Ticket, Florida

[kidrcth]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I was pulled over a month ago as breaking law entittled "avoiding a traffic control device," section 316.074, basically i went through a walgreens parking lot to get around the light.

They had a trap set up just for people doingf that, yet whiel i was stopped i saw numerous people doing it as well and they only pulled me over, and there were 5 cops there...

anyways, the cop never told me my rights, only told me what the ticket was for when i asked, never told me how muhc it was, i thought it was a darn warning, but when i got home i looked at it was a $115.50 ticket. I was like what!!

The cop failed todo his duty. I thought i was pulled over for speeding until i asked the cop what it was for. One guy made me pull over, another wrote the ticket. Never asked for incurance or registration either. Only my licence.

IMo he failed his duty, is this worthy of a court trial????




shane

[kidrcth]

tomorow i will goto the site of the ticket and take photos. I dont think they could see all the way around the building and if not them, whammo, theres my get go. then if the cop was that sloppy in giving kmew the ticket, i'm going to do an inquiry on the evuidence against me. Therefore seeing if a court appearance is worth while.

[LawGirl10]

Nothing that you described was in violation of procedures for police officers.
1. While it is helpful if they tell you what you were pulled over for, they are not required to do so.

2. The officer did not have to read you your Miranda rights: a traffic stop is a brief detention (this is in U.S. Supreme Court case law and likely case law for the law of your state). You are only required to be read your rights if: (1) you are in custody; (2) you are being interrogated; and (3) they want to use your confession in the Prosecutor's case in chief against you. All three of these must occur for there to be a Miranda violation of this type and for any evidence obtained to be inadmissible in the case in chief.

3. The officer is not required to pull over every violator that he sees. He has discretion in which infractions to enforce and when to enforce them.

4. They are not required to ask for your insurance and registration information. They can get registration information off of the state's bureau of motor vehicles computer. As stated earlier, they are not required to enforce every violation (asking if you have proof of insurance).

5. The officer that pulls you over does not have to be the officer that writes you the ticket. As long as both of them can testify as to what they did and what they were told (what one officer told the officer about why and who to write the ticket to), that is enough.

6. They are not required to tell you the cost of the ticket.

[kidrcth]

yeah, i understand that mostly what he did were infractions in the law, except they can almost all be made to turn a judges vote, everything counts.

[LawGirl10]

Nothing that was done was improper or an "infraction" of the law. He possibly could have handled it better, but I don't see enough for a judge to throw it out. The only way I see this getting dismissed or reduced is if the judge just doesn't agree with it (even though what was done by the officer was perfectly legal).

[fedcop110]

Originally Posted by kidrcth

yeah, i understand that mostly what he did were infractions in the law, except they can almost all be made to turn a judges vote, everything counts.

Absolutely nothing the officer did is wrong. It is not an infraction of the law, or illegal in any sense. Sounds to me that the officer did everything appropriate. By the way, what is your defense? No one else got caught. If that is all you have, I would say go ahead and pay the citation, it'll be a lot less time consuming then going to court and being found guilty.

Standard answer

Here are some hints on appearing in court:

Dress professionally in clean clothes.

Do not wear message shirts.

Don't chew gum, smoke, or eat.

Bathe and wash your hair.

Go to court beforehand some day before you actually have to go to watch how things go.

Speak politely and deferentially. If you argue or dispute something, do it professionally and without emotion.

Ask the court clerk who you talk to about a diversion (meaning you want to plead to a different, lesser charge), if applicable in your situation.


Here are five stories that criminal court judges hear the most (and I suggest you do not use them or variations of them):

1. I’ve been saved! (This is not religion specific; folks from all kinds of religious backgrounds use this one.)

2. My girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter is pregnant/sick/dying/dead/crippled and needs my help.

3. I’ve got a job in [name a state five hundred miles away].

4. This is the first time I ever did this.

5. You’ve got the wrong guy. (A variation of this one is the phantom defendant story: “It wasn’t me driving, it was a hitchhiker I picked up. He wrecked the car, drug me behind the wheel then took off.”)

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Other people may give you other advice; stand by.