Attention all Law enforcement and attorney members!

[2003c]

I got out of work last night and was pulled over and cited for doing 88 in a 70 MPH zone. I was very polite with the state police trooper (took off helmet, gloves, yes sir, no sir) and had all of my paperwork. He gave me an 8062 (=$140 ticket).

I was hoping that someone may have good advice for getting out of this. I really do not want to give the state of Michigan any more money than what I already do in taxes. My record is otherwise clean.

Any help very much appreciated

[NRHS Sales]

Were you going 88 in a 70 mph zone or are you wanting to contest that? Guess i am not sure if you are claiming you are innocent or you just don't want to pay the fine?

[2003c]

I was probably going faster, but I do not want to pay the fine or have my insurance go up or worst of all, have my wife find out.

[NRHS Sales]

You might try this:

http://www.paynofine.com/


To hire a lawyer to fight your ticket will probably cost more than the fine itself. If you go to court and ask the judge for leniancy since your record is clean there is a good chance he will lower the points but you will still most likley end up paying the full fine.

[alvycolt45]

see this link http://www.wikihow.com/Fight-a-Traffic-Ticket

These two points are the best to use.

-- Request a trial
In most jurisdictions, the police officer who gave you the ticket must show up for the court hearing. If he or she fails to show, your case will be dismissed. Many times officers will schedule many court hearings on a certain day so that they can appear for all of them at once.

-- Request a continuation of your hearing
If you request a continuation (a change of date) you increase the odds that the officer won’t show up. You usually need to do this in writing, and typically you will need to make your request several days in advance of the scheduled hearing. You might see about choosing a court date that is closer to the holidays - this might increase the odds of your officer being out on vacation.

Remember, the system wants you to just admit guilt and just pay up. As a US citizen you have rights. Make them prove you're guilty!

[75PoPo]

Did he have a radar or laser? How did he determine your speed? These tickets are hard to fight for a few reasons:

1. Most highway cops are trained to "guess" by eye a motorists speed within a certain margin of error. They also have to re-qualify annually

2. He could have followed you and clocked your speed. All police vehicle have calibrated speedometers that have to be re-checked on a regular basis.

3. Radar is less accurate than laser but either way you are probably -I LUV XLF!--I LUV XLF!--I LUV XLF!--I LUV XLF!-ed.

I'm not sure about your state but in NY there is another option:

If you plead not guilty and go to court and the cop doesn't show up twice (in NY) the ticket gets thrown out. That means you actually have to go to court twice. That is a long shot though. Especially with highway cops and state troopers.

I hope this helped a little. It sucks that you got ticketed though.

[Bone]

There's no magic bullet.

Your BEST bet is to hire an attorney, but that will likely be more money out of pocket than the ticket would have been though depending on the outcome you MAY save some in the long haul with regards to increased insurance rates.

You CAN check if your state has an automatic right of appeal like PA.

In PA traffic ticket hearings are held in a district magistrate's office. If you lose there, no matter how or why, you get an AUTOMATIC (De Novo) right of appeal to the first level of the state civil/criminal court.

IF this is the case in MI, then you could try to fight it/negotiate a lower ticket yourself (saving attorney's fees) and IF it doesn't go as you like, you could accept the conviction, hire an attorney and try again on appeal.

The advantage of a system like PA has is that though the magistrates are usually harsh, the judges and DAs who run the civil/criminal system are usually more interested in actual criminals and just want you off their docket, so they tend to be more likely to deal especially with someone who has gone through the trouble/expense of hiring an attorney for a simple traffic citation.

No matter how you proceed, you need to tell your wife. It's a sign of an unhealthy relationship to hide things from each other, especially something as trivial as a traffic citation.

Good luck with things

RIDE SAFE!!!


PS - on the didn't show up thing - that's very unlikely in a lot of jurisdictions because the officers get PAID (often overtime pay) to show up.

[75PoPo]

Also, good points above. The longer you prolong the inevitable the better the chance that the cop won't show.

Yes cops sometimes get overtime to appear. However, as a regular patrol cop, traffic court doesn't take precedence over other things like arrests, etc. So the likely hood of a no show is a bit higher. Highway cops appear more often only because that's what they do... write tickets.

[Brad]

I have just learned of the trick of pleading not guilty and negotiating down a ticket on the day of the trial with the LEO. Here in PA, I just got a seat belt ticket thrown out. I told the judge that I was guilty, but was making an effort to wear it 100% of the time now and he dismissed the ticket outright. While I was waiting, I saw the LEO's reducing tickets before they had to go into the judge. One girl got 95 in a 55 reduced to 69. Not sure if that's how it works in your state, but that's my experience.

[erbie07nightster]

Here in Nebraska, you have the option of what's called a Stop Class. Basically, you spend most of a Saturday trying to stay awake in a defensive driving class (I think, never been). I think it cost's $120 or so, but it clears the ticket from your record. Only thing is, you can only take it once in a couple year period or something like that.