Originally posted by: statik213
Originally posted by: EGGO
You have a slim chance of the cop not showing up. Get it amended or:
http://www.blurofinsanity.com/Speeding.html
Thx... some info there....
anyone actually gotten off?
Yes, I have gotten out of many tickets.
First off, don't plead guilty. Doesn't matter if you're guilty or not, pleading not guilty will greatly increase the chance of the ticket getting dismissed.
See if you can send in your plea by mail (some states will let you do this). Otherwise, plead not guilty in court. Request a trial by affidavit (aka trial by written declaration). This means instead of setting a court date, you send in your written statement of the events to the court, and the officer will do the same, to be read over by the judge.
After that, slap together a simple discovery request, send it registered mail to the court, and wait for their reply.
Also write up a good sounding explanation for the events that led to your ticket for the judge. Bend the truth if you want, just make it sound good.
The great thing about fighting it through mail is that you never have to deal with any state employees in person, and everything takes weeks or months to play out.
If they don't comply with your discovery request, ask the judge for a dismissal. If the officer doesn't submit a written declaration for your case, the case is automatically dismissed. And if they do everything you request, a nicely written statement can make you sound a lot less guilty than bumbling in front of a judge in court, leading to lower fines.
I've had cases dismissed for all sorts of reasons, and it all started with pleading not guilty.
Pleading guilty is basically like bending over and asking for them to punish you with a fine and increased insurance. I dunno about you, but if there is even a 1% chance for dismissal by pleading not guilty, I'd go for it.
12 over in a 55 sounds like a money-raising effort, not public safety. I'd make them earn their fine.