NYS Ticket W Incorrect DL Info

[llansakara]

What is the name of your state? New York

I was issued a ticket in NY (on the LIE) for doing 86 mph on a 55. I am licensed in IL, and was driving a friends car (who was present at the time). My Drivers License information on the ticket is completely wrong. All that is correct is my name, address and DOB. License ID on ticket looks like a NY ID, and nothing like an IL one. Additionally, the "State" filled in is also NY (have never had a NY license). "Type of License" and "Date of Expiry" are empty. Since it is for over 25 over the limit, it is a required court date.

Can this be dismissed? If so, any chance of doing it without having to make the trip back to NY?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Curt581]

I was issued a ticket in NY (on the LIE) for doing 86 mph on a 55. I am licensed in IL, and was driving a friends car (who was present at the time). My Drivers License information on the ticket is completely wrong. All that is correct is my name, address and DOB. License ID on ticket looks like a NY ID, and nothing like an IL one. Additionally, the "State" filled in is also NY (have never had a NY license). "Type of License" and "Date of Expiry" are empty. Since it is for over 25 over the limit, it is a required court date.

Can this be dismissed?

Maybe, but not for the reasons you listed above.

Here's what PROBABLY happened. Sometime in the past, you were cited for a traffic violation in the State of New York. It's likely that you didn't take care of it in a timely fashion. The citation generated a driver's record with NY DOT. The "type" and "expiration" will be blank because you don't hold a current NY DL.

Now, any citation you receive in that state will list the NY DL information.

If so, any chance of doing it without having to make the trip back to NY?

Doubtful.... But you can contact an attorney in that jurisdiction. They may be able to appear on your behalf. If there is going to be a trial, your personal appearance will be required at some point.

 

[You Are Guilty]

OK, I give up - here's the deal with NYS tickets:

A citation for a moving violation in NYS is not used as evidence against you. Therefore, any inaccuracies on it are irrelevant to finding you guilty. The only thing that needs to be correct is the evidence offered at the time of trial, and typically, all it consists of is the citing officer's testimony.

Knowing that officers typically rely on the information contained in the ticket to testify (or if not, in notes taken contemporaneously with the cite, which usually, but not always, contain the same identifying info as the ticket itself), one strategy is to let the officer testify using the (incorrect) information from the ticket/notes. As one of the elements of the violation is a proper identification of the driver at the time and of the person appearing in court, his testifying with "bad info" will negate that element.

Now, here's where the layperson screws up. The problem is that a non-lawyer is ill-equipped to then cross the officer effectively and show the improper ID. Even if they do manage to get that far, rather than dismiss the ticket, the Court sometimes will recall the officer, sua sponte, to "correct" his testimony. Since something like that is shaky on procedural grounds to begin with, coupled with an officer whose re-direct testimony is that his prior testimony was incorrect (aka "lying"), a lawyer can really go to town on him, but your average person won't have the first clue what to do.

And typically, a personal appearance is required, even if represented by counsel, but this can be waived by the prosecution, so there's yet one more reason to hire a lawyer.

Finally, none of this applies to parking, transit, sanitation (and possibly Parks Dept. - never actually saw one in person) tickets. In those cases, the ticket is the evidence against you so the material elements listed on it must be correct.


PS: How the hell did you manage to do 86 on the LIE? Was it 4am on Christmas Eve or something?