Hester

It is a misdemeanor with theoretical jail time hanging over your head. When is the appearance date for arraignment? Maybe you should shop around for a local attorney that concentrates on DUI and other traffic stuff.

Tom Tweed

The choice is obviously yours, but paying a lawyer $1000 in this instance would make no sense whatsoever to me, unless you are just determined to fight this on principle alone to the maximum extent possible.

If you have had only one ticket in the last 10 years, the worst case consequences are no where near as severe as that lawyers fee. What is the fine (bail) for the offense? Is it really worth your time to make the appearances, etc. as well as pay the lawyer? You can contest the ticket yourself by mail, and if you fail, you can still ask for a Trial de Novo after the judgement, if it is negative. See this site:
http://www.ticketassassin.com/fight.html

If you are purely practical about it, a single ticket in 18 months can be expunged by attending driving school, which can be done online for about $30, and your insurance rates will not go up because the DMV will not report the points on your record if you complete the school successfully. Even pleading guilty, paying the fine and the driving school costs, you will not be out 1/5 of the cost of the lawyer, in all likelihood. Just don't get another moving violation for the next 18 months and you are golden.

TT

Hester

Hey Tom Tweed, I really want to meet you and have you check out Hester. In the meantime:

Relevant Paragraphs of California Vehicle Code Section 23109:

(C) A person shall not engage in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway, and a person shall not aid or abet in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on any highway.

(i) A person who violates subdivision (b), (c), or (d) shall upon conviction of that violation be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 90 days, by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

Exhibition of Speed is a misdemeanor. There is potentially, even if unlikely, jail time hanging over his head on this one. It is more than an infraction.

Even if traffic school were available for this, traffic school is not an entitlement, it is always at the discretion of the court.

Tom Tweed

Oh definitely, Donald. I would very much like to do that, and regret that I missed one opportunity already, but we will hook up at some PCA-SDR event soon, I hope.



Regardless of this harsh language, the circumstances described by Douglas do not come close to being a serious infraction. Unless the cop outright lies in his statement, any judge that hears what the circumstances were, according to Doug, will be able to spot a chickensh!t case and would never give a max. penalty. That would be reserved for someone who was actually street racing with another vehicle, and some damage or injury was caused. Regardless of any disagreement on that point, contesting the ticket by mail will allow Douglas to make his case and get some idea of what the judgement and penalty might be without giving up his future right to a trial. He can even ask for assignment to traffic school if the judge does not accept his version of events and acquit him. It is a no-lose proposition. If the cop does not submit his opposing statement to the judge, you are off automatically--completely acquitted. If he does, then the judge decides the case, and you are notified of his ruling. If you think the sentence is too harsh, you ask for a Trial de Novo and hire an attorney then, if necessary.

Excessive speeding and reckless driving are also serious infractions, but you do not see people going to jail for them if there are no damages and it is a first offense, like Doug's, with a clean record like his. I would give the judge a chance to rule fairly, with a minimum expense and time expenditure on my part (simply writing my side of the story on a form and mailing it) and then decide if it was worth fighting any further according to the decision and penalty. Certainly, even a $500 fine and traffic school assignment would be preferable to paying an attorney $1-2000.

I fought the one and only ticket I have had in 25 years this way, for speeding, on I-5 north of Bakersfield, and it was much less costly, especially considering I would have had to travel 4 hours each way to fight it in court. I asked the judge in my statement that if my explanation was not sufficient to acquit me, that I would like to be considered for traffic school, and that's what he did. I lost the case, but was fined $200 with the option to go to school to have it expunged. I paid the fine, and went to school, and my insurance was never effected.

C'ya,
TT

Amber Gramps

I went into the court house today to face the charges and found myself pleasently suprised that the D.A. does not take this type of case. They sent me to the "Traffic Violation" window. The girl there asked if this was a joke because unless the officer clocked me over 100 mph and impounded my car it isn't a criminal act. She asked about the 50 in a 35 and I had her re-read it...it says 35 in a 55. She said that it isn't in the computer and that it should have been filed two weeks ago so they may have rejected it outright already. She asked again if the pulled over anyone else or if the other driver got away. I had to tell her several times I was making a left hand turn at a light. She made it sound like this ticket was no good from the get go.......we'll see.

flatsixnut

Sounds pretty promising at the moment. Also after reading your last post..it almost makes the officer sound stupid for writing the ticket. I think its the car....I got pulled over for not signaling my lane change...the cop was going the other direction.

Edgy01

Hang in there. So far so good!

Amber Gramps

This morning I reported to the lawyer we do daycare for that the officer doesn't have a case filed yet. She thinks he won't until he walks into cort on the day and time written on the ticket. I should still think as though he is going to show and try to throw the book at me. She assures me I won't be doing time. I have a number to call every day to see if he has filed. fun, fun...

Hester

Alright Bray, I just got off the phone with a friend of mine that practices criminal defense (and drives a 911). He agreed with your daycare client that the case might not get filed until the reporting day listed on the face of the ticket. He also agreed with me that you got a bull$hit ticket that might never get prosecuted. I agree with your daycare client that you will not be doing time (although they tell us never to make promises about results). I also agree with your daycare client that you should keep checking with the court clerk to find out when and if it gets filed. The date on the ticket is your arraignment date not the trial date. If they don't file by that time, keep watching your mail for a letter informing you that you are being charged and with instructions on when and where to report to court for arraignment because:

California Penal Code Section 802. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), (c), or (d), prosecution for an offense not punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison shall be commenced within one year after commission of the offense.

(b) Prosecution for a misdemeanor violation of Section 647.6 or former Section 647a committed with or upon a minor under the age of 14 years shall be commenced within three years after commission of the offense.

(c) Prosecution of a misdemeanor violation of Section 729 of the Business and Professions Code shall be commenced within two years after commission of the offense.

(d) Prosecution of a misdemeanor violation of Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 7000) of Division 3 of the business and Professions Code shall be commenced as follows: (BLAH BLAH BLAH)

Amber Gramps

Glad to see I am getting so many freebee's on this. She also told me about the one year letter being a way to sneak it in. ouch, I guess I don't move for a year. ya know what sucks, I can't copy the Google Earth image of the intersection to the web. I can print it, but not link to it. I can't even get the yellowpages site to get with the program.

wild side story. Some of you know I have a pacemaker and can't go thru the metal detector. yesterday when I emptied my pockets for the x-ray machine, into the little basket, my $400.00 gas check from work got stuck in the machine. I didn't miss it 'til I got to the office and realized it was gone. I went back today and they had it in lost and found. I gave them my business card and asked if they had a matching check and they did. Wow!

Amber Gramps

Day care lawyer is going to get me a copy of the definition of "exhibition of speed"

Hester

I already gave it to you, Bray baby:

I got all of that stuff from the Vehicle Code section that the cop charged you with and the jury instructions. That's all there is to it.

If I were the prosecutor, I would not be too excited about having to prove to a jury that you were trying to impress someone while making a left turn at an intersection. Maybe if I had some evidence of the circumstances that tended to support the charge like another Porsche was around, you chirped the tires, there were hot chicks on the sidewalk -something.

If I were your defense counsel, I would argue that, not only hasn't the State offered any evidence tending to prove that you were trying to impress someone, but, the facts (e.g., that you are a middle aged family man, that it was the middle of the day, that you didn't have a passenger, that there were no other sports cars around, that there were no "hot chicks" around, etc.) are inconsistent with a finding that you were trying to impress anyone (as if you could). I would close my argument by stating the obvious: that a Porsche is impressive enough when its parked so that there was no need for you to try to impress anyone with its acceleration or speed. As I see it, the weakest part of yoru defense case is that you were driving a Porsche and, most likely, very few members of the jury will have ever done that.

Keep fighting, Bray - No Justice No Peace!!!!

Edgy01

If you can't pop it up let me give it a try. PM me the address and I will send you an image of it. Also, you can try www.live.com. If it's in SoCal there is a great chance that it is in there,--from each compass direction, and far more clear than anything from Google Earth.

Amber Gramps

Today is the day guys. I have less than 6 hours of freedom left. NOT GUILTY, NOT GUILTY, NOT GUILTY

Antony.

Hope all goes well! Sounds like you have a fairly solid case.