My word against the police officer's word in court?

[LexTron6K]

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

I was just in court for an arraignment this morning on a Public Urination charge. I plead not guilty, and I don't qualify for a public defender so I'm going to be defending myself.

Basically the case is going to rest on my word against the cop's word. She did not actually see me urinating (because I wasn't) and she did not see any urine (because there wasn't any). I did not confess to anything when she asked me if I was urinating, and I also did not deny anything; I've learned from past incidents to just keep my mouth shut and take the ticket and have my day in court.

So my question is how do things work when there is no physical evidence and it comes down to being my word against the police officer's word? I'm innocent until proven guilty; is the police officer's word alone enough to prove guilt?

Thanks,

Alex

 

[JETX]

So my question is how do things work when there is no physical evidence and it comes down to being my word against the police officer's word? I'm innocent until proven guilty; is the police officer's word alone enough to prove guilt?

Maybe not to prove... but the officer will be seen as unbiased (since she has nothing to gain or lose by your citation) and will likely be seen as more credible than someone who clearly has a reason to be biased.

Look at it this way... if she saw you with your pants unzipped (or worse, around your ankles) or your hands near your zipper, a charge of public urination may be a lot better than it could be.

 

[Zigner]

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

I was just in court for an arraignment this morning on a Public Urination charge. I plead not guilty, and I don't qualify for a public defender so I'm going to be defending myself.

Basically the case is going to rest on my word against the cop's word. She did not actually see me urinating (because I wasn't) and she did not see any urine (because there wasn't any). I did not confess to anything when she asked me if I was urinating, and I also did not deny anything; I've learned from past incidents to just keep my mouth shut and take the ticket and have my day in court.

So my question is how do things work when there is no physical evidence and it comes down to being my word against the police officer's word? I'm innocent until proven guilty; is the police officer's word alone enough to prove guilt?

Thanks,

Alex

In what world would a person who was NOT urinating decide it was better to say nothing to the officer than it is to say "No, I wasn't urinating?"

 

[CdwJava]

So ... perhaps you can answer to us why the officer thought you might be urinating if you were not? As Jetx intimated, if you had your privates exposed and were NOT urinating, then another charge might be appropriate here and it would probably be much more serious.

In the end, you can ask those questions on cross examination: Did you see any urine? Did you see me actually urinating?

If the answers are "no" then you may well win your case ... for urinating. But, they might decide that a new charge is more appropriate based upon the testimony provided, if it is compelling enough.

 

[LexTron6K]

I was adjusting my pants because I was tucking my shirt in. And, really, whether my pants were unzipped or not she would not have been able to see it as my van was located between myself and her eyes. And my privates were not exposed.

I agree with your statement about myself being biased and the police officer being unbiased, but is that enough to prove guilt? If this thing does end up going to court I think that I will take it in front of a jury, but I'm a little leery that these people might say I'm guilty just because they're upset that I'm wasting their time on something so stupid.

The reason why I didn't say anything is because I've been in a position before where I was being ticketed for something that I hadn't done, so I disputed it with the officer that was ticketing me. Apparently he was having a bad day, he was a bit power hungry, etc etc, so he decided to rifle off twomore tickets for me (including spitting in public) and throw me in jail. I have learned from that experience to simply keep my mouth shut and let the courts do their job. When I took that case in front of the judge I was apologized to and all charges were dismissed.