-runs.

It paints such a mental picture. You view it as the dramatic case-turning moment in a movie... but instead it's just "Yeah. So what? Make your check payable to..."

I don't believe I even know anyone who has gotten out of a ticket. The best you can do around here (NJ) is plead a point-bearing ticket down to something that effectively puts you on probation for a while, carries a bigger fine, but lets you off point-free if you avoid another point-bearing ticket in the next 12 months (or maybe 24... i can't recall).

I've only heard of two times where I knew someone who had their tickets dismissed:

1) I had an ex-GF who pleaded not guilty to a traffic ticket (she was actually guilty). She showed up, but the officer did not. The ticket was thrown out.
2) Myself and a group of friends were sighted for being in possession of alcohol (we were 20) that we had just stole from a convenience store (beer run). We were told by one guy's dad (a sheriff) to plead no-contest so they wouldn't try to dick with us for theft. We all did except one guy, who pleaded not-guilty. He got off because although there was alcohol in the backyard we were in, the officer didn't actually see HIM holding it.

Why were you stealing beer, Rizon?

I got out of the only speeding ticket that I ever got. I went to court to fight it, the cop didn't show up, and that was that.

(Edit: And, no, I am not Rizon's Ex-GF.)

Worked for me the 2 times I showed up at trial. There is a court magistrate hearing before it in Mass where the cop doesn't have to show up, but if you do they'll usually at least knock off some $$ and offer you a deal to plea guilty and avoid a trial, since most minor traffic tickets are revenue-generators and it costs more $$ for the court time+officer to show up and deal with it.

The other shady/smart maneuver you can pull is about a month before going to court file a Motion for Discovery with the citing department, asking for things like the back of the ticket, an officer's diagram of where the incident occurred, the radar gun calibration and the officer's training records on the device used. They'll probably never get back to you in time and even if the officer shows up in court when you get up you can point this out and they'll postpone to a new date. There's also a good chance either the radar gun hasn't been calibrated recently enough or the officer hasn't had training recently enough, and in Mass at least that should be enough to automatically have it thrown out.

I've gotten tickets pleaded down and did get one dropped once:

I had gotten a ticket on the NYS Thruway so I had to go to some dink town court in the middle of nowhere. I show up at the date and time the letter I got in the mail said to. When I get there, there's a clerk and noone else. I check in and she tells me that "DA Night" was moved to next week. I explain to her that this was the night I was told to show up (I show her the letter) and had never received anything else telling me to show up a different night. She was nice and said to talk to the judge when he comes out.

So the judge comes out and there's like 5 of us there to see him. I get called up and tell him the same thing I told the clerk and hand him the letter I had received from his court. He says that the DA Night had gotten moved but if I would like to make a motion to dismiss the charges I could. To which I reply "Yes, I would" :)

The people still waiting to see the judge were pissed :)

I have to do court trials once every few weeks or so as a prosecutor. I try to give people breaks if they have otherwise clean driving records. But it's completely amazing to me when people demand a court trial, are all rude when I try to work with them, and then make little/no effort to actually testify or question the cop - or they use the "everybody else was speeding too" defense.

This thread is more of a comedy goldmine than I ever expected it would be.

Definitely a fun read :)

SI

The friend of mine that ended up spending a night in jail over a speeding ticket went this route. Problem is he got some bad advice from the lawyer. He got his scheduled court date and the lawyer actually told him he didn't have to show up for the initial date and he'd take care of it. So my friend didn't show and the lawyer didn't bother to either. Thats how his ticket ended up costing him 4 or 5 times more than it orginally would have.

Yea', as far as I know, as long as you go to court with your lawyer and just have them talk to the special prosecutor they'll plead you down. It's the same thing you would do by yourself, just that having a lawyer with you gets an even better plea bargain.

I got a probation officer for a year for a speeding ticket...

/tk

You people need to slow down.

This is how I got out of a ticket. I opted to contest it, went to court and the cop didn't bother to show, so I didn't pay.

Cause I had no money cause I was po.