court date 1/18-can cop change ticket from warning to citation?

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Recently I was stopped in Texas, Parker County, for speeding.
He alleges that he used his radar and clocked me at 44 in a 30.....I don't believe that I could have been going that fast since I had just turned onto this road. Anyway, my question is this....he filled out the ticket, told me I had to contact the court by the 10th of Jan. and then asked me to sign it. OK.
I got home and saw that he had checked the warning box and NOT the citation box. Where as one would assume that this is a written warning....right? Well, I called the Municipal Court, and the lady, first asked how many violations I had....when I told her that the warning box was checked.....I said one violation, "speeding 10+".....then she put me on hold...and when she came back she said that the officer made a mistake but he changed it, she said that he checked the citation box and initialed it. But on my ticket, it is very clearly....very clearly , marked a warning.
Is this legal, that they can make changes, obviously in their favor, to a ticket? And do I have any chance in court on Tuesday the 18th, that I can get this dismissed? "My agrument, is that he made a mistake on my ticket as did I make a mistake by speeding....I obviously cannot change my mistake your honor, but I don't feel it is ethical that he can change his own, obviously he found this mistake at his desk, after the fact. " Any advice, or thoughts on this. Thanks for the input....

The officer has probably about six months to a year to file a charge and it looks like he did it within that time frame.

[lwpat]

I assume that you have entered a plea of not guilty and requested a jury trial since you indicate that you were required to contact the court by January 10th. If you intend to contest the ticket this is your best option.

Someone on a jury may buy the line about changing the speeding ticket from a warning to a citation but a judge won't. In addition the judge will instruct the jury that what the officer did was simply correct a clerical error. It also doesn't take long to reach 44mph so unless it was just a few car lengths from where you entered the road that is also useless in front of just a judge.

Normally when you request a jury trial you will be contacted by an ADA for a pretrial hearing and he may reduce the charge rather than go thru a trial. It depends on the procedures in Parker County.

Normally you best options in Texas for a minor speeding ticket are a deferment or traffic school. I would suggest traffic school and save the deferment in case you receive another ticket. Some courts in Texas accept online schools. Here is a link for more info but be sure to get court approval first.
[url]http://www.trafficschoolonline.com/?lcode=4013[/url]

"...Someone on a jury may buy the line about changing the speeding ticket from a warning to a citation but a judge won't. In addition the judge will instruct the jury that what the officer did was simply correct a clerical error...."

This is totally irrelevant to anything and will never make it in to evidence.

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OK...OK...I know and I admit I am just trying to get out of a traffic ticket. I have done a little research on my own of this "changing" thing, and was informed by the Parker County Offices, that they have up to 2 years to change a warning to a citation....geez talk about making sure you stay on that officers good side for awhile...LOL. So my defense I realize has been pretty much shot down. I have heard so much do this do that from people...like is it true if the officer who wrote the citation, doesn't show up at court then it will be dismissed?
I wrote an email to our neighboring city of Weatherford, and received a reply from the captain of the police department, he said that they have separate forms and that their citations do not have an option to select warning or citation for this exact reason, and that it would be up to the judge to decide. This kinda made me hopeful, though, that maybe, just maybe,.....LOL. One last question though, since I have decided to contest this "citation" and the judge decides against me, do I still have the right to ask for differ to judication (not sure if that is the correct name)?
Thanks all for your replies.

"...I have heard so much do this do that from people...like is it true if the officer who wrote the citation, doesn't show up at court then it will be dismissed?..."

In my never to be humble opinion, it should be but it is more likely that the prosecutor will get a continuance.


"...One last question though, since I have decided to contest this "citation" and the judge decides against me, do I still have the right to ask for differ to judication (not sure if that is the correct name)?..."

I cannot even begin to guess what you are asking.