Speeding Ticket While on a Federal Governed Wild Park

[herbasorus]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California

I recently had a visit to Death Valley California,
while traveling on the 190 Highway i went over a hill and saw a white Suv driving the opposite direction, much to my surprise seconds later he turned on his sirens and flipped a U-turn

I pulled to the side of the road to let him pass, and he proceeded to pulled me over.

The officer cited me with a united states district court violation, 36 cfr 4.21 (c) code, exceeding speed limit, 75 in a 60 mile zone

The ticket was around 100$ with a 25$ processing fee,

According to some research i've done online, a normal CA speeding ticket i'd be able to pay a fine and do traffic school to erase the ticket from my record, however because it's federal jurisdiction speeding in a federal zone is a misdemeanor, which would create a criminal record and traffic school is not applicable to my situation, increasing insurance premiums for myself as well if i admit guilt.

instructions on the back of my ticket state option B

http://www.cvb.uscourts.gov/instructions.html

I am not sure what method the officer used to assertain my speed, as this was my first time being pulled over.

At the arraignment would I ask the judge if it's possible to renegotiate the terms of the ticket?
if i plea guilty, would i still incur court fees in higher than the initial amount?


Should i choose to fight the ticket, is the discovery motion similar to that of a state trial?
does anyone have any experience in this situation?

It has been about 2 weeks and i have 2 more to just pay the ticket off.

I live in the county of LA, and death valley is 5 hrs from my location, should i proceed with a court trial, is the ranger required to show up at the arraignment? The officer mentioned that should i choose to contest the ticket the court house would be in lancaster county. about 2 1/2 hrs away for both of us....

Ahhh what should I do?

[Mr. Knowitall]

The CVB offers a FAQ, here.

If it were me I would go to court on the schedule date and try to work out a deal. If that were too inconvenient I would retain a lawyer (admitted to the federal circuit at issue) to try to work out a deal for me in advance of court, ideally with a resolution that could be entered without my appearing in court.

[herbasorus]

I finally received details regarding evidence, roughly 2 months after issuance.

the officer was using radar, while headed the opposite direction and clocked me for 3 seconds from 1000 feet.

the service manual for this unit is not available without court subpoena according to the manufacturs website. My suspicion tells me that it is highly unlikely that an officer could ascertain someones speed coming from the opposite direction with 100% accuracy, especially for 3 seconds while i was going 75mph, while they themselves are traveling 60 mph in the opposite direction.

Since this is a misdemeanor charge would i be able to ascertain a public defender should i decide to fight the charges against me?

should i go to court, would i talk to the clerk? or would the prosecutor be available for discussion before I speak with the judge to enter a plea?

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i read a similar thread on this forum, in the officers testimony it states that he calibrated the unit before and after pulling me over. the unit he used was a k band radar. (exact make in the image testimony)

He did not state the serial# of the tuning fork he used to calibrate the unit in his testimony and he did not clarify that he was trained to do so either.

furthermore while being operated in moving mode there's an additional step to calibrating the device and the officer didn't mention he preformed this task either.

Are any of these points a strong enough argument to stand on?

Does anyone have any experience contesting a federal ticket? please chime in your help would be greatly appreciated.

- - - Updated - - -

his testimony. http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7871/testimony.jpg

there's a discrepancy of 2 mph from his speedo and the radar, is that worth mentioning?

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http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116747


This is the similar circumstance thread. I can imagine that falling under federal jurisdiction changes alot? or am i mistaken...

[PTPD22]

My suspicion tells me that it is highly unlikely that an officer could ascertain someones speed coming from the opposite direction with 100% accuracy, especially for 3 seconds while i was going 75mph, while they themselves are traveling 60 mph in the opposite direction.

You are correct. The industry (and court accepted) standard is, I believe, +/- 2 MPH, not 100% accuracy. It matters not whether the radar is being used in stationary mode (cop sitting on the side of the road while you drive toward or away from him) or in moving mode (both vehicles in motion). So, you can legitimately argue the radar actually registered that your speed was somewhere between 73 MPH and 77 MPH. Radar beams travel at the speed of light (well, technically, a miniscule amount under the speed of light...not so you'd notice)...so, it takes less than one second to obtain a speed reading.

Since this is a misdemeanor charge would i be able to ascertain a public defender should i decide to fight the charges against me?

If you qualify as indigent, yes.

i read a similar thread on this forum, in the officers testimony it states that he calibrated the unit before and after pulling me over. the unit he used was a k band radar. (exact make in the image testimony)

He did not state the serial# of the tuning fork he used to calibrate the unit in his testimony and he did not clarify that he was trained to do so either.

furthermore while being operated in moving mode there's an additional step to calibrating the device and the officer didn't mention he preformed this task either.

Are any of these points a strong enough argument to stand on?

Omitting the serial number on the tuning forks (two should be used) and his training would be legitimate defense arguments in Washington State courts. I presume that would also be the case for most other states and Federal court. The officer also did not mention that he performed the calibration tests in accordance with his/her training or according to factory recomendations. I'm not aware of any "additional step" needed to test the unit for moving mode. Perhaps you are referring to an argument you may have read in other threads that the officer neglected to state that the "patrol speed" readout on the radar was consistent with his/her patrol vehicle's speedometer? If that were the case, that can also be a legitimate argument. However, in the statement you provided, the officer states that his patrol readout was 60 and his speedometer was 62 (within that +/- 2 MPH acceptable margin of error I mentioned above).

However, when I say an argument is "legitimate," I mean that the court is not likely to immediately reject the argument out of hand. Likewise, it does not mean that the court will immediately accept the argument as a per se defense and dismiss the charge, either. From my experience and what I have read on other threads, all of these arguments are hit or miss as a defense strategy.

[herbasorus]

the additional test was from another forum thread

6.6 MOVING MODE TEST
Verification of speed readings between the patrol vehicle's speedometer and the PRO-
1000DS patrol speed display is another accuracy test that can be performed. These
readings should be the same, or within reasonable limits, allowing for minor speedometer
error.
Speedometer checks should be done on a daily basis. If a discrepancy is found, the radar
unit should be removed from service until the error can be corrected.

6) Officer does not indicate moving mode test was performed. Mfg states speedometer check should be done on a daily basis.

The forum poster had the manual for that particular radar, which i have not been able to obtain yet.

I did however obtain a document regarding calibration from the manufacturer

http://www.wikisend.com/download/955...%2011-2010.pdf

within it i found a passage .

many times during the shift as part of the tracking history the officer should verify the radar's patrol speed reading with the patrol vehicles speedometer this test has some advantages over the internal self test, the patrol signal is true doppler shift signal traveling through the entire radar signal path.
note:

even the best calibrated speedometers can not be read to the accuracy required to verify the radar to the specified +/- 1 mph tolerance.

being as the officers radar was plus 2, and having this document which indicates the tolerance should be within 1 of the patrol speed is that a stronger defense?

also in my previous post i had a copy of the officers notes, within it there are 2 serial numbers one i presume his radar unit, the other the antenna serial number. no where does it indicate anything about calibration tuning forks or their respective serial numbers.