Stuck In The Legal System And Cant Get Out

[chuckbradley]

Well went to court tonight. I let Austin do it all himself, well almost. The Judge asked why he was there and Austin told him the officer said the letters were to small so he wrote the ticket. Austin told the Judge I had an official Illinois temp tag on the car. The judge asked if he had proof. This is where I helped remind him it was right on the ticket. So he Judge you will see right on the ticket where it says registration"ill temp tag #######" The judge looked thought a whole 5 seconds, asked if it was permanently registered now, Austin said yes sir. Judge said dismissed.

I wanted to get up and argue that it was irrelevant if it was registered now. Thats not what the ticket was for. It was almost like it was dismissed as a favor since it was registered now. I wanted to judge to admit the mistake, no such luck. There should really be some type of recourse citizens can take when a mistake is made against them. We make a mistake and we have to pay a fine, they make a mistake and its sorry about your luck. I know, I am whining and life isnt fair. Doesnt mean I cant bitch about it.

Now on to his speeding ticket

Get this, he was following another car. The state trooper got the front car. Pulled them both over. HE told Austin i know you were going a little slower than the other guy but it was close and wrote him for the same speed. Ok we all know he was speeding but nobody knows how fast he was going. We can all agree the average speed from point a to point b was the same but there was no ticket for the average speed only for the speed at a specific moment in time. At that specific time the difference between the 2 could vary significantly. He will probably pay it and take the traffic school though, fight it and no option for the school if you loose. At 16 insurance is a bigger problem than a single fine.

[Lee Bell]

Well went to court tonight. I let Austin do it all himself, well almost. The Judge asked why he was there and Austin told him the officer said the letters were to small so he wrote the ticket. Austin told the Judge I had an official Illinois temp tag on the car. The judge asked if he had proof. This is where I helped remind him it was right on the ticket. So he Judge you will see right on the ticket where it says registration"ill temp tag #######" The judge looked thought a whole 5 seconds, asked if it was permanently registered now, Austin said yes sir. Judge said dismissed.

I wanted to get up and argue that it was irrelevant if it was registered now. Thats not what the ticket was for. It was almost like it was dismissed as a favor since it was registered now. I wanted to judge to admit the mistake, no such luck. There should really be some type of recourse citizens can take when a mistake is made against them. We make a mistake and we have to pay a fine, they make a mistake and its sorry about your luck. I know, I am whining and life isnt fair. Doesnt mean I cant bitch about it.

Congratulations on your success.

There is recourse. You have much the same option as the police officer does. You can take it to court. I think you could do a pretty good job of demonstrating that you were in compliance with the law and that the police officer was wrong. You can show damages and, if the judge agrees, might get compensation for your time and for your costs in seeing justice is done. I wouldn't bet the ranch on it, but nothing ventured nothing gained. Of course, the downside for you is pretty much the same as it was for the officer that wrote the ticket that did not fly. You may get nothing for your time and effort except the satisfaction that you caused him to spend his time to defend himself just as he mad you spend your time to defend yourself.

Get this, he was following another car. The state trooper got the front car. Pulled them both over. HE told Austin i know you were going a little slower than the other guy but it was close and wrote him for the same speed. Ok we all know he was speeding but nobody knows how fast he was going. We can all agree the average speed from point a to point b was the same but there was no ticket for the average speed only for the speed at a specific moment in time. At that specific time the difference between the 2 could vary significantly. He will probably pay it and take the traffic school though, fight it and no option for the school if you loose. At 16 insurance is a bigger problem than a single fine.

If you want to beat the ticket, you're going to have to have a lawyer. A police officer can only write a ticket for what he knows you were doing. As you describe the situation, he would have to lie to claim that he did. A decent traffic court attorney should be able to get a ticket written for something the officer knew he was not doing thrown out, particularly if you were a witness to the officer's statements and if it was written at the same time he wrote another ticket for a violation he was not guilty of. Don't even think about trying without an attorney. A not guilty verdict lies in the details and they have to be presented correctly.

Lee

[chuckbradley]

Lee, you are probably right. Might be best to have him pay the ticket and go to school. I believe court cost to be 138.00 which still has to be paid, and he was speeding. At least you all know where part of your target cost went. He makes most his money by boxing targets up.

Now on the other I believe in KY you cant sue the officer or governmental entity as long as they are doing their job. Only if they step out of the scope of their official duty. It may be different now but thats what we were told when I was a councilman and Mayor. Plus damages are minor, it was worth the lesson for Austin i suppose.

[Lee Bell]

Lee, you are probably right. Might be best to have him pay the ticket and go to school. I believe court cost to be 138.00 which still has to be paid, and he was speeding. At least you all know where part of your target cost went. He makes most his money by boxing targets up.

It's probably not a bad idea, at that. Perhaps it will be a lesson learned. On the other hand, it took me more than a few tickets to learn my lesson . . . if, in fact, I've learned it yet.

Now on the other I believe in KY you cant sue the officer or governmental entity as long as they are doing their job. Only if they step out of the scope of their official duty. It may be different now but thats what we were told when I was a councilman and Mayor. Plus damages are minor, it was worth the lesson for Austin i suppose.

Interesting situation. If this weren't just a discussion between people in an online forum, I'd certainly agree. If trying to make an issue of it, though, I'd probably say something like "an officer that wrote a ticket for an infraction he knew was not as written, was outside of the scope of his official duty." On the other hand, I paid more than one ticket written for a speed that both the officer and I knew was less than what I had actually been doing. I rode a big bore motorcycle, one that was my drag bike on the weekends. When your vehicle doesn't even run right until it's going close to 100, it's hard for the young, or young at heart, to play by the rules.

Lee

[ErikW]

i know you were going a little slower than the other guy but it was close and wrote him for the same speed

You mean the LEO/taxman perjured himself? I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you.

Don't think for a second that the perjury won't continue in the courtroom under oath.

[Lee Bell]

i know you were going a little slower than the other guy but it was close and wrote him for the same speed

You mean the LEO/taxman perjured himself? I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you.

Don't think for a second that the perjury won't continue in the courtroom under oath.

Actually, I had not thought in terms of perjury, but you're right. That's what it was when he knowingly entered false information on the ticket. That, alone is probably enough to get him a nasty letter in his file. Were he to continue to do it in court, with two, and if the other driver heard it too, maybe three witnesses saying he's a liar, he might get to spend a bit of time in the crossbar hotel. It's unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

Lee

[chuckbradley]

The problem is if we fight it and lose then no traffic court to get it off his record. If he pays the court cost and goes to school it comes off his record and he learns a lesson. He was speeding, how fast we dont know. He doesnt even know. Maybe he will learn to pay attention to his speed from now on.

He is supposed to go to ask them about it. I found some program Kentucky had for under 18 drivers where they get the cost waived for first offense and go to school. Dont know if that still applies.

[Nik Habicht]

The problem is if we fight it and lose then no traffic court to get it off his record. If he pays the court cost and goes to school it comes off his record and he learns a lesson. He was speeding, how fast we dont know. He doesnt even know. Maybe he will learn to pay attention to his speed from now on.

He is supposed to go to ask them about it. I found some program Kentucky had for under 18 drivers where they get the cost waived for first offense and go to school. Dont know if that still applies.

Take this for what it's worth --- I'm German, so speeding's genetic. I get a ticket, I pay the ticket. If Austin was in fact speeding, and if he can deal with this with traffic school ---- well, that's probably the right thing to do, no?

And it's a lesson to be learned ---- if you're going to go fast, eventually you'll have to pay the man....

[Miranda]

you will get more advice than you will want

on the speeding ticket.

ummm I strongly recommend you fight the improperly written ticket.

use lawyer

officer needs to know that he can be caught in perjury...

cops that lie are _dangerous_ !

If your son can learn not to speed, I approve.

Tell him a little slower will go a long way to avoiding the problem.

The two are NOT related.

Where I live, a car doing the speed limit is rare.

and I have speeding tickets, most are mine,

at least one was not, but I understand why the officer thought

that I was hotfooting it.

and others have gotten tickets that I may have deserved too.

our streets have many perils....

One way to avoid getting a ticket (the best way)

is to make sure there are others going faster

(I never am on a road alone anymore....)

In this case the officer was writing a 'hoper'

In Other words... I hope this fool pays instead of fighting...

My bet is the officer does not showup for the court date.

If he does, the perjury problem may come up.

He will avoid that.

When the dust has settled, Your son can use the

first-speeding-ticket-gets-forgiven-school

for the first ticket he deserves.

If he is smart, it will be a long time.

v miranda