you should be able to get it reduced, go to court and beg for forgiveness and hope the officer does not show up for court!!!

 

Heres whats gonna happen....your gonna go to the court house and plead not guilty and be given a court date to appear to present your case. You need to find witnesses who heard him say you were doing 86 and not 95. That or I'd try like hell to find the officer and have him correct it. 30 over here and your going to jail and impound for wreckless driving.

I hate to say this, but if you have no witnesses, and you were "racing" aka as getting passed at 86 MPH and the passing vehicle was tagged at 97, he simply put you at pace with her. In his mind you WERE racing, not coasting downhill....thats why he did what he did. I don't agree with it, but you are gonna have hell getting it changed without witnesses, especially with the race accusation. I assure you the officer has racing down in his notes. Good luck, and pay more attention to your speed!

 

FYI Officer doesn't have to show up to the initial appearance. When you go to make your plea, you plea guilty and pay your ticket, no contest and maybe the judge will deal with ya, or not guilty and are given a date for your hearing/trial by judge. The officer has to appear for your hearing/trial, not your arraignment.

 

for a speeding ticket!!! not that way in NC, but I know states vary!

 

It's that way in every state that I know of. When you plead not guilty, the city/county/state has to have time to prove your are guilty of your citation beyond any reason of doubt. That goes for any ticket. Don't think of the word hearing or trial like what you see on TV....it's simply traffic court. It's you, your attorney if you have one, the judge, court reporters, and the issuing officer. It's a planned docket and not a mass arraignment like when you plea. Alot of people think if the officer doesn't show for the arraignment that they are off scott free....but thats simply a rumor and is passed on by people who have never been to traffic court.

 

oh ok.......well twice in the last two years my daughter went to court with a speeding violation, both times the da was there, we asked for a reduced sentence, they dropped it to 9 over, no points, and she paid the fine! and it did not affect her license. Maybe the difference is the terminology she probably pleaded no contest.

On a different note I personally had a ticket thrown out because the officer did not show, it was 25 yrs ago, so things have probably changed

 

Yup, county and state tickets is handled with the DA. City courts do a city judge. Glad they didn't post to her record. Oh and the judge can throw out tickets if he wishes at the arraignment. Rarely a judge gives the defendant anytime to give their side of the story. BUT I've seen many seatbelt, insurance, failure to pay taxes due to state ( tag expired ) out if the offender was a first timer, or presented a current tag, insurance slip, or some minor ticket.

 

first thing you need to do is file a Freedom Of Information Act request with the department he works for. you want a full copy of the dash cam video which should include an audio recording of the officer while he was outside of the vehicle and also all radio transmissions between the officer and the dispatcher both prior to and immediately after the traffic stop. file the request through an attorney if you have to.

http://www.fcc.gov/foia/

go to the above link for information on the FOIA and how to file a request.

then you need to get written notarized statements from your buddies specifying what they know of the events leading up to the traffic stop and what they heard the officer say. if you can find out who the other driver was contact her and see if she is willing to do the same.

 

If there is anything misrecorded on a traffic violation, then the ticket can be totally disregarded. When I got my reckless driving ticket a few days after I got my license the first thing that my lawyer looked for was to see if there was anything wrong with the report or with the ticket in any way, if there was he was just going to go in and argue that the facts were mismatched and it would have been thrown out right there.

Therefore if you go in and plea not guilty and can prove it, not only will they lower it, but they will completely drop it, and as well that record will actually go against that officer for being dishonest.

Also to argue against the street racing if you were going down a hill, make it clear to them that your truck is not a ford pinto and that you can build a lot of momentum going down a hill and with that kind of power your truck will reach a lot higher speeds than what he has claimed, you have many arguments and lots of proof in your favor, dont be afraid to fight it.

 

Hey I dont mean to hijack my own thread but......Im gonna post a video of how I did yesterday at the track once it uploads to the internet......gave a trailblazer SS a run for its money