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 Locus
Playing With Fire
 
Registered: 03/11/04
Posts: 5,658
Loc: Deep Inside
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 500 Dollar Ticket!!!
#8354809 - 05/02/08 05:53 PM |
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So after playing guitar with my band and other musicians for hours at a bar an hour or two away from my house and having a great time on stage I leave at around 3 am and since its so far away im trying to get home quickly. im on a highway and the speed limit is still only around 45 99going fast but i didnt realize how fast and what the speed limit was in this one area until this guy stopped me. i got caught in a speed trap of 30 mph and i was going 67 according to this guy. i thought i was going 50 something in a 45 mph zone... but apparantly not... anyway... im thinking itd just be 100 dollars or something which im already dissapointed about but i get home go to bed.. get up the next morning and see that 10 miles over the speed limit = 100 dollar fine.. 20 mph over = 200 and 30+ mph over = 500 dollar fine! ahhhhh...
and i already have hugh financial trouble.. i rarely work because of my back trouble.. i rarely do anything because of that.. which is hard enough to bare and deal with in my life or talk about for that matter and i wont.. so forget that part.. but basically i have no money.. i have nearly 3000 dollars worth of credit card debt and im broke and now i have a 500 dollar ticket.
i have no idea what to do 
not only this but this is my first ticket ever. im only 23 years old this may 30th.. which obviously i wont be getting anything for since whatever i might have gotten will be going to paying this off im sure once i actually get the courage to tell my parents. and this was the one time i actually drove the car to one of these shows as my original band wanted a day off from these weekly shows we play and i obviously couldnt carpool since they werent going and all my other friends that were going were already there.
anyway.. whatever.. you get the basic idea.. any help would be greatly appreciated if theres anything that can actually be helped.. i dunno :/ but thanks for listening regardless.
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"Fear is the great barrier to human growth." ~ Dr. Robert Monroe
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ~ Albert Einstein
~~~*Dosis sola facit venenum*~~~
*Check my profile to listen to my music* 
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 5,201
Loc: Americas
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Re: 500 Dollar Ticket!!! [Re: Locus]
#8355928 - 05/02/08 10:22 PM |
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If you want law advice, look up the law they charged you with. See the maximum penalty, and the minimum, if there is one.
Then go to court, plead not guilty, and ask the prosecutor for a deal. you'll probably have to go to court for two days, maybe three, to get that handled, but may be worth it to you.
Also, what was the device used to ticket you, it should be on the ticket. Often they use unapproved devices, which means they need to prove it works, not you, and they probably won't, thus you'll walk if you object and the officer/prosecutor can't present other evidence, such as training in the visual detection of speed. Was it a small town that ticketed you?
Either way, just cutting a deal will probably save you much money. I've gotten a 50% win rate in challenging tickets in court, and got the others dismissed with a small equipment violation fine. Food for thought.
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 geokills
······· º¿°·······
Registered: 05/08/01
Posts: 12,963
Loc: city of angels
Last seen: 10 hours, 9 minutes
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I've also had one ticket dismissed through a "trial by written declaration" -- I consulted a traffic lawyer who dictated a letter over the phone that I should send in for my defense. This guy's nickname is "Mr. Ticket" and he worked out of the San Diego, CA area last I checked. Wish I still had a copy of the letter he had me write but this was many years ago. Long story short, the letter got my ticket dismissed and since Mr. Ticket handled it over the phone for me in a matter of 5 minutes, he didn't even charge me! I wasn't going much over the speed limit though, and I was sited for "Unsafe speed" rather than actually exceeding the posted speed limit.
I was also hit with a radar gun as a 16 year ol' kid (my first ticket), did a lot of Googling, made up diagrams showing other cars near me, the high voltage power lines overhead (which could affect some radar guns), as well as some technical mumbojumbo. And after all that? The cop never showed up to court and my ticket was dismissed automatically with no need to present all the info I'd whipped up! Sometimes you just get lucky.
I took traffic school to have the other two tickets I've received dismissed. Of course, that won't help you much, since you still have to pay the fine on these, it's just that it won't go on your DMV record so your insurance won't go up concurrently.
Good luck!
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┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼
...╬π╥  ╥π╬...
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Luddite
establishmentshill
Registered: 03/23/06
Posts: 1,435
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Re: 500 Dollar Ticket!!! [Re: Locus]
#8357517 - 05/03/08 12:18 PM |
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http://www.protestwarrior.com/
http://www.thepeoplescube.com
http://michellemalkin.com/2005/11/01/unhinged-the-mugshot-collection/
  
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 5,201
Loc: Americas
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I don't know luddite. The cops I've cross examined didn't know shit
The big things are:
Was the officer trained in visually estimating speed?
Was the device's accuracy subject to judicial notice?
Was the device properly calibrated and in working order?
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usg543
Registered: 02/11/07
Posts: 3,735
Loc: on the lot, brah
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Re: 500 Dollar Ticket!!! [Re: Locus]
#8392131 - 05/12/08 10:20 AM |
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if it was in another county, just don't pay it. you'll have a warrant there, but just don't go back 
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