[balajc]

Not me who got the ticket....my wife in the maxima

I was not with her. It was at a 4-way stop, she told me she did stop (She told me she came to a complete stop), looked both ways and then went through the intersection.

Couple blocks down the road, a cop flied up behind her and pulled her over. My dad, my 2 relatives visiting from out of country are all in the car. The cop did not waste any time and wrote her a ticket ($130!).

When my wife presented the registration, she mitakenly gave him the old one (my moms', I had just change the registration and title to my own name). The cop did not even check the license plate and on the ticket he wrote down the old license plate number which I already returned to DMV just last week (professional, eh? )

Anyway, anyway to fight this? How does the cop proves to the judge that she did not come to a complete stop? She does not have to prove her innocence, the cop has to prove her guilty, correct?

If there is no way to fight it, then I am either gonna
1) on the court date, ask for traffic school and reduce it to a non-moving violation (My wife has a PERFECT record, no violation of anykind)
2) Ask for PBJ (probation before judgement)

Any advice?

*****RANT ON*****
I know if you break the law, you pay for it. But I think in this case, my wife is simply a victim of the monthly quota! I know Mayor Bloomberg has a tight budget, but it does not mean honest citizens like us should be the target of extra income for the city budget.
I wish the cops were this "diligent" ALL the time.
- How about 5 years ago when my house was broken in and was completely trashed while my parents were away and I was in school, huh?! The cops came and said "yeah we will look into it"

- How about 3 years ago when 5 houses on my block (including mine) were broken in on the same day?! The cops came and said "yeah we will look into it" Again, never heard from since

- How about a few months ago when my house alarm went off and the cops came by during the day and no one was home. They simply determined the alarm was unneccessary. I called three times to the precinct trying to get hold of the officer who answered the call, yet I was brushed off and never heard from them... I guess we little people just were not important enough to them

Note to the Queens precinct: Why dont you guys go bother the punk kids who flies up and down my block in their POS civic with a coffee can exhaust? Why dont you guys go bother those little gangs who hangs out in front of the pizza place at 12 midnight? Maybe I am just asking too much for my hard earn tax money???
*****RANT OFF*****

 

[10th Warrior]

too funny, i was just at court last night for the same thing i pleaded not guilty and then i met with the prosecuter privately.

Anyway, anyway to fight this? How does the cop proves to the judge that she did not come to a complete stop? She does not have to prove her innocence, the cop has to prove her guilty, correct?

that's basically what i said to the prosecuter. her response was that the cop is a trained police officer and that you have to stop for a full 3 seconds or its considered rolling the sign. she said i could take it to trial and i might be able to convince the judge that i had fully stopped or she offered to ammend it to a non-moving violation. i still had to pay ($109 including court costs) but no points. I opted for the later. after i made the decision, some random lawyer who was standing nearby said that i made the right choice and that the chances of convincing a judge i was innocent (i know i know, they're supposed to prove me guilty but welcome to reality) were very slim. take it for what its worth.

hope this helps and good luck!

 

[balajc]

I have never been to traffic court...so how do you meet with the prosecutor privately??? right before the trial or a few days before the trial?

Thanks

 

[10th Warrior]

everywhere i've been has run things slightly different, and these are all in MO so other states may be completely different. how it works is you show up on your court date. some places go in alphabetical order while others have you sign in and go in a first come first served order, which is nice for those of us who have a last name that begins with a "T" (the lawyers always get to go first) either way, bring a book. expect several hundred other victims in there with you. this is big business. anyway, you have 3 options on your plea, guilty, not guilty, or guilty with an explanation. the first 2 are pretty self explantory, the 3rd one you still admit guilt but are basically trying to demonstrate that there were some extenuating circumstances invovled and hoping for lienency. anyway, if you plead guilty, you'll be assessed a fine and have to pay it. if you plead not guilty, sometimes, very rarely, they'll drop the case if its something minor (like a BS parking ticket and they knew it, for example ). what will usually happen is that they will set it for trial at a future date. now, as for talking things over with a prosecuter, sometimes you can do it that first night (like i could last night) and other times they'll let you talk to them right before the trial on the second date. you could also possibly call and make an appointment with them prior to the trial but i've never done that. anyway, you talk to the prosecuter and try to work out a deal. in these kind of "he said, she said" situations, i have gotten the charges dropped alltogether. this most recent time, that wasn't going to fly. you just have to gauge how serious the prosecuter is, as well as the judge.

oh, regarding providing the wrong documentation to the officer, just make sure you bring proof that everything was legal at the time (or if it wasn't that its been fixed) and they'll generally only make you pay court costs.

 

[gm6]

that's some good info. I'm going to give that a shot before my court date.