Fraud on part of officer writing ticket.

[poppakeith]

What is the name of your state? Texas

After 40 years of no tickets, no accidents, I got a speeding citation in New Mexico...65 in a 55, it said. I figured possibly I had made a mistake, missed seeing a posted sign (although I was stopped 150 feet past a 65MPH marker) signed the citation, intended to pay it. Later, I found the ticket (made out in wrong name...stating my middle name as last, last name as first) was issued by a County sheriff's deputy who was 35 miles outside his county of jurisdiction, yet he wrote down location of offence at a mile post well within his county....63 miles off. This guy was perhaps visiting a girlfriend or buying drugs, and wants to use an out-of-state driver to establish false record about being in-county and working.

Trouble is, a citation, once accepted by signature, will not be examined by bureaucrats....just gets shuffled around. If I send in the fine, that amounts to making myself accessory to criminal fraud. If I don't pay fine, I lose my Texas driver's licence. What to do....to whom do I appeal?

 

[CdwJava]

Go to court and challenge the citation. Or hire an attorney to do it for you.

You might consider calling the DA where the cite is to be heard and explain to him that if you have to come back and deal with it that you will sue the deputy and the agency for the fraudulent citation and if he wants to avoid a big embarassment for his county, he had best drop the matter (in very polite terms, of course).

- Carl

 

[cjoeb]

here is the best thing to do

go to court on the date of the ticket. NM is a little different than other states. at your arraignment, you actually meet with the officer who wrote you the ticket before going to the judge and entering your plea. he will offer you a "deferred sentencing" deal. you plead guilty, pay a fine, and after 3 months of keeping your nose clean, the charge gets dismissed. be fore warned, if you get another ticket within the 3 months, you will get hammered

this situation is done in both municipal and magistrate court.

 

[poppakeith]

here is the best thing to do

go to court on the date of the ticket. NM is a little different than other states. at your arraignment, you actually meet with the officer who wrote you the ticket before going to the judge and entering your plea. he will offer you a "deferred sentencing" deal. you plead guilty, pay a fine, and after 3 months of keeping your nose clean, the charge gets dismissed. be fore warned, if you get another ticket within the 3 months, you will get hammered

this situation is done in both municipal and magistrate court.

There's a catch 22. Not all New Mexico counties have municipal courts. I wrote to the court for which the citation contained an address, and it turns out the tickets for San Miguel County were printed with the wrong court named....a court in Red River, Taos County. Clerk from that county called and left the message about mistake in printing (I have a recording of the call). She forwarded the letter, but San Miguel had already posted default notice, because of the time delay. There is no court date involved, and no court on the county level. Wierd but true. I have written to NMDMV, San Miguel Sheriff, as well as the NM Attorney General, but they are all bureaucrats and just shuffle the thing to others....each one saying that you can't change the "guilty" plea, assumed from signing the ticket. Only hearing I can get is with Texas Department of Public Safety. Hopefully they will listen and respond to the NM fraud issue.

 

[CdwJava]

Wait ... in NM SIGNING the ticket is an admission of guilt? Are you SURE?

Everywhere else it serves only as acknowledging receipt of the citation - NOT guilt.

- Carl

 

[poppakeith]

Wait ... in NM SIGNING the ticket is an admission of guilt? Are you SURE?

Everywhere else it serves only as acknowledging receipt of the citation - NOT guilt.

- Carl

Thanks for reply.

On the citation it says: "I acknowledge my guilt of the offence charged and my options explained to me by the officer. I agree to remit by mail the penalty assessment of...(blank, in which officer wrote $80)"

In 66-8-117-A, NM Vehicle laws it says: "Unless a warning notice is given, at the time of making an arrest for any penalty assessment misdemeanor the arresting officer shall offer the alleged violator the option of accepting a penalty assessment. The violator's signature on the penalty assessment notice constitutes an acknowledgment of guilt of the offence stated in the notice."

In a letter from the NM Department of Motor Vehicles, an official states: "Unfortunately, the law in New Mexico does not allow a violator to withdraw the penalty assessment plea on a traffic citation. You are responsible to pay the fine amount."

 

[CdwJava]

Wow ... that is such a strange concept to me.

Ugh.

You might want to talk with an attorney as to your options. Its hard to challenge a guilty plea without expert guidance.

- Carl

 

[cjoeb]

hey java.....yes to your question

in NM, when you are given a citation, you are aked by the officer if you want to pay the fine or go to court. if you say go to court, they fill out the section showing the court to go to and the date. it sounds like you opted to pay the fine. i have always gone to court, so i dont know if you you pay the fine if they automatically give you the deferred sentencing.

check out this link http://164.64.40.11/caselookup/jsp/CaseLookupSearch.jsp
and see if it shows the deferred sentencing.

 

[poppakeith]

hey java.....yes to your question

in NM, when you are given a citation, you are aked by the officer if you want to pay the fine or go to court. if you say go to court, they fill out the section showing the court to go to and the date. it sounds like you opted to pay the fine. i have always gone to court, so i dont know if you you pay the fine if they automatically give you the deferred sentencing.

check out this link http://164.64.40.11/caselookup/jsp/CaseLookupSearch.jsp
and see if it shows the deferred sentencing.

cjoeb,
Can't look up a case. Has no case number, and the name on the citation won't do it. Either way, I will not be going back into the state of New Mexico, not ever....unless, of course, they get these rogue cops under control. It is a 1800 mile trip for me, and I'd have to stay overnight. I have left the last US cent I will ever spend in the mickey mouse Land of Entrapment. I can go through Kansas and ski in Colorado.

 

[Robbie0723]

May still be worth making a few phone calls as CdwJava suggested in his first reply and see if they can make it go away.

If you can't get satisfaction from the DA/Sherrifs Dept, give an investigative reporter a call at the nearest major TV station. May not help you but could help others.

 

[poppakeith]

hey java.....yes to your question

in NM, when you are given a citation, you are aked by the officer if you want to pay the fine or go to court. if you say go to court, they fill out the section showing the court to go to and the date. it sounds like you opted to pay the fine.

cojeb,

The New Mexico proceedure, whereby a guilty plea, entered on an isolated roadside, when confronted with an armed officer, constitutes a serious violation of the spirit (perhaps the letter) of Miranda, but so far as I know this has not yet been tested in the federal courts. I have the will and the interest to go that route, but not the resources. At a Texas hearing I got 60 additional days to locate a NM official with common sense and interest in justice....or somebody who can be spooked into doing the right thing with regard to the citation. That ain't enough, actually. The officer's fraudulent practice, mentioned earlier, and lackadaisical attendance to these rather serious matters needs addressing. Thus, I am searching out a federal special crimes prosecutor type who may listen, and perhaps goose officials in the Land of Entrapment.

 

[harbor14]

cojeb,

The New Mexico proceedure, whereby a guilty plea, entered on an isolated roadside, when confronted with an armed officer, constitutes a serious violation of the spirit (perhaps the letter) of Miranda, but so far as I know this has not yet been tested in the federal courts. I have the will and the interest to go that route, but not the resources. At a Texas hearing I got 60 additional days to locate a NM official with common sense and interest in justice....or somebody who can be spooked into doing the right thing with regard to the citation. That ain't enough, actually. The officer's fraudulent practice, mentioned earlier, and lackadaisical attendance to these rather serious matters needs addressing. Thus, I am searching out a federal special crimes prosecutor type who may listen, and perhaps goose officials in the Land of Entrapment.

Violation of Miranda...I would love to hear this argument. You had two options at the stop. Agree to pay the fine (plead guilty) or ask for a court date..where you have the option of having an attorney. Apparently you chose to pay the fine, which means you plead guilty to the traffic violation.

I dont think you have a legal argument.

 

[poppakeith]

Violation of Miranda...I would love to hear this argument. You had two options at the stop. Agree to pay the fine (plead guilty) or ask for a court date..where you have the option of having an attorney. Apparently you chose to pay the fine, which means you plead guilty to the traffic violation.

I dont think you have a legal argument.

Harbor14,
Not being a lawyer I can't give you legal arguments. Still, I do have a grasp of what various rulings intend, the protections they offer against abuse of power, when the powerful are inclined to play fast and loose with civil or constitutional rights. What you refer to as "options at the stop" are choices to be made by folks not generally familiar with their rights...or with the legal implications of pleading at the roadside. Under those circumstances, stopped by an armed man, on a lonely road, compelled to pick which box to check, and thereafter, right or wrong, come what may, become presumed guilty, that is a violation of the spirit of Miranda. As an honest fellow, I knew that I would not be inclined to drive 1700 miles to go to court, if the officer had made a correct charge in the citation, and if I was, as I myself figured at the time, a guilty guy. No question, I'd pay the fine in a heartbeat. But, like I have tried to tell the folks here, what is charged on the citation did not take place. There was no crime fitting that description, and I was 65 miles away from the scene, even if there was such a crime. Where I was, traveling 65 miles per hour (actually just under that, maybe 63), the speed limit is 65 miles per hour. The criminal in this instance is the officer. He picked me, an out-of-state driver, to dupe into becoming part of his alibi for being away from his county....for creating the illusion in his boss's mind that he was doing his job and where he was supposed to be....by writing down the location of where I was stopped (where he was, too) as a spot 65 miles north of the actual location where we were stopped. Could be the fellow just made a really dumb mistake. Doesn't matter. When the character of a law enables what would otherwise be fatal error to become useful for fraud or abuse of power to stand, without even cursory examination, and by it's existence assures bureaucrats within the system need not pay attention to justice, the spirit of Miranda is crushed (and probably the letter of it). The scam I am talking about depends largely upon how the New Mexico law locks in a roadside plea that's made out of a citizen's ignorance of law and his rights.

 

[poppakeith]

Violation of Miranda...I would love to hear this argument. You had two options at the stop. Agree to pay the fine (plead guilty) or ask for a court date..where you have the option of having an attorney. Apparently you chose to pay the fine, which means you plead guilty to the traffic violation.

I dont think you have a legal argument.

harbor14,

Thought a lot about your comments, and put together a presentation of the Miranda involvement in matters of this kind. http://austinclassof57.org/New Mexico.htm . Links to "unconstitutional law" and "presumed innocent", as well as "my case". See what you think.

 

[seniorjudge]

harbor14,

Thought a lot about your comments, and put together a presentation of the Miranda involvement in matters of this kind. http://austinclassof57.org/New Mexico.htm . Links to "unconstitutional law" and "presumed innocent", as well as "my case". See what you think.

Post back with your results.

It seems to me that when you signed the ticket and agreed that you were guilty, that you gave up a lot of rights.

But, I will wait and see what happens to you. Post back please.