Oh great, another traffic court question. I consider speeding tickets a nuisance at worst and realize that the laws covering this vary by municipality, but a friend was ticketed, and wants the straight dope, or at least an experienced opinion on two questions.
Is it considered sufficient cause to dismiss a speeding ticket if the actual and posted speeds have possibly been swapped? As written, no crime was committed; my friend was driving the speed limit and the speed limit was misstated. A dismissal sounds to me a bit like the old '70s cop show cliche of criminals getting off on a technicality, but said friend thinks that this could get the ticket dismissed. If the officer testifies (very likely), should his testimony be considered sufficient to counter his writing on the ticket?
Is the defense required to cooperate with the prosecution during discovery (if this is the right term for pretrial investigation in criminal cases)? Our city schedules a time for the assistant attorney and the defense to meet to discuss the case and set a trial date. I would personally be inclined to refuse to meet with the prosecution and ask the court to set a date, but the judge might overrule this. Besides, the prosecution and judge work together on a daily basis, and while they shouldn’t show prejudice, they are familiar with each other and work for the same entity.
Answer to No. 1 is yes. Police sometimes write tickets because they have to meet quotas. If they don’t believe the ticket is really merited and if they are kind-hearted, they will tell the guy (or gal) come to court and we’ll get it dismissed. An officer is an officer of the court and his testimony is highly regarded.
As to No. 2, if I were you I’d meet with the asst. atty. He may decide to dismiss the case then and there and you won’t have to appear before a judge. In fact, if the facts are what you say, he probably will recommended dismissal, which is tantamount to dismissing it as the judge will go along with his recommendation.
If I understand the OP correctly, you’re saying the officer filled out the ticket incorrectly. If he testifies, his testimony will absolutely overcome the mistake. I’ve made mistakes in paperwork before, and all the prosecution has to do is explain the error.
Discovery is the process wherein the two sides have to exchange any information they possess, such as lists of witnesses and to what they are expected to testify, what evidence will be presented, etc. (this is why in the real world, there are no “surprise witnesses” like on TV).
Both sides are required to share this information, including allowing each other to talk to the witnesses. If a witness refuses to talk, they can be forced to give a sworn deposition.
The first step to fighting the ticket is to get a copy of the officer’s report. That will tell you the rest of what he observed, and probably correctly lists the posted and recorded speeds. Once you see that, you might see a way to beat the ticket. It’s doubtful, though. With a speeding ticket, there usually isn’t much to use to create reasonable doubt.
I’ve never been to traffic court where there were laywers of any kind. Jsut the marshal, the judge and all the poor slobs with tickets. Argueing a speeding ticket around here is ridiculous. If you don’t get it ‘fixed’ before your court date (which 85% do) you pay the fine and move on with your life. You gotta love the good ole boy system of Louisiana.
Mistakes made on the ticket don’t really matter. I had a case where the officer actually put down the wrong highway as the location of the incident, one that I didn’t even drive along on my route to work, it did not matter.
Badge, I doubt that the police write separate reports for speeding tickets; from what I’ve seen the local system is set up for volume, and the ticket is designed to give a good basic summary of the officers point of view. Years ago, I ran across a motor cop that I knew and stopped to talk (as a motorcyclist and mechanic, I was legal for once, and thought I’d say hi. ) He mentioned that he was having a great day, he was in a great location, and had managed to write ten tickets (IIRC) in the past hour. Accept that rate, and an officer could easily write 60-70 tickets in a day. I doubt they could remember enough to write reports for all of them when he got back to the station.
I was also confused by the “prosection & defense” statements. Is this a plain old speeding ticket, or has your friend done something else? I ask because in many jurisdictions, you can’t have an attorney represent you in traffic court! Unless it’s a major vio such as DUI.
If it’s a plain old speeding ticket, and your buddy was travelling at the posted speed limit, and the officer wrote down that he was travelling at the posted speed limit, and said cop was just confused about what the limit was, then it might get dismissed.
Of course, there could be other factors that we don’t know about. Best not to seek legal advice on a message board, as there are significant jurisdictional concerns that you and your friend must be aware of.
) He mentioned that he was having a great day, he was in a great location, and had managed to write ten tickets (IIRC) in the past hour. Accept that rate, and an officer could easily write 60-70 tickets in a day. I doubt they could remember enough to write reports for all of them when he got back to the station.