Unlicensed op...

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

The initial stop occurred in upstate on my way to work. The stop was for a tail light out, but the officer quickly found other reasons to rack up tickets. My license was about two months expired and I didn’t have my registration card, even though the property document was affixed to my window.

I pleaded not guilty by mail and requested a supporting deposition. The justice accepted my plea and scheduled a trial, but I never received the depositions. Before the so-called trial, the citing officer pulled me aside and asked me how we could dispose of the case. When I said I was going to ask the judge to dismiss the case for lack of supporting depositions, he became visibly irate. At first, he said he’d “re-file the charges” against me. He then consulted the district attorney. He made and signed a notarized statement saying he sent the deposition out seven days before the trial was scheduled. To date, I still haven't received the depositions, and it's been about four months.

I faxed the motion to dismiss the case on Jan. 30, on the grounds that I hadn't received the depositions within 30 days of my request(it would have been 43 days If I was to believe the officer's statement), and when I didn’t receive a response the week before my trial, I filed for a continuance. The day of my trial, I received a succinct letter saying my motion was denied and my trial rescheduled to March 13. There was no reason for the denial.

I am up against the wall here, as my trial scheduled for tomorrow. The court has a policy of not granting continuances unless they are made within 7 days of the scheduled trial. I'm really not sure what to do at this point, other than to appear and ask for another continuance on the grounds that I need more time to craft my legal defense(which is true) or hire a defense attorney.

These aren't moving violations and these aren't misdemenors...but they're probably enough this court could bang me for $500 or so...and let's just say that's a financial hardship these days. Any help anyone could provide to at least prologue this trial until I can do some more research would be of great service. I contacted an attorney yesterday, but haven't heard back. I'm thinking the best course of action is to say I'm hiring one and he couldn't appear. Any suggestions?

Big Problem #1: I'm not entirely sure you're entitled to a supporting dep on equipment violations.

Problem #2: Precisely how much time to do you need to craft a defense to unlicensed operation? It's either "yes my license was valid, here's the DMV abstract to prove it" or "no, you got me". All in all, it takes maybe 90 minutes to apply for and receive the abstract - what are the other 42 days and 22 hours for?

Problem #3: If the court denies your request for a continuance, you have two choices: appear as scheduled or do not. If you do not, you lose by default and have no right to appeal.

Problem #4: The court already denied your motion to dismiss for on the supporting dep issue. Assuming you are even entitled to them, and assuming the court was willing to overlook the fact that faxing a motion is improper service, and assuming the court issued a written denial, you have (had?) a very limited time to appeal that denial. Barring that, all you can try is renewing your motion at the hearing, and when it's denied again, note your objection and appeal it then. (Odds are about 1,000,000 to 1 that an appeal on those grounds would be successful, but it's better than 0.)

Problem #5: When the officer spoke to you about a deal, guess what - that was the time to work out a deal! Now, you've succeeded in pissing him off, likely pissing the prosecutor off, and potentially even pissing the judge off. None of that bodes well for your future prospects of working something out. Had you not decided to play armchair-lawyer, you'd very likely have been able to work out a fine that was significantly lower than $500. Probably not so much anymore.

In short, I see nothing here that would suggest you have any viable defense to the tickets issued. About the only thing left to try is to keep requesting as many continuances as you are allowed and hope that one of them falls on a RDO for the officer (which normally would result in a dismissal, but thanks you your putting yourself on their radar, would probably just result in a prosecution request for a continuance).

Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for the advice, and I'm lending to believe just about everything you're saying is right. Let me ask you this: Can I file a different appeal before the trial commences this evening? Or can I amend my appeal? At this point, I doubt they're going to bargain with me. And if they don't, I really stand little to lose other than time in court(which I'm going to lose anyway).

I have a different direction that another person successfully used to combat a speeding ticket. Basically, it's challenging the validity of the "supporting deposition" form, calling it an information --not a simplified information --that is an invalid accusatory instrument. The concept is pretty far out, which is why I didn't use it the first time. However, I don't see what I have to lose at this point.

What I'm unclear about is the motion to dismiss process and whether I've spent my one chance, if I can amend my motion to take it in a 180-degree different direction and what the law is governing this if the justice denies it. Any help would be great, as my supposed attorney hasn't gotten back to me and the trial is five hours away.