Speeding violation advice needed...

HIRE A LAWYER.

Why would you give up your right to counsel? Forget all of these people living in a story book. Hire a lawyer. if your record is clean, the judge will give you a break. You will not piss off the cop, because the cop does not care. He handle bunches of tickets all of the time.

Forget about all of these road vigilantes trying to get you to plead guilty. You have a right o hire a lawyer, and any judge on the face of the earth will give you a better deal than the current penalties. You might even get it throw out altogether.

Don't be a sucker. Hire the damn lawyer.

BTW, Michael jackson and OJ Simpson did not get off on technicalities. They were found innocent in the court of law by a jury of their peers.

Florida guys tend to support the police, because 2 types of people live there: Deep southerners, and old people. Both groups love the police to death.

Now go hire that lawyer so that you can get your justice. Judges wouldn't offer all of these deals if they didn't expect you to try and get one.
 
Calabrio said:
Pay the fine.
Go to traffic school.

He got you. He might have you on video. He already cut you a break. Don't push your luck.

Unless you want to get gamble a felony citation, and the odds are against you. And you don't want to piss off the judge wasting his time. You're not going to get any sympathy from the judge, taking that cop off the street to appear in court, and saying "did he technically clock "Me" going 90+mph, or was it the friend riding along side me?" If it goes wrong, you'll be riding the bus AND paying an even higher fine.
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Not to mention pi$$in your friend off for ratting on him/her.

I do a lot of work for a Law Firm for My In-Laws here are a couple of tips:

#1 dress top notch, suit and tie if you can afford it -show you respect the court (rather you do or not). stand up straight and look the judge in the eye - do not look away do not put your hands in your pockets-- and no gum, no sunglasses and no jewlery other than a watch and wedding ring if married.

#2 Do not disrespect the cop by asking for proof which one of us was he was clockin...it will not matter and only put you in a bad light with the judge.

#3 if you have clean record go to your DMV and get a copy to show you have a good record and this was just a one time, learned my lesson kind of thing...

#4 thank the automotive gods that the cop cut you a break and didnt take the bikes on the spot and throw you in jail. and if you can afford one get a Lawyer:rolleyes:
 
Dominus said:
HIRE A LAWYER.

Why would you give up your right to counsel? Forget all of these people living in a story book. Hire a lawyer. if your record is clean, the judge will give you a break. You will not piss off the cop, because the cop does not care. He handle bunches of tickets all of the time.

Forget about all of these road vigilantes trying to get you to plead guilty. You have a right o hire a lawyer, and any judge on the face of the earth will give you a better deal than the current penalties. You might even get it throw out altogether.

Don't be a sucker. Hire the damn lawyer.

BTW, Michael jackson and OJ Simpson did not get off on technicalities. They were found innocent in the court of law by a jury of their peers.

Florida guys tend to support the police, because 2 types of people live there: Deep southerners, and old people. Both groups love the police to death.

Now go hire that lawyer so that you can get your justice. Judges wouldn't offer all of these deals if they didn't expect you to try and get one.
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OJ and MJ were found "not guilty"...explicity different than "innocent"...
 
Who said to get a lawyer? Has anyone ever tried using one of those traffic lawyers? they charge you to go to court, when they lose, you have to pay the ticket and get the points on yur license. Your double paying. This happened to me, my mom and one of my buddies. I have not heard of a case where they won.
 
Deliciousdaly said:
Who said to get a lawyer? Has anyone ever tried using one of those traffic lawyers? they charge you to go to court, when they lose, you have to pay the ticket and get the points on yur license. Your double paying. This happened to me, my mom and one of my buddies. I have not heard of a case where they won.
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Was doing 82 in 55, written up for 74 in 55, have the company pre-paid attorney ($6.90 per pay period), they assigned an attorney to me. Result: Not Guilty. Reason: Insufficent evidence (cop did not provide all required evidence to sustain a conviction).

So there you go - that's one. And I was the only one of the dozen's of people I saw have their trials before me to get found not guilty.
 
highlander73 said:
And unless you have a corrupt judge/judicial system then they CANNOT change the clocked speed written on the ticket (it's called disclosure, and the "prosecution" must allow the "defendant" access to the charges and evidence before the trial).
.
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This is simply not true. An amended complaint can be filed in most jurisdictions. If you go to trial, the officer would testify that he clocked you at what ever speed he actually clocked you, and then explain to the court he charged a lower speed. (That is a law enforcement prerogative, although frowned on by management). If the prosecutor wants to amend the complaint he can petition the court to amend. If the judge grants the amendment, you can demand a continuance of the matter to allow you time to prepare your defense to the new charge. (Take another day off work) I do recommend that you at least go to court (if points or insurance is an issue). There is always the chance that the officer will be tied up on another matter and not be available to testify. In most cases the judge will dismiss the charge with prejudice, and the matter will be closed for all time.:) BTW I left out a lot of detail on the various possibilities available to both sides in the above description to keep it simple.
 
Hey Drew, you wouldn't happen to be heading southbound on I-29 just south of Council Bluff past the I-80/I-29 split? Heading for the track? 55 posted limit on a curve. State boys love to sit there waiting on people getting in a hurry. Speed limit change of 55 to 70 there.


Quick back round on the area and the Iowa State Troopers. Most of you probably don't even know where Council Bluff Iowa is. BTW I do and have been there to many times to count.:D

Drew list Council Bluff Iowa as home. Council Bluff is across the river from Omaha Ne. Its only about 25,000 people. You can drive through it in about 10 minutes on I-29. Not a big area.

Iowa State Troopers WILL give you 10mph over the posted limit. Posted limit on the interstate is 70. You have to be hualling some ass to get a ticket by a Iowa state trooper.

Some of you may think he(the trooper) will not remember these guys. Don't count out it. Its his job to remember law breakers. You think he has never testified in court about a case that was a year or two old. I am sure he will remember the three guys hualing ass doing 90+ and cutting them a break for 74. I wonder how many times that has happen.:rolleyes:

Fight the ticket. The truth on the matter will come out. You will have to testify that you were doing 90+. Meaning admitting guilt. How exactly are you going to testify without admitting you were speeding.:eek: Seems like a problem to me. If you try to blame it on your buddies, the DA uses your testimony on them. So do you screw yourself or your buddies. Best thing you can do is hire a lawyer to change the ticket to a NONMOVING violation. Your insurance will not go up. Most likely, they will change it a BUNCH of parking tickets. You will pay out the butt. Your inusrance will not go up.

BTW I see a lot of people blaming the officer. Heres a crazy idea, try owning up to your actions. Take responsiblity for yourself and what you do. Are you going to go through life blaming others for your screw ups?
 
highlander73 said:
...snip... And unless you have a corrupt judge/judicial system then they CANNOT change the clocked speed written on the ticket (it's called disclosure, and the "prosecution" must allow the "defendant" access to the charges and evidence before the trial).
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That is simply not true and you are giving him some bad advice.

GWL said:
This is simply not true. An amended complaint can be filed in most jurisdictions.
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Correct...and I can just about promise you that officer will amend his complaint to the higher speed and he will end up with a lot worse situation than he was given.
 
What part of the communist world do you live in......

2001LS8Sport said:
That is simply not true and you are giving him some bad advice.



Correct...and I can just about promise you that officer will amend his complaint to the higher speed and he will end up with a lot worse situation than he was given.
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I just got off of the phone with a lawyer friend of mine and he said he know of no state jurisdiction where an officer would be able to amend a non criminal complaint just because someone decides to fight a ticket. He did state that there may be local ordinances that may allow that, but they would be ruled unconstitutional if ever challenged.

You guys do not seem to get the point here, he admits to speeding, but wants to know how the officer determined his speed. There have been many tests done on radar guns and each and every test has shown that radar guns are flawed in one way or another. They have been known to clock inanimate objects such as houses at over 25 miles per hour.

All I was suggesting was that maybe he could get the officer or a judge to allow him to pay the ticket amount without having the extra hassel of the points and or raised insurance amounts. Hell even murderers only get one punishment for their crime.

I speed, I get caught, and I pay the fines, if, and only if the officer does not insist that I get points and have the possibility of my insurance going up. If the officer wants to be unreasonable, then we go to court. Period, end of sentence. And unless you live in a one horse town, or you vehicle stands out like a sore thumb, having the officer remember you and pick on you should never be an issue.
 
bufordtpisser said:
I just got off of the phone with a lawyer friend of mine and he said he know of no state jurisdiction where an officer would be able to amend a non criminal complaint just because someone decides to fight a ticket. He did state that there may be local ordinances that may allow that, but they would be ruled unconstitutional if ever challenged.

You guys do not seem to get the point here, he admits to speeding, but wants to know how the officer determined his speed. There have been many tests done on radar guns and each and every test has shown that radar guns are flawed in one way or another. They have been known to clock inanimate objects such as houses at over 25 miles per hour.

All I was suggesting was that maybe he could get the officer or a judge to allow him to pay the ticket amount without having the extra hassel of the points and or raised insurance amounts. Hell even murderers only get one punishment for their crime.

I speed, I get caught, and I pay the fines, if, and only if the officer does not insist that I get points and have the possibility of my insurance going up. If the officer wants to be unreasonable, then we go to court. Period, end of sentence. And unless you live in a one horse town, or you vehicle stands out like a sore thumb, having the officer remember you and pick on you should never be an issue.
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I think you are missing the point. I was in law enforcement for over 27 years and did amend traffic complaints in court. Your friend gave you an answer qualified by a narrow set of circumstances. He is right that the fact that you decide to fight a citation will not justify amending the complaint. But let us not be naive here. There are many reasons the officer can cite for amending the citation. Secondly, I know of no jurisdiction where the officer controls points on a driving record beyond his choice of code used. Thirdly, I was solo motor officer in a large metropolitan area for many years. Banking on the fact that the officer will not remember you is bad advise. While riding motors (traffic enforcement) I had many techniques I used to refresh my memory when stopping repeat offenders, and this was way before officers had access to computerized notes.
 
Dominus said:
Florida guys tend to support the police, because 2 types of people live there: Deep southerners, and old people. Both groups love the police to death.
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Are you kidding me with that statement ?? I wish that were true, and trust me, your a NY city guy....we dont want you either. Enjoy your paradise up there.
 
yews ammend the charge aka plea bargain ive already done it twice and one being a 97 in a 65 (5 point ticket 350$$) dropped to a 2 point 120$$ speedin ticket
 
I would have to say the last thing that anyone in the south wants is routine government intervention in any aspect of their lives. We are proud to be very independant people for the most part. I don't know anyone who is in love with the police around here except the government that collects on the tickets and fines. It was the same way in Alabama when I was at Auburn. If there is a feasible way out of that ticket, take it and run with it.
 
bufordtpisser said:
I just got off of the phone with a lawyer friend of mine and he said he know of no state jurisdiction where an officer would be able to amend a non criminal complaint just because someone decides to fight a ticket. He did state that there may be local ordinances that may allow that, but they would be ruled unconstitutional if ever challenged.
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I'm really not trying to be an ass here....but your friend is flat wrong. I know they do it routinely in Idaho and Arizona...and I have personally had it happen to me in Utah. In that situation, I fought it because I WAS NOT speeding. The officer shot my car at such an obtuse angle...and through a guard rail...that he couldn't possibly get an accurate reading. I actually had a written publication from the radar gun manufacturer that showed he was outside the parameters they listed. Still, that wasn't holding much water with the judge. What did hold water was the officer could not produce a certificate of calibration in the time frame the gun was supposed to be calibrated and the complaint was dismissed.

But the first thing that cop did when he walked into court was go to the young gal who was the prosecutor and have her amend the citation to the original speed he had clocked me at. (he had reduced it by 5 mph to get me under the high fine threshold...but again...I was NOT speeding.) She took the information straight to the bench had had the complaint amended to the higher speed.
 
I guess my main focus, if I so choose to show up for court, is:

How can you pinpoint which one of us the radar was picking up? We all weren't riding shoulder to shoulder. And I was just thinking if you can't really tell which one the radar picked up, then is assumption that all of us were moving at that speed probable? I'm not trying to rat my friend out that was leading or anything, but it is quite possible the radar could have picked up me behind him. What if I was speeding up trying to catch him and he was only going 60mph??

Sorry if i seem high hoped here... this is just the only way I envision the possibility of the withdrawl of the damn ticket...
 
Don't think so.........

2001LS8Sport said:
I'm really not trying to be an ass here....but your friend is flat wrong. I know they do it routinely in Idaho and Arizona...and I have personally had it happen to me in Utah. In that situation, I fought it because I WAS NOT speeding. The officer shot my car at such an obtuse angle...and through a guard rail...that he couldn't possibly get an accurate reading. I actually had a written publication from the radar gun manufacturer that showed he was outside the parameters they listed. Still, that wasn't holding much water with the judge. What did hold water was the officer could not produce a certificate of calibration in the time frame the gun was supposed to be calibrated and the complaint was dismissed.

But the first thing that cop did when he walked into court was go to the young gal who was the prosecutor and have her amend the citation to the original speed he had clocked me at. (he had reduced it by 5 mph to get me under the high fine threshold...but again...I was NOT speeding.) She took the information straight to the bench had had the complaint amended to the higher speed.
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Go back and read what I said, I did not say that they do not do this, I just stated what my friend told me. And that was that he did not know of any jurisdiction where this was allowed as a rule of law. I also clarified it by saying that it would likely not be upheld if the constitionality of it was challenged. He told me that he has gotten clients out of tickets on this very point, because it can fall under some sort of unsworn falsification ruling. I am not a lawyer, and do not pretend to be handing out legal advice. I stated in the beginning that he should seek the advice of legal counsel. In my area, I go to a lawyer, he talks to the cop, or to the cops supervisor, and 99.9% of the time I pay the fine and the points are not added to my license. That is the reason why I have a lawyer on retainer at all times.

The police count on your not fighting any tickets. The fines are set at rates that make it not cost worthy to fight. How many people have the resources to pay $1000.00 to fight a $100 ticket? The reasonong is that they saved $900 by not fighting the ticket. I am saying that reasoning is flawed. Because with the points on your license, your insurance could and most likely will go up, and in the long run you will pay more for insurance than you would pay for to fight the ticket.

You guys seem to think that I do not like or respect cops, and that could not be further from the truth. I have many friends who are officers, and I spent 3 of the last 5 years working directly with the State Police on a project that is very near and dear to me. Every one of those officers that I have discussed tickets with have given me the same advice, be courteous to the officer, ask non-confrontational questions, request a written warning or non points type of violation, and if you do get a points type violation, always request a hearing including a detailed bill of particulars(which I am told will negate the officer from ammending the charges). Most officers will not want to take the time to go through the hassle of going through all of this unless you really pissed them off in the course of getting the ticket. It works a majority of the time for me, maybe I am just lucky, or maybe I have a lot more contacts than the normal law breaker.
 
Motodrew said:
I guess my main focus, if I so choose to show up for court, is:

How can you pinpoint which one of us the radar was picking up? We all weren't riding shoulder to shoulder. And I was just thinking if you can't really tell which one the radar picked up, then is assumption that all of us were moving at that speed probable? I'm not trying to rat my friend out that was leading or anything, but it is quite possible the radar could have picked up me behind him. What if I was speeding up trying to catch him and he was only going 60mph??

Sorry if i seem high hoped here... this is just the only way I envision the possibility of the withdrawl of the damn ticket...
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I don't see how you could get out of the ticket without getting a lawyer to workout a deal. Get a lawyer to get the ticket knocked down to a non- moving violation. It will cost you more plus lawyer fees, but you will not have the points that you are worried about. If you try to fight this in court, you will regret it.
 
You might get lucky!!!

A few weeks after moving here (Riverview, FL) from Boston, I was clocked at 139 mph on the way to Bradenton on I-75. The first thing the cop told me was "I hope you know the laws around here", then he proceeded to ask me for papers and staight out asked me out of the car. I was still with my MASS tags and insurance + license. I said "I'm sorry, I don't know the laws around here, but regardless, that's no excuse for my actions, however, I have an emergency". He smiled and walked toward his car. Being Florida, two minutes went by when a Camaro State Trooper was aproaching us and parked in front of me. It was 3 am or so. Then they told me that they had the right to arrest me on the spot and I would loose my license, which is a CDL class A license and right now I depend on it since I supervise the transportations department at my job. I said again, I'm sorry, I have an emergency, and they ignored me. After a third unit got there, they opened my hood, looked under the car, opened the trunk and searched under the seats. The third cop asked where in mass I lived, I said Methuen, he said he was from Cambridge. Then a few personal questions as to why did I move here, and bla bla bla... Then He asked me about my emergency, I said "work". I'm new there and I need to drive today because a driver called out 40 minutes ago. He went back to the others and talked for a minute. Here's the best part. They all came back to me, handed me my papers, gave me a current print out of the Speeding/Racing Laws, by the way, they are very strict down here, and they told me that since they put a call to check my info and called for backup they had to do something and a warning wouldn't do since the original cop had spread the word about my speed, so they cited me to court for "speeding" and "improper equipment". He explained that if he didn't show up to court, I would win on the speeding, but the improper equipment I would need to solve with the fiscal. "improper equipment", my blue angel eyes. He didn't show up. They ordered me to take them off and that's it. I could have lost my job, my license and time away from my family. First, Don't speed bro. At the end, we don't get anything out of it. Honestly, I felt like I was born again on that day. As far as I know, you could loose your Motorcycle endorsement, but not your license. At least here in FL. But again, your case is like trying to dispute things on your credit, even if you really messed up on it, the law might help you remove some of the bad creditors if THEY don't have everything in place. So if the Cop doesn't show to support his side, you win, but if he does you'll be sorry if you don't have a lawyer, cause now you have request maintenance records for the radar gun, printouts and things that only your lawyer is capable of doing. It might cost you more to hire a lawyer than to pay the fine. It's a risk, just like speeding.
 
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