Fighting 22349(A) with odd circumstances

[Waggo99]

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

In January (2009) I got a speeding ticket for going "85+" in a 65. I was going North on Highway 1 in Monterey California, it was a two lane road, I was in the fast lane going NO faster then 65 mph with several cars in front of me, and much slower traffic (45 mph) in the slow lane on the right. It had been raining all day long and the roads were a bit wet so everyone was being cautious on the road. I was cruising along about a car length behind the car in front of me and the all of a sudden I see the lights flash. I got off the highway and went into a parking lot b/c I didn't deem it safe to be pulled over on the highway at the time. The officer asked me if I had been drinking (of course I was not) said I was speeding and tailgating. I was baffled by this but didn't argue. After he wrote me up and gave me the ticket I noticed he wrote down my middle name incorrectly. I went to the court for a trial by written declaration but they couldn't find my citation in their computer. Apparently the citing officer ALSO wrote down the wrong citation number (instead of 22349 he wrote 224349). I kept going back to the court every 30 days to see if the ticket went through. After 4 months the court finally had to send a letter to the CHP office after I filled out a Citation Inquiry Form. Eventually after almost 9 months, I get the Courtesy Notice in the mail last week (bail is 332 $). I'm definitely going to fight this because I feel the officer was way wrong in estimating my speed and must have made something up to give me a ticket. I have a clean record and there were 4 other passengers in the car willing to testify. What are the chances of me getting off if I do a trial by written declaration?

Thanks for you help!

 

[Zigner]

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

In January (2009) I got a speeding ticket for going "85+" in a 65. I was going North on Highway 1 in Monterey California, it was a two lane road, I was in the fast lane going NO faster then 65 mph with several cars in front of me, and much slower traffic (45 mph) in the slow lane on the right. It had been raining all day long and the roads were a bit wet so everyone was being cautious on the road. I was cruising along about a car length behind the car in front of me and the all of a sudden I see the lights flash. I got off the highway and went into a parking lot b/c I didn't deem it safe to be pulled over on the highway at the time. The officer asked me if I had been drinking (of course I was not) said I was speeding and tailgating. I was baffled by this but didn't argue. After he wrote me up and gave me the ticket I noticed he wrote down my middle name incorrectly. I went to the court for a trial by written declaration but they couldn't find my citation in their computer. Apparently the citing officer ALSO wrote down the wrong citation number (instead of 22349 he wrote 224349). I kept going back to the court every 30 days to see if the ticket went through. After 4 months the court finally had to send a letter to the CHP office after I filled out a Citation Inquiry Form. Eventually after almost 9 months, I get the Courtesy Notice in the mail last week (bail is 332 $). I'm definitely going to fight this because I feel the officer was way wrong in estimating my speed and must have made something up to give me a ticket. I have a clean record and there were 4 other passengers in the car willing to testify. What are the chances of me getting off if I do a trial by written declaration?

Thanks for you help!

Slim to none. You have offered NO evidence that you weren't speeding.

 

[Waggo99]

True, it's hard to put forward evidence I was not speeding because he paced me and it's his word vs mine, however I might be able to get him on his judgment. Not only did he write down the incorrect citation number to begin with (which I can claim that the ticket is deficient on its face) and write down my own name incorrectly, I also had 4 passengers in the vehicle willing to testify on my behalf that the speed the officer put down is extremely incorrect. Also, from the day I got the ticket to the time it finally went through was almost 9 months because of errors by the officer, further evidence on how his ability to pace me correctly is false.

 

[HighwayMan]

You admitted tailgating, but you were baffled when the officer advised you of this? Why?

 

[Waggo99]

You admitted tailgating, but you were baffled when the officer advised you of this? Why?

There was a fair amount of traffic on the road, lane #1 was moving steady at about 65, lane 2 was slower at about 45 at the MOST.

I was a car length behind the vehicle in front of me, they were a car length (or less) behind the car in front of them and so on for about four more cars in front. However, on my ticket "tailgating" was not marked an an infraction, "speeding" was. However there was absolutely no way possible for me to have hit 85+ (what it says on the ticket) because the cars in front of me were all going at the MOST 65. The officer's speed judgment here is ridiculous...as well as the the fact he wrote my name incorrectly, wrote the infraction number incorrectly, and took 9 months to process the ticket.

 

[HighwayMan]

Following the car in front of yours at a distance of 1 car length at 65 mph is tailgating. Regardless of the traffic conditions.

 

[I_Got_Banned]

as well as the the fact he wrote my name incorrectly

Not sure what you mean by "incorrectly" but if your middle name is "mispelled", and as long as your driver's license is correctly written on the citation then that is not going to get you out of the ticket.

as well as the the fact he wrote my name incorrectly

Did you get a "notice of correction" from the officer at any time after the citation was issued or did you only get the citation and later the courtesy notice?

If you received a correction notice then you have no argument. If you only received the citation and the courtesy notice then you might have a valid argument... Then again, maybe not.

and took 9 months to process the ticket.

That is, without a doubt, a non-issue... The filing period for a traffic infraction in California is one year... So arguing that it took 9 months will not get you anywhere.

The officer's speed judgment here is ridiculous...

OK, so the officer will testify (verbally if you choose a court trial OR in his declaration if you choose the TBD option) that he paced you at 85mph. Arguing that "the officer's speed judgement here is rediculous" will not get you a "not guilty" verdict. You'll have to come up with a better argument than that...

As for your witnesses, for one, they might be considered (slightly) biased; two their ability to estimate your speed while riding with you as passengers (and unless they were constantly watching the speedometer on your guage cluster) might not be as accurate as the officer using his speedometer to measure your alleged speed.

Lastly, and while you do have a few arguments that you can make, yours remains to be a difficult case to win simply due to the fact that you have offered nothing to refute the officer's version of the story... It is highly unlikely that the court will buy into your theory that the officer "had to make something up to cite you"... Give the TBD a try though; if you lose then you can try your hand at a Trial De Novo and see what happens there.

 

[Waggo99]

Thanks I_Got_Banned I appreciate your answers.

Unfortunately I did get a notice of correction regarding my name and citation number. So even with this correction I still cannot argue that the original ticket is deficient on its face? Or that the officers judgment of my speed is in serious question here because of the mistakes he made when writing up my ticket?

 

[I_Got_Banned]

Well, if the errors have been corrected, then you could NOT argue that the citation is defective or deficient. And while those errors do in fact pose a question of "how attentive was the officer while he was writing the citation?", you still have not offered the court any way of refuting his speed measurement. Without that, your chances of getting a dismissal are still, slim to none.