What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania
I just got a speeding ticket in Pa, and I am planning on pleading not guilty. The Radar equipment was last checked over a month ago and I am wondering how often do these need to be checked. On my Ticket it says " Speed Eqip. Serial No. GHS 1984" and then " Station Eqip. Tested R-8 " I got the ticket on 11/15 and the radar gun was tested 10/11. Can I get out of this ticket because of this?
60 days but it has to be an original NOT a photocopy...Also there is the calibration of the tuning forks or other device used as the standard to which the radar device was calibrated against...
75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3368(d) (emphasis added). This Court set forth the requirements of § 3368(d) in Commonwealth v. Gernsheimer, 276 Pa.Superior Ct. 418, 419 A.2d 528 (1980), holding that
in prosecuting speeding cases where a radar or other electronic device is used to
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calibrate a defendant's speed that in order to introduce the results of such into evidence the Commonwealth must offer a Certificate, certified by the Secretary of Transportation or his designee certifying the agency which performs the tests on the device as an official testing station, and must introduce a Certificate of Electronic Device (radar) Accuracy into evidence. The Certificate of Electronic Device (radar) Accuracy must be signed by the person who performed the tests and the engineer in charge of the testing station, must show that the device was accurate when tested by stating the various speeds at which it was tested and the results thereof, and must show, on its face, that the particular device was tested within sixty (60) days of the date it was used to calibrate the particular defendant's speed.
Id. at 423-24, 419 A.2d at 530. Although the question of the admissibility of a photocopy, instead of the original, of the certificate of accuracy did not arise in Gernsheimer, 1 we note that the entry of the original certificate appears to be common practice. See Commonwealth v. Gussey, 319 Pa.Superior Ct. 398, 466 A.2d 219 (1983); Commonwealth v. Gernsheimer, supra.