Fighting a speeding ticket
- Thread starter danielyp29
- Start date
1) You can plead not guilty without having to actually physically be at your initial appearance. I forget the website but if you call the clerk of court they should be able to tell you what you need to know.
2) You have NOTHING to lose by taking it to court. Court costs are already included. I lost the last speeding ticket I fought, and for some reason when I went to pay the clerk after it actually ended up being $5 less than what was on the original ticket. No idea why, but I didn't argue.
3) You don't have to take the stand. In fact, you probably have nothing to gain from doing so. If it's your word against the officer's, who do you think the judge will believe?
4) Be prepared that if you do take it to court, the officer may testify to "facts" that make their case even if they differ from the truth, and/or the judge may preordain you guilty and ignore your arguments. (I think having an attorney familiar with the judges that can get your case in front of a fair/reasonable one is a major benefit of hiring representation... probably not worth it for something like this, though.)
5) No matter how many people tell you to just pay the fine, you have a right to face your accuser / see the evidence against you, and the burden of proof is (theoretically) on the county attorney. Even if you lose, if you're not opposed to taking an hour or two out of your day I figure you still kinda come out ahead vs. just paying the fine, because you at least make the officer/judge/city attorney work a little to earn your money.
Personally, I think defending yourself against some minor offense like a speeding ticket is something everyone should do at least once. The whole thing can be a bit intimidating, but is likely to be fairly educational. A good way to step out of your comfort zone a bit and learn about our legal system firsthand, with minimal chance of negative consequences (as long as you don't assault the judge or something crazy, the worst that happens is you lose and pay the fine).
All that said, I agree the best policy is to watch your speed and try to avoid getting tickets in the first place.
Are you a current ISU student? If so, you could also potentially go talk to student legal to get some pointers.
2) You have NOTHING to lose by taking it to court. Court costs are already included. I lost the last speeding ticket I fought, and for some reason when I went to pay the clerk after it actually ended up being $5 less than what was on the original ticket. No idea why, but I didn't argue.
3) You don't have to take the stand. In fact, you probably have nothing to gain from doing so. If it's your word against the officer's, who do you think the judge will believe?
4) Be prepared that if you do take it to court, the officer may testify to "facts" that make their case even if they differ from the truth, and/or the judge may preordain you guilty and ignore your arguments. (I think having an attorney familiar with the judges that can get your case in front of a fair/reasonable one is a major benefit of hiring representation... probably not worth it for something like this, though.)
5) No matter how many people tell you to just pay the fine, you have a right to face your accuser / see the evidence against you, and the burden of proof is (theoretically) on the county attorney. Even if you lose, if you're not opposed to taking an hour or two out of your day I figure you still kinda come out ahead vs. just paying the fine, because you at least make the officer/judge/city attorney work a little to earn your money.
Personally, I think defending yourself against some minor offense like a speeding ticket is something everyone should do at least once. The whole thing can be a bit intimidating, but is likely to be fairly educational. A good way to step out of your comfort zone a bit and learn about our legal system firsthand, with minimal chance of negative consequences (as long as you don't assault the judge or something crazy, the worst that happens is you lose and pay the fine).
All that said, I agree the best policy is to watch your speed and try to avoid getting tickets in the first place.
Are you a current ISU student? If so, you could also potentially go talk to student legal to get some pointers.
Last ticket I got from DOT, court costs were one amount to mail and were 15-20 dollars more if appeared. This was about 2-3 years ago for overweight trailer, so maybe it has changed since.
Maybe the cop was doing you a solid and letting you know a light was burned out that you more than likely wouldn't notice and another cop wouldn't be as cool about it?
True. Whenever I feel like letting my hair down I hop on 380 and go 60 in the 55!!
#YOLO
My wife and I were pulled over about a year ago in Urbandale at 3 in the morning. Obviously the cop was looking to make an OWI arrest. But to his surprise no drinking occurred that night. What ****** me off was not that he pulled me over, hell at 3am driving the speed limit I still was expecting it, but the ****** reason he gave for pulling me over. Said my rear licence plate lamp was out. OK, cool I'll get that fixed on my way. Get home and find that the light actually worked. Yes it was a little dirty and therefore dim. Couldn't help but take away that experience that the cop was a liar. Not what I want to take away form my cop interactions. Oh and the officer asked for my wife's identification. Why the hell did you need that sir? Go fishing for criminals somewhere else bro.
I always recommend pulling out your cell phone to record the entire conversation with a police officer. Then if you go to court and the cop won't show you the radar (which was in my case) - then you have a defense.
If it is a he said / she said thing - you don't stand much of a chance.
If it is a he said / she said thing - you don't stand much of a chance.
I got pulled over kinda the same way at 2 in the morning while coming home from fieldwork. License plate light was out, you know it is if they give you a fixit ticket. What drove me nuts was he kept asking for documents while shining the light in my mirror to blind me. I almost told him that if he turned his light off it would go quicker as I could see
I'll just tell you this right now: unless the officer doesn't show up, you're going to lose.
If you'll get satisfaction out of wasting the time of the judge, prosecutor, and officer then go for it. If it's worth taking the time off, going in, and having your day in court, go for it. I worked as a prosecutor for a couple years, and let me tell you, having to go to court over a traffic crime that you clearly committed annoys the **** out of everyone involved in the criminal justice system.
But that's all you're going to get out of it. Hiring a lawyer is just ******* your money away. You're going to lose the case. If your time and lost wages are worth flipping the bird to the system, then I would suggest fighting the case.
If you'll get satisfaction out of wasting the time of the judge, prosecutor, and officer then go for it. If it's worth taking the time off, going in, and having your day in court, go for it. I worked as a prosecutor for a couple years, and let me tell you, having to go to court over a traffic crime that you clearly committed annoys the **** out of everyone involved in the criminal justice system.
But that's all you're going to get out of it. Hiring a lawyer is just ******* your money away. You're going to lose the case. If your time and lost wages are worth flipping the bird to the system, then I would suggest fighting the case.
It's too bad you weren't drunk. You would have won your suppression hearing.
I definitely caught cops lying about their probable cause to pull people over at either that time of day, or pull people over because they recognized the vehicle and knew they were a huge drunk. Stuff like claiming a driver was swerving (when video shows they weren't) or that someone failed to signal (when video clearly shows the signal). It was always pretty much the same one or two guys.
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From the cars i see pulled over, that is a big driver to get pulled over. How many old ugly people get pulled over?
I had someone pull me over at like 11pm downtown Des Moines for supposedly running a red light turning right. I am pretty sure he was just checking to see if I was drunk. I gave him my info and when he told me what I did, I asked to see the video. He went back to his car for less than 1 minute and came back and told me to have a nice night.
In high school/college, I had longer hair. Every time I got pulled over, I got a ticket.
In 2010 I cut my hair, and haven't gotten a ticket since. Been pulled over at the same speeds in the same locales.
In 2010 I cut my hair, and haven't gotten a ticket since. Been pulled over at the same speeds in the same locales.
That's not necessarily true, but even then, there is a chance that it will be dropped. I had a reckless driving ticket dropped by simply challenging it (before it went to court) as a lawyer told my dad that it was the wrong charge (should have been excessive acceleration- I was doing a brake stand in the middle of an empty parking lot).
I'm surprised the lawyer didn't amend the charge when he realized it was the wrong one.
Again, we're talking about speeding. It's one of the most straightforward statutes in the Iowa code. If the officer wrote the wrong code, the State has up until the trial to amend it.
Straight forward if you don't take into account the margin for error regarding car speedometers and the necessity of frequently and correctly recalibrating the radar guns themselves. I'm curious as to what the potential margin for error would be when those two things are taken into account. That should be a fairly easy thing to figure out, and people should be given at least that amount of leeway.
Got a ticket once for going 75 in a 65 zone. I argued with the officer. He told me cars sometimes have bigger wheels/ tires put on them by a previous owners. Sure enough I had 16" tires on my car which was supposed to have 15". I t made for a better ride but it affects the speedometer. Looking back I was always passing people but I figured I was always pushing the speed limit. $134.00 later I learned my lesson. This happened in the early 90's so Im not sure if it still applies, just thought I'd throw it out there.