Or I could plead not guilty.
Well, no I couldn't.
I
did have several friends and even one officer suggest this and then
plead my case which wouldn't include "I stopped." It would be "I didn't
stop and this is what's wrong with the intersection." Or "This isn't
fair." With what I'd seen in court already, those weren't going to fly.
They didn't care. I didn't stop. Done deal. Give us your money. QED.
In
some of the trials I saw, it was possible that pleading not guilty for
this kind of ticket was exactly what was going on. I saw quite a few
trials where a defendant's name was called, an officer's name was
called, the defendant appeared, the officer did not, and the case was
dismissed.
But there was no way for me to be sure that
the ticket they were fighting was anything like mine. Nothing was said
about the ticket.
Or, put another way - I did not witness any camera cases where an officer did appear.
I
still wonder if half the population who get this sort of ticket from
cameras are in a secret society that knows to always plead not guilty so
that it will get dismissed like this even though the bailiff, before
letting us in the courtroom, explained that if we do this, the officer
Will show up, they Will show up.
I, myself, couldn't
ethically plead not guilty no matter how others might've said that's how
it's done, or it's the best choice for me. Call me an idiot. I don't
care. I couldn't do it. I had to address this another way.
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Those who choose to offer drive-by simplistic comments, such as "Just follow the law," "Drivers here are terrible," "You'll never win that fight," "Oh, let it go," or "All cameras should be removed," are not welcome here. I will delete these sorts of comments with no more warning than this.
I will allow comments that are backed up with reason and robust argument that enhance this discussion. Agreement is not required. A well argued point is. I am interested in hearing from people with solid knowledge about law enforcement, traffic design, and the judicial system who can explain why things need to be the way I saw them or who would like to describe how they think the system should be changed and why.
Don't like this policy? You, too, can create your own blog and set your own rules.Have at it!