Monday, June 25, 2012

PART 6: KNOW WHEN TO HOLD EM AND FOLD EM: HOW TO FIGHT A TRAFFIC TICKET: FINAL!

This is the last part of a twelve part series of avoiding or fighting a traffic ticket. Over the past month I have been giving you six points on what to do to avoid a traffic ticket, then six points to fight a ticket once you do get one. Last week in the part 5 topic I gave you seven things you should do to testify in court and today we are going to discuss five things to consider once you have finished with your trial.
Now that your traffic ticket hearing is over and you won or lost, let’s now discuss what your options are. If you have won your case, congratulations on winning. Hubris is a word that first comes to mind that I encourage you not to become too smug or emboldened walking away from this experience. Let’s face it; the system is set up for traffic violations to make it difficult to get an acquittal or dismissal. If anything can be attributed to you walking away from your ticket Scott free, it is luck if anything else. Although we don’t often want to admit it, driving a lifetime without getting a ticket is attributed more to pure luck than anything else: we ALL speed ALL the time, we ALL don’t come to a FULL STOP at stop signs or after a right on red ALL the time, we occasionally lose focus, get tired, become distracted, etc. that sometimes we commit violations without even noticing it. AND PLEASE DON’T TELL ME THAT YOU ARE THE REMOTE EXCEPTION AND DON’T. You are kidding me and fooling yourself if you believe that, whether you are a senior with 50 years of driving or a teenager with 5 months experience. If you do insist on telling me this, I shall then make it my mission for either one of my colleagues or myself, to wait for you on the highway or street until you do make a mistake, just to make my point. SO be honest here and remember, you got off this time, but next time . . .

If you lost, all is not lost, but you have some serious soul searching to do. At this point you are down to some of your last options if not your final one, and that is usually an appeal. In most jurisdictions, the system is designed to make such an option a difficult endeavor. In most places an appeal becomes a more expensive and an arduous process, and make no mistake about this, this is done on purpose.

Regardless of where you are in the process, whether it is an acquittal/dismissal, or you are found guilty and are ready for an appeal or just to move on with life, I would consider the following after you are finished with your ticket trial:
1.    If you walked away Scott free, I suggest you get an extract of your driving record from DMV, and check your credit report AND FICO score to insure that your insurance company didn’t get ahead of itself and wacked you over the head. Regardless of the verdict on your traffic ticket, insurance companies are not going to be happy that statistically you were put into harm’s way by the police and given a traffic ticket. Regardless of the verdict, you are now a risk that they feel you should pay more for their coverage, and they are going to find any excuse to put you in that risk pool. In some states, using a credit score to gauge insurance risk is ILLEGAL, but in other states this practice is not, and others allow just the FICO score. Remember that a credit report and a FICO score report are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. The credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union, etc.) have an insurance algorithm they can compute that is part of the FICO formula. Make sure that if your record is still clean, that you did not become part of that formula. This suggestion also extends to whatever negotiated settlement you might have made with the prosecutor/officer/court for a lesser charge or for remedial driving classes you and/or your lawyer might have agreed to. Make sure the punishment fits the crime not just in the halls of justice, but also on your financial reports.

2.   If you were found guilty, this is the time where you should consider if an appeal is worth the aggravation. This is where you have to let go of your ego, pride, hubris, insecurity, whatever, to take a hard look at what happened, and determine if taking the steps to proceed forward are worth the sacrifices. This is where you should admit that you perhaps did something wrong if you actually did, and make a determination that regardless of what was done, if the punishment fits the crime. Maybe you really were going 80 mph, but back in the 70 mph zone, and not in the 40 mph zone before that, where the officer swore you were speeding. But this requires honesty, tact, sincerity, and perhaps a bit of tough love to the person you are supposed to love the most before you can love anyone else on the planet, and that person is yourself. You got a ticket. You were found guilty. It was probably really your fault and not the officer’s. Maybe you should start admitting the truth. Soul search. Discuss . . .
3.   File your costly appeal on time. Remember, states are going to make it hard to file one, and usually it’s going to be expensive and must be done within a short window of time. Some appeals panels like to pull the minutes of your guilty hearing and charge you per word for the testimony. This can cost up to hundreds of dollars for just a few minutes of words exchanged between you, the judge, and the prosecutor/officer. Some like to give you just a small window of time to make an appeal and then make the decision at your guilty trial FINAL. If lawyers charge about $300/hour and up for their services, expect the court to charge a filing fee for the same amount just to file your case in appeals court. Remember that because of the recent economy, states are all BROKE, and them charging you a ridiculous amount of money for your appeal is an excellent way to raise revenue and filter out the junk appeals. Some will require you to appear in your state’s capital, especially if the venue of origin was a local court, and you now have to go to an appeals court. I do not know which states exactly do this that most in some way probably do, but for argument’s sake, you probably can take a day off from work and take a day trip to places like Providence, Rhode Island, Annapolis, Maryland, or Dover, Delaware, maybe even take a nice drive on the Garden State Parkway or Jersey Turnpike to Trenton, New Jersey. I don’t know about you, but I come from New York City and live in Los Angeles, so a trip to Albany on the State Thruway or to Sacramento on the Golden State Freeway is a far reach! I won’t even mess with Texas or Alaska, two states that are really countries within themselves!
4.   If you haven’t hired one now, I suggest you stop being cheap and hire yourself a lawyer. Why haven’t you hired one by now? Are you crazy? If you hired a lawyer perhaps you wouldn’t be in this situation of being found guilty and ready for an appeal. Why don’t you just talk to one? He or she can discuss your strengths and weaknesses, your options, and your odds. In appeals court, a preliminary judge if not the whole panel are going to be looking not necessarily at the merits of your case, but more at whether statutory, procedural, or case law was broken or unexplored in your case. The prelim judge or panel is going to be looking for something extraordinary or highly unusual, something that perhaps will create new law or challenges a present one. You won’t stand a chance if your only argument is that you just feel that the judge was wrong in his/her ruling. You are going to have to come up with something better than that, and a lawyer is best equipped to determine what those talking points are in your case. Please. If not now, will there ever be a time? Grab a pair of legal ears to get the run-down. Even if it is too late it might still be money well spent to learn something for the next time.
5. LAST AND FINALLY: Guilty or not guilty, I’LL SEE YOU OUT ON THE ROAD FOR THE NEXT TIME. It may be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or ten years from now if I’m not retired or promoted. If not me, it’ll be my colleague, successor, or one of my subordinates. You’ll see me out on the road on an emergency cut-out, a median turn-around, hiding in the bushes on the shoulder, marked or unmarked, or God forbid handling an accident as you rubberneck on by if not involved in it yourself as a result of the kind of careless driving I caught you doing that got you here, whether the court agreed with me or not. If not one of mine or me, it’ll be my friends from another jurisdiction, the state police on this side or over the state border, or even the RCMP in Canada, or the Policia Federales in Mexico. If its not one of us writing you a ticket at roadside, I promise to keep in touch with you with photos of our shared memories from a red light or speed camera with warm regards sent to you by mail. Would you like a post card or a Hallmark? Do you have a Flickr account? What’s your profile on Facebook? We now accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express, and Diner’s Club if you additionally want a date with me, even Paypal and Western Union. Bring your checkbook just in case. We take cash if you have been arrested on the spot. We law enforcement are one big happy family, and like to keep records of our shared memories. We are all grey or blue and bleed red to swear our allegiance to our uniforms and the law. We look out for each other, and like the FBI’s most wanted, we will be on the lookout for you. I hope your journeys are long, healthy, safe, and fruitful. I truly do wish you well. This is nothing personal, it’s just business. Next time, have your license, registration, and proof of insurance at the ready, because the next time I will have a ticket waiting on the nearest highway or roadway near you. And make sure you’re sober and your car is clean and contraband free when I do. Take care now!

COMING UP THIS WEEK: Is there such a violation as unauthorized/improper use of a horn? AND: What’s the speed limit if there are no signs?

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Sgt. Al here. I welcome your comments, ideas, and suggestions. You have questions about the police, and I'm interested in hearing what you have to say as a citizen. Thanks!

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