Fighting Your Traffic Ticket: Don't Make These 5 Foolish Mistakes
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Over the years I have heard of some pretty awful defense strategies people use to try and get out of a traffic ticket. You cant blame them though. A lot of these individuals were simply relying on so called insider information they heard from a friend.
This article will outline five of the biggest mistakes you can make when battling your traffic ticket in court. Familiarize yourself with them and never use them in traffic court.
Mistake #1- Delaying the Court Trial
The rationale for this, some say, is that the longer you can delay traffic court for your traffic ticket, the likelier the chance the police officer won't show up at your court date.
Delaying the court date will not improve your chance of having your traffic ticket dismissed.
The question I've always had was if you do put off your court date, what do you do when he still shows up?
This may be a little known fact, but police officers get overtime pay to be in traffic court.
Mistake #2- Requesting evidence before traffic court.
By law you do have a legal right to see everything the prosecution plans to convict you with. This process is called 'discovery' and can be useful in a murder trial. But this isn't a murder trial and doing so can actually hurt your case.
If you file a motion for discovery this tells the prosecution that you intend to plan a defense. In almost every case the prosecutor will make sure his case is airtight so you have virtually no chance of winning.
Don't request anything or even contact the courthouse at any time prior to your trial about your traffic ticket. DO NOT let them know you are familiar with the traffic court process.
Mistake #3- Doing too much needless research.
How many of you like to spend your free time at your local courthouse researching piles upon piles of law books? There's absolutely no need to do this research. It's time consuming and not to mention boring.
Only rarely would it be prudent to look up a law so you know how it may be worded, other than that it is needless to do this with most traffic tickets.
Mistake #4- Going after the police officers credibility
If you go to traffic court with the idea you are going to attack the officers credibility, don't waste your time. You can forget getting your traffic ticket dismissed. Saying the officer didn't use the equipment properly, or that he singled you out or any number of other excuses are useless.
Don't ever go into traffic court with the idea you are going to challenge the police officers training on the use of the radar gun. This will only draw scrutiny from the judge, who will accept the officers testimony that he is properly trained on the use of the equipment.
The officer will NOT have to prove his training qualifications in the courtroom. Let's face it, the officer has been properly trained and knows how to work the radar/laser gun. No question about it. If you try and go this route you will be disappointed when the judge asks you to provide evidence supporting your claim.
Mistake #5- Going to traffic court unprepared
Probably the mistake most people make is thinking they did a good job doing their homework prior to their day in traffic court, and actually didn't have a clue as to what they were doing to get prepared. So they lose their case and end up being convicted of the traffic ticket.
And then there are the people who show up to traffic court thinking the judge will have pity on them if they just tell their side of the story. Yeah right!
Look, I know the thought of going to traffic court can be a little scary for some, but this isn't a murder trial. It's just a simple traffic ticket. Traffic court is set up to be extremely 'user friendly' due to the large amounts of people who go there every day.
Avoid these five mistakes and you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court and getting your traffic ticket dismissed.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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