Fight Ticket? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Fight Ticket?

architect

architect

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Bike with Statefarm. Best I have found for me. Statefarm agent told me whether I had 0 tickets or 2 tickets it does't matter because I'm under there "B" plan with no car with them anyway. If I get more than 3 tickets they won't insure me period but there is no premium raises on tickets.

I got convicted for one speeding in Jan 2012. Didn't bother fighting it.

New speeding ticket was lowered by female copy waiting in a side road from 25 over to 15 over. I have a court date set for end of July. I was going to request for disclosure one month in advance and then pick up the package on court date and ask try to delay. But now I'm having second thoughts on the matter. Should I fight it? I'm concerned about reading how tickets get raised if they were lowered on the spot. Also not sure what the chance or of no show and winning but it sounds slim. I was thinking of biting the bullet and paying the $50 fine. I'm not really confident in standing up in front of the court and I'm not sure if it's worth my time to read up on my own and prepare everything. The other thought would be to hire someone to take care of it. My first ticket will drop by end of next riding seasons anyway and as long as I don't get 3 tickets in one sitting I can still get insured.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
 
Personally i would fight it. Fight everything no matter how big or how small. For instance; A few months ago i got pulled over because my car didn't have a front plate because my friend used it as a step to get on my hood and it fell off the day before. Anywho i was driving down the street and a cop passed by and turned around and then pulled me over and gave me the speech of how i needed to have my front plate visible at all times... After talking he went back wrote me up a ticket and carried along his day. Well i decided to fight the ticket so i mailed it in saying i would like to fight it. Two weeks later i get a letter in the mail saying that the officer never filed his side of the ticket (i guess cops need to hand in all the tickets they write) and that the ticket he gave me was no longer valid. That's it. i didn't need to go to court or anything. Even if you go to court you could win or you could also hire a law firm to take care of the ticket. I'm saying to fight this ticket because if you don't you'll have 2/3 strikes and until your first ticket goes away you'll be scared to speed or anything, you'll constantly worry about cops and it just will not make your riding experience as nice as it could be.
 
Is it worth hiring someone? Any recommendations? Typical cost? Don't think its worth my own time to research and prep as I'm busy enough. Thanks for the thoughts.
 
Even though you have a two ticket allowance, I would not be so quick to use it! That third ticket will destroy you.

To request disclosure, you have to give the prosecution atleast 8 weeks prior to your trial. If you give them a month, they will argue you did not give them enough time, and the delay will be attributed to you.

Request for the officer's notes, and a full copy of the speed measuring device's manual and go from there. Also be specific: ask for typed notes if the handwriting is not legible and explanations for officer's short-form writing.

Redline appear to be the go-to guys here for counsel.
 
applecrisp2 said:
Personally i would fight it. Fight everything no matter how big or how small. For instance; A few months ago i got pulled over because my car didn't have a front plate because my friend used it as a step to get on my hood and it fell off the day before. Anywho i was driving down the street and a cop passed by and turned around and then pulled me over and gave me the speech of how i needed to have my front plate visible at all times... After talking he went back wrote me up a ticket and carried along his day. Well i decided to fight the ticket so i mailed it in saying i would like to fight it. Two weeks later i get a letter in the mail saying that the officer never filed his side of the ticket (i guess cops need to hand in all the tickets they write) and that the ticket he gave me was no longer valid. That's it. i didn't need to go to court or anything. Even if you go to court you could win or you could also hire a law firm to take care of the ticket. I'm saying to fight this ticket because if you don't you'll have 2/3 strikes and until your first ticket goes away you'll be scared to speed or anything, you'll constantly worry about cops and it just will not make your riding experience as nice as it could be.
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The outcome would have been the same even if you went to pay it; because they wouldn't have had the Original....
 
Thanks folks.

I online faxed the request for disclosure. When the time gets closer and I see the disclosure I will decide whta to do then.. maybe I'll hire Redline but not sure if paying the guy 500$ is worth it. My premium won't even go up that high from the tickets.
 
You should always request disclosure if you've been charged with an offence. It will tell you the strength of the case against you, and may highlight areas of defence.

There is a big difference in prosecuting a speeding charge where your speed was measured with Laser, vs. radar, or even a pace. There is no harm done in requesting disclosure and you will still be able to plead guilty to the reduced amount on the ticket if you so choose. You can always hope for the best case scenario of an admin error, or no disclosure provided, or the officer doesn't show, but those are long shots... disclosure is always the first step!

And if they don't send it to you, ask again. It's up to you to chase it down. Good luck!
 
I had zero tickets, hired Redline. It was only 26 over. Wanted to preserve my clean record. It got messy, they went to court 4 times I think, I had to sign affidavits, etc. But eventually we came out victorious. Cost me prob close to $1,200. Was it worth it for maintaining a clean record, even though that ticket probably wouldn't even affect my insurance at this point? Maybe if I got some more tickets. Would it be worth it because a cop might see my clean record and let me off next time? Yes. Was it worth it to stick it to the court system and a jerk cop? hell yeah!
 
what happens if you fight your ticket but then during trial you realize you are not cut out to fight it and feel you need legal help? Can you request another trial as you feel you cannot represent yourself after all?
 
ajaxguy said:
what happens if you fight your ticket but then during trial you realize you are not cut out to fight it and feel you need legal help? Can you request another trial as you feel you cannot represent yourself after all?
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That would be purely at the discretion of the JP. You could be hosed. If there's any question at all, then you're better off seeking professional representation.
 
So I haven't gotten the call and it's been 5 weeks since I submitted disclosure. I went to follow up on it and they said if I haven't gotten a call then it's not ready. I clarified that I wanted to make sure my fax request went in. Next thing I know they told me they do have some disclosure from the officer and will mark it that I have picked it up. Now, I'm not sure if this disclosure was already submitted way before or if this disclosure was made available after my request but I did not get a call. It's written in a tall narrow kind of note pad style. Some abbreviations I don't understand and messy writing - I can't tell. My disclosure requested typed and explanation of abbreviations. Some of the information on here seem to state when the radar gun was tested and said 330pm (I can't tell the number and words before it). I was pulled over at 930AM so did they tested it the day before? Does that still count? My ticket also has a small error saying 930PM


Should I rerequest disclosure information? I don't have the confident to go up myself to fight this and I"m not sure if it's worth the money to fight this either. Like I was saying, in 1.5 years my first ticket will be off the record too. Thanks.

EDIT: I can't post up my disclosure for reference but I'm not sure if that is allowed.
 
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If it says PM on the ticket get the officer to testify to that. Then talk about how you were home having dinner at 930 pm and werent out driving etc.
 
Unfortunately, the officer also wrote down "Sunny day 25degrees" which would suggest day time. So she has evidence of it as during the day.
 
If you requested a transcription in your original request, resubmit and restate that request. If you have to go to trial prior to its arrival make sure that you bring both requests with you, along with the untranscribed notes, so that you can prove you requested it when asking for an adjournment.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
If you requested a transcription in your original request, resubmit and restate that request. If you have to go to trial prior to its arrival make sure that you bring both requests with you, along with the untranscribed notes, so that you can prove you requested it when asking for an adjournment.
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I'm just going to resubmit the same disclosure with updated date. I asked for manual, transcribed, explanation of short forms and many other things and none of that was done. I think she actually just submitted her initial ticket notes early and haven't even gotten around to responding to my disclosure.
 
architect said:
I'm just going to resubmit the same disclosure with updated date. I asked for manual, transcribed, explanation of short forms and many other things and none of that was done. I think she actually just submitted her initial ticket notes early and haven't even gotten around to responding to my disclosure.
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If they attempt to give you the disclosure on the day of trial refuse it. When in front of the JP state that they attempted to give you the disclosure on that day and that you wish to have an adjournment so that you can properly study it. Otherwise they might try to push you through to trial.
 
ajaxguy said:
what happens if you fight your ticket but then during trial you realize you are not cut out to fight it and feel you need legal help? Can you request another trial as you feel you cannot represent yourself after all?
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At any point you can speak up and ask for help. If you explain you are over your head and need professional help, and ask for an adjournment (not a new trial). the court will stop right there and reschedule to continue at a later date, to give you a fair chance to get legal representation.

Rob MacLennan said:
That would be purely at the discretion of the JP. You could be hosed. If there's any question at all, then you're better off seeking professional representation.
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Not really. There is no discretion, JP or Judge has to try to help the defendant. The court is under a "duty to assist a self-represented litigant to have procedural fairness". There is plenty of precedent.

R. v. Darlyn (1946), 88 C.C.C. 269 (B.C.C.A.), "There are two traditional common law rules which have become so firmly imbedded in our judicial system that a conviction is very difficult to sustain on appeal if they are not observed. The first is, that if the accused is without counsel, the Court shall extend its helping hand to guide him throughout the trial in such a way that his defence, or any defence the proceedings may disclose, is brought out to the jury with its full force and effect. The second is, that it is not enough that the verdict in itself appears to be correct, if the course of the trial has been unfair to the accused. An accused is deemed to be innocent, it is in point to emphasize, not until he is found guilty, but until he is found guilty according to law.

R. v. Dimmock 1996 CanLII 2292 (BC CA), (1996), 47 C.R. (4th) 120 (B.C.C.A.), the court was of the opinion that where a defendant is unrepresented, there is a heavy onus on the trial judge to assist the defendant.

("The judge does not become an advocate or a tactical advisor to a self-represented accused and the level of assistance expected of the court need not rise to the standard expected with representation by competent legal counsel")

etc.

etc.
 
Received a call today to pick up my disclosure. 1.5 weeks before my actually court date. Luckily I have summer hours so I can swing me tomorrow after work to grab it. Unfortunately I'm most likely just going to go ahead and pay the $52 ticket and the conviction. I'm also leaving the country for a week next week. The way I see it is whether I have 0,1, or 2 tickets my premiums with SF remain the same. By the end of next season my 1st ticket would have dropped too. I'm glad I still made that cop type up the disclosure :p Thanks again for everyone's advice and information.
 
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