Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertPaulson
I'm aware of this, and my ticket was nothing special, 84 in a 70 caught by laser. No mention of how much traffic there was, where i was in the pack. when i pressed the judge about it he lifted the ticket pointed to the LEO signature and statement on the ticket and said this was all the evidence he needed. The tone in his voice made it very clear he wasn't going to budge and I wasn't feeling up to adding contempt of court charge on my day so i accepted the ticket and learned to just lawyer up from now on.
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Discretion was the better part of valor on your part... good read on the judge. In a perfect world, the right to question the officer is a right... and the judge (or commissioner) needs to allow that right to be exercised regardless of whether the final arbitrator of the decision has already made his/her mind up about guilt or innocence. It's a game... you might have pressed the point... a 2nd court date may have been set... the LEO might have showed up... and you may have been able to prove "reasonable doubt" and STILL ended up losing (guilty) just b/c the judge wanted to "make a point." Just bugs me when people in that role take advantage of the fact that "the people" don't know (or understand) their rights... As you point out... if you had a lawyer at your side... the judge probably would have acted differently.