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Posts Tagged ‘law enforcement’

Information On Ways To Beat Traffic Tickets

October 30th, 2010

Nobody likes to get speeding tickets. Hopefully, this article will give readers some insight on how to fight speeding tickets.

One thing you could do is file a discovery request with the prosecutor to acquire any documents relating to your case. These documents could include things such as the calibration records of the radar or speedometer of the car that clocked your speed. You would want to do this in advance of your traffic court date so you would have time to go through them for inaccuracies. But the possible downside of this is reminding the officer who gave you the ticket to show up in traffic court.

One thing that can help you fight speeding tickets is to know that devices that measure your cars speed such as radar and laser detectors can be subject to human error. Traffic tickets have been dismissed in some instances because the ticketing officer failed to document proper positioning of the speed detecting instrument.

Go for technicalities: In order to fight speeding tickets, keep in mind that if certain elements of a ticket are missing, the case can be thrown out. For instance, if the officer’s name and signature are illegible and if the badge number is illegible as well, then it should be dismissed.

Be Brief: When fighting speeding tickets, keep in mind that judges don’t have a lot of time. Give a brief report. Additionally, use of visual evidence, such as a photo of a road sign obscured by foliage may help your case.

Win by default: When fighting speeding tickets, if the officer doesn’t show up, and the court asks for a continuance (postponement to another day), then your response should be, “I object.” The case should be dismissed if the officer doesn’t have a good reason to be absent from court.

Speeding tickets can raise your insurance, cause accidents and other hazards. The best way to avoid receiving a speeding ticket is not to speed!

Legal Advice

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Your Guide On How To Fight Moving Violation Citations

October 28th, 2010

Throughout the years, there have been some pretty dreadful defense strategies used by many people when it came to their traffic ticket. But I don’t really blame them. Most were just relying on ‘insider’ information some website was selling.

This article will outline five of the biggest mistakes you can make when battling your traffic ticket in court. Familiarize yourself with them and never use them in traffic court.

Mistake #1- Delaying the traffic court date

The rationale for this, some say, is that the longer you can delay traffic court for your traffic ticket, the likelier the chance the police officer won’t show up at your court date.

Simply delaying your traffic court trial will not increase your chances of beating your traffic ticket.

The question I’ve always had was if you do put off your court date, what do you do when he still shows up?

Then what? Police officers get paid overtime to show up to traffic court.

Mistake #2- Requesting evidence before traffic court.

Don’t get me wrong, you have the legal right to view everything they plan on using to convict you. Its called discovery, and is useful before a murder trial. But this is traffic court and it can hurt your case.

If you file a motion for discovery this tells the prosecution that you intend to plan a defense. In almost every case the prosecutor will make sure his case is airtight so you have virtually no chance of winning.

Don’t give the prosecution a heads up that you know anything about traffic court proceedings. Do not contact them prior to your traffic court date.

Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research

There is no need to spend any time reading boring law books. Its pointless.

Only rarely would it be prudent to look up a law so you know how it may be worded, other than that it is needless to do this with most traffic tickets.

Mistake #4- Attacking the officer’s credibility

If you go to traffic court with the idea you are going to attack the officers credibility, don’t waste your time. You can forget getting your traffic ticket dismissed. Saying the officer didn’t use the equipment properly, or that he singled you out or any number of other excuses are useless.

Don’t ever go into traffic court with the idea you are going to challenge the police officers training on the use of the radar gun. This will only draw scrutiny from the judge, who will accept the officers testimony that he is properly trained on the use of the equipment.

Its just understood that the officer has the proper training on the speed detecting equipment he or she used to give you a traffic ticket. There’s no question about it. Say you do try this defense, where are you going to get the evidence the judge will ask for to support your claim?

Mistake #5- Going to traffic court unprepared

Probably the mistake most people make is thinking they did a good job doing their homework prior to their day in traffic court, and actually didn’t have a clue as to what they were doing to get prepared. So they lose their case and end up being convicted of the traffic ticket.

Those who did no research go to traffic court with the notion that they can just tell their side of the story and the judge will see things their way and dismiss their traffic ticket. Yeah right!

Look, I know the thought of going to traffic court can be a little scary for some, but this isn’t a murder trial. It’s just a simple traffic ticket. Traffic court is set up to be extremely ‘user friendly’ due to the large amounts of people who go there every day.

If you avoid these 5 mistakes you will have a better chance of claiming your victory in traffic court, and hopefully getting that traffic ticket thrown out.

Legal Advice

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Five Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make Before Battling A Traffic Ticket

September 4th, 2010

There have been, over the years, some pretty pathetic defense strategies when it came to fighting a traffic ticket. Someone would read some information somewhere or use some advice from a relative or friend.

In this article we will go over the 5 most common mistakes used by people when trying to fight their traffic ticket. Use these as a guide of what not to do.

Mistake #1- Delaying the traffic court date

Most would advise you to get a continuance. The claim is the longer your can postpone the traffic court date, the bigger the chance the police officer wont show up. This makes no sense and isn’t a good strategy to fight a traffic ticket.

Delaying the court date will not improve your chance of having your traffic ticket dismissed.

My question is what if you do postpone your traffic court date and the officer still shows up?

Then what? Police officers get paid overtime to show up to traffic court.

Mistake #2- Requesting evidence before traffic court.

Don’t get me wrong, you have the legal right to view everything they plan on using to convict you. Its called discovery, and is useful before a murder trial. But this is traffic court and it can hurt your case.

If you file a motion for discovery this tells the prosecution that you intend to plan a defense. In almost every case the prosecutor will make sure his case is airtight so you have virtually no chance of winning.

Don’t give the prosecution a heads up that you know anything about traffic court proceedings. Do not contact them prior to your traffic court date.

Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research

How many of you like to spend your free time at your local courthouse researching piles upon piles of law books? There’s absolutely no need to do this research. It’s time consuming and not to mention boring.

Although in some cases it may be wise to look up a certain law and see how it is worded, there really is no need to do it with all traffic ticket trials.

Mistake #4- Going after the police officers credibility

If you go to traffic court with the idea you are going to attack the officers credibility, don’t waste your time. You can forget getting your traffic ticket dismissed. Saying the officer didn’t use the equipment properly, or that he singled you out or any number of other excuses are useless.

Don’t ever go into traffic court with the idea you are going to challenge the police officers training on the use of the radar gun. This will only draw scrutiny from the judge, who will accept the officers testimony that he is properly trained on the use of the equipment.

Lets face it, the officer has been properly trained on the use of the speed detecting device he used to give you a traffic ticket. There is no question about it. Where would you get the evidence the judge will ask for to support this claim?

Mistake #5- Showing up to traffic court unprepared.

This may be the biggest mistake individuals make when they try to fight a traffic ticket. They go into traffic court thinking they did their homework, when in reality they had no idea what they were doing, and end up paying the traffic ticket.

And then there are those who don’t do any research and think that they can tell there side of the story and the judge will have pity on them. Yeah right!

Its understandable that it can be nerve wracking showing up to traffic court. Just remember you aren’t on trial for your life, its just a traffic ticket. Traffic court is designed to be user friendly because of the volume of people going through there daily.

Avoid these five mistakes and you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court and getting your traffic ticket dismissed.

Legal Advice

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