Because cops never, ever, ever exercise their discretion in whom to cite and whom to warn and whom to ignore? /s
Christ, what an asshole!
The only excuse that has ever worked for me, which may even have constitutional grounding for not detaining me or delaying me in my task:
Iâve got to pick up my assistant poll worker and set up our polling place downtown by 7 AM â I didnât see you because this ballot box piled on top of these unopened boxes of ballots was blocking my view through the rear window.
(valid only early on election morning)
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There are a lot of Quebecois drivers in my state year-round, and they almost uniformly drive like utter assholes. Why? Because of the paperwork, and the cops know they can process at least 2 US citizensâ tickets in the time it takes to deal with one Quebecois (maybe 3 or more US citizens if they pull the âno speaka da Englishâ line), and Iâve also heard that they also canât force the Canadians to pay the tickets.
Normally it takes the Bleu et Blancs going at least 25 over the limit before theyâll get pulled over.
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A friend of mine, who would get pulled over more often then me, advised me to never, ever offer an explanation as to why Iâd been speeding. Itâs essentially an admission of guilt (âanything you say will be used against youâ). The only response should be, âI didnât realize I was speeding.â Though when I first tried this, it made the officer really agitated â or seem agitated. I think he wanted me to say anything else.
But yeah, his main strategy was to reschedule, more than once if possible. He got out of multiple (more than 1) tickets when the officer didnât show.
The best way is simply to hire an attorney to deal with it. It will probably cost as much as the fine but Iâve had positive outcomes. Sometimes it doesnât take much for prosecutors to cry uncle if you fight a measly speeding ticket.
I saw this point made in that ânever talk to the police videoâ. When pulled over for speeding and asked if they know how fast they were driving, people will frequently admit to driving a few mph over the limit rather than the much higher speed they actually know they were doing.
Whoops - you just confessed to speeding. Ticket for you!
Perhaps it is dependent on circumstances? Some judges might get pissy with cops who never show up to help prosecute the tickets they hand out, etc.
Whatever the circumstances, I imagine having the case thrown out because the cop doesnât show up becomes much, much harder if youâve had the case adjourned 3 times earlierâŚ
It might depend on the nature of the evidence? Red light camera vs. cop with radar? I donât know, but showing up to court when the officer didnât worked for me in Michigan.
I remember going to fight a jaywalking ticket and being disappointed that the cop didnât show. I hardly broke either the letter or spirit of the law. I was a foot from the lines of the crosswalk as I crossed, and the specific citation actually has to do with walking along the road like itâs a sidewalk. In the copâs defense, she was stopping everyone that looked Hispanic and shaggy that day. I happened to be going to the store in my pajamas and looked like a bum. When I didnât have a heavy Mexican accent, I could tell she was surprised. When I gave her my student ID she asked about my citizenship. I told her that I didnât have any documents on me that verified it (and I didnât need any in my state) and that my passport was at home. She asked why I didnât have my passport with me. I told her matter-of-factly that I would normally have it on my person if I lived in a foreign country, but that I didnât.
I started paying close attention to this phenomenon in my neighborhood which happened a few hundred yards from my apartment. Cops would show up, cite Hispanics (who made up half the neighborhood) who were crossing the road and were the least likely to defend themselves or fight the ticket. I was ultimately disappointed that I couldnât make my case. Iâd rather have lost in a weird way.
That said, the end of this article is incredibly fitting. I donât argue with people about the law anymore. Iâm not a lawyer and my legal training has been fairly minimal, but Iâve learned more than most laypeople. The first thing I noticed about the law was how many people will insist they know the law better than anybody else. Iâve talked to attorneys who canât get clients to take their advice because everyone thinks that law is a simple enough field. After all, you just have to read the law and apply it, right? Even people who understand precedent and the hierarchy of the courts deceive themselves. In fact, it seems the more educated the person, the less likely they are to take a lawyerâs sound and competent advice. Hereâs a tip for anyone who ever needs or hires a lawyer: As long as you donât have a solid basis to doubt their competence, listen to the fucker. Their job is actually to know more than you about the law.
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When I moved to where I currently live I managed to get a red-light ticket the first weekend I arrived. As it was automated that meant I didnât know about it until I received the citation in the mail - which, as it was sent to my old address and then forwarded meant that I didnât have notice until after the court date. I requested a re-hearing, and they then did the same damn thing for the re-hearing notice. I then appealed and won - because they had lost the case file. It took nine months to get the ticket deposit back too.
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It depends on whoâs issuing the ticket, in some cases extra fines can be added for attempting to contest.
Always read the fine print
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Exactly. The author of the Jalopnik article is being irresponsible to represent something about traffic court to be true everywhere in all 50 states. Traffic court in particular is very localized and policies can vary by locality.
With respect to dismissing a ticket when the officer doesnât show, itâs important to note that under the 6th Amendment you have a right to confront your accuser before being convicted of a crime. So if a traffic ticket is a criminal infraction in your state then no cop = no conviction. However, note that in some states I think some traffic violations are considered civil so the Confrontation Clause may not apply. (Another reason why itâs stupid to write a blanket article on this topic).
The author says that itâs a myth that tickets will be dismissed âautomaticallyâ when the cop doesnât appear â but then in the full text he explains itâs only a myth because the judge (who is actually not called a judge in many traffic courts around the country) may decide to call the case back when the officer is there. Obviously a lot of localities would decide itâs more efficient to dismiss all cases in that situation.
In California, the Evidence code says that if the officer does not appear the judge may either dismiss or reschedule the trial; that decision is likely set by local policy and in many cases may in fact be âautomatic.â
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Yeah, itâs probably a good thing youâre not a lawyer.
âIn my clientâs defense, he didnât just rob the bank, he ALSO robbed the thrift shop next door!â
Yawn.
They have gotten out of so many tickets using these and other top secret methods that the police have simply given up trying. Go ahead and tell us all about it.
Did I say I have gotten out of a ticket using this mechanism? Is there anything that I wrote that you think is untrue?
Both IIRC. Story told in DAâs Salmon of Doubt.
I donât think I wrote what you think I meant, or something like that.
I canât speak to what you MEANT, but when you say, âIn so-and-soâs DEFENSEâŚâ you usually mean that what youâre about to say next is something that will reflect better on them than what you were talking about before would imply. In your case, you said you were ticketed for bull$!%$ reasons and didnât break the spirit or law. But, âin the copâs defenseâ, she was stopping everyone that looked Hispanic and shaggy that day. So it looks like either you are implying âshe was targeting people who looked Hispanic and shaggy, not because they committed any crime but just because they looked Hispanic and shaggyâ is a good thing and you just accidentally got caught up into it and wrongly ticketed, so what she did to you was excusable or otherwise not that bad,or youâre using the term ironically, or you didnât really think about what you meant when you said âin the copâs defense.â
Again, no idea what you meant (when I posted I assumed it was one of the latter two, though), but in my book, a cop stopping everyone who looked Hispanic and shaggy and also wrongly ticketing you is WORSE than a cop simply wrongly ticketing you and you alone.
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Ahhh, I see. I thought you were referring to something else. That phrasing was meant to be sarcastic.
Ha. And when I contested my traffic ticket, to request a court date I had to first pay the fine in full. Guess how motivated they were to hear me out and issue me that refundâŚ
Of all the people I saw contesting tickets that day, not one was found innocent, but a good third of the cases were thrown out because the cop didnât show up.
