Speeding ticket, caught by aircraft!

[markuscreek24]

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

I live in Maine, and I was driving a work van, white Dodge caravan on 95 south just south of Portland on a somewhat clear/cloudy day several weeks ago. There was like 2 or 3 cars pulled over and then out of no where a cop that was just finishing up with another car, pulled out and pulled me over. Obviously he didn't get me on the radar, and he claimed that they got me by aircraft.

He got me for 84 in a 64. There was definitely other cars on the road with me, it's not like I was traveling by myself, it was a busy part of the day. There were two other guys in the van with me. I'm contesting this but don't have a court date yet. Is there anyway I can play the system on this one? I've never gotten a speeding ticket by aircraft. Maybe say there was another white van or vehicle on the road? Get one of my friends who was in the van to testify. I don't know, what are you thoughts?

I just thought that since it is by aircraft, we might have a better chance. Do they take pictures? Provide evidence? If so I should motion to request this evidence.

Thank you in advance for your help in this, sorry it's such a long post.

 

[FlyingRon]

No pictures. The airborne observer will testify against you with what ever VASCAR or device data he has. They'll testify that they identified your van and saw the ground unit pull you (the correct one) over.

The fact that you weren't the only vehicle on the road doesn't mean you weren't speeding and they're allowed to only pull over a fraction of the offenders. Your coworkers will not be persuasive witnesses.

You can probably get discovery on the VASCAR (or whatever) info used.

What defense are you going to make?

 

[markuscreek24]

I didn't have that much of an idea defense-wise. My thoughts were that I could maybe introduce a reasonable doubt. Multiple cars, cloudy skies, no hard evidence on their part, just my story against theirs. The cop didn't actually see me speeding. By the time I got to the cops I was not speeding. Maybe they won't show and I'll get lucky. Those were a bunch of my thoughts and I wasn't sure if you guys had any better advice on how to proceed to either get this thrown out or reduced.

Thanks already for your help, this is more info I have than when I started.

 

[Maestro64]

Not sure why people do not point this out, both officer must show at court, if they do not then any testimony one officer makes about what the other did is hearsay.

You need to focus on how did they make the measurement, was all the procedures followed, was the equipment calibrated as required, do they have proof that is was. Was the officer properly trained to us VASCAR in this case, or they could have used a stopwatch as well.

Did they properly identify the vehicle, was there other vehicles around you which were similar in color or make.

keep in mind, the officer who wrote the ticket can not testify to any of the above and many time only the officer who wrote the ticket shows in court.

 

[markuscreek24]

Thank you very much Maestro64. That helps a lot. I will probably touch base with you guys again as the date draws closer. Do I have to do all this in motions, or can I just bring all those points up to a judge? Thanks guys.

 

[Maestro64]

It is not always that simple, you need to know when to object to testimony that the officer makes which is outside the rules. If you are not sure of what to do there are some good self help books at the bookstore or if you search the web you can find out what you need to do. If you are not comfortable with this, then hire a lawyer.

Keep in mind many time judges will not protect your rights and they will let the other side violated the rules if you do not object. They assume if you are not objecting then you agree with what they are doing or you are knowingly waiving your rights.

I just pointed out a few things you need to keep in mind if you go and fight the ticket.