How To Handle Ignorance By A Traffic Court Judge

**dr.student** · 08-27-2007, 12:44 PM

Good day,

I will provide three examples of situations where law was seemingly ignored and I had no idea how to proceed. All involve speeding, and resulted in losses. Please advise on how to handle situations like this in the future.

1) Discovery was filed. Full list of witnesses to be used by prosecution was requested, along with radar records and such. Received were the radar records only, certification was 2 years old (yearly radar certification is required).

In court: Motion to suppress radar reading was denied based on "the certification was probably lost, I am sure officer knew what he was doing"

The actual citing officer was present, suppression of hit testimony based on failure to disclose his presence in discovery was denied based on "he's here today, we're gong to listen to what he has to say. If you need time to prepare questions, you have 10 minutes."

2)
Received discovery was full of holes. Was to be a slam dunk case.
The judge (later found to be commissioner) ignored 5 motions:

Ticket not filed in court within correct time line.
No radar records.
Actual cert in court was 3 years old.. etc. etc

Commissioner listened to motions, then said: "I am not familiar with these laws, I want to hear your testimony. Do you swear to tell the whole truth... "

I replied that I would like her to read the laws if she was not familiar with them. She opened one of the RCW books (I cited IRLJ laws), could not find the law, got upset, and in elevated tone said: "Your testimony now!"

ME: "I was not speeding"
She: "I find the offence committed"

3) - Last Thursday

Discovery was filed asking for radar cert., notes, witnesses, etc..

Certificate was not received. I attempted to suppress reading, and not allow court to use expert witness testimony without proper disclosure. Both denied:

Motion to remove expert witness testimony based on failure to provide during discovery was denied the judge ordered the clerk to find the certificate during proceedings.

Motion to dismiss based on IRLJ 3.1(B) - failure to provide discovery within reasonable time was denied: Judge handed discovery papers during proceedings "here is discovery, take your time to read over it. You can be last one to present."

Motion for continuance (IRLJ 6.6) was denied. No explanation given.

**chuckycheese** · 08-27-2007, 06:28 PM

I have no idea whether or not you're in medical school (I suspect you're not) but when my son was in medical school, he would never had the time you seem to have to contest these matters.

Also, he would have been smart enough to know when he 'was licked'. Life is not fair....if you don't know that by now, you will soon learn. Personally, I think you're wasting your time. However, I do wish you good luck!

**dr.student** · 08-28-2007, 02:19 AM

Quoting chuckycheese

I have no idea whether or not you're in medical school (I suspect you're not) but when my son was in medical school, he would never had the time you seem to have to contest these matters.

Also, he would have been smart enough to know when he 'was licked'. Life is not fair....if you don't know that by now, you will soon learn. Personally, I think you're wasting your time. However, I do wish you good luck!

Hi Chucky, I am not in med school, rather business school. As far as the above matter, first two are personal from years gone by; example 3 on the other hand, is from my friends' hearing a few days ago.

I recently found this board, and read a lot of excellent into. The cases I described have been bothering me for a long time, as I have no idea how to handle them if I am ever find my self in a similar situation.

Hopefully some one with legal expertise can advise me on what to do next time. On a side note, I've won over 60 tickets representing my self, and I do not believe a lawyer would be treated the same as we have been in the cases above.

**chuckycheese** · 08-28-2007, 07:18 AM

If you've "won over 60 tickets" representing yourself, I can guarantee you that you know far more about winning in traffic court than anyone on this forum.....far more than anyone you'll ever meet in your life, for that matter!

(If you had truly received over 60 tickets, one would have to assume that you get them on purpose as some sort of hobby.)

**cdwjava** · 08-28-2007, 09:46 AM

In most states you can certainly appeal using the issues you raised. I'm not sure fo the process in WA, but you might have to hire an attorney to appeal the decision.

And if you really have gotten 60 tickets, have you ever thought about slowing down? You must waste a lot of time in court.

- Carl

**chuckycheese** · 08-28-2007, 12:29 PM

60 tickets???? That's just the number of times he's won!!!

**blewis** · 08-28-2007, 02:05 PM

Assuming your decision from last Thursday was from a Municipal or District Court, you have 30 days to file an appeal in the Superior Court of whatever county you are in. About two years ago, I appealed a decision of the Kent Municipal Court to King County Superior Court. It cost $110 to file the appeal, plus $40 for a copy (on CD) of the transcript (which you must then have transcribed). So figure those costs will probably be even higher now.

You can get a "Notice of Appeal" from the Clerk of the Court where you had your hearing. They will also have the form you'll need to obtain a CD of the proceedings.

You can, indeed, appeal without an attorney. But, I highly recommend one -- especially if you're not familiar with writing briefs or if you're uncomfortable arguing in front of a judge. You'll also have to make several appearances in Superior Court, so your time has to be taken into account (along with how far you may have to travel, time off work, etc.). An attorney can take care of everything for you.

Good luck,
Barry

**dr.student** · 08-28-2007, 04:30 PM

blewis, thanks a lot. I'll pass the info to my friend.

Quoting chuckycheese

60 tickets???? That's just the number of times he's won!!!

I would like to clarify.

Roughly a third of these are from the people I've assisted in winning. As 'cdwjava' suggested, I did slow down. Over the last 3 years I received just one citation, and for the lack of time had a professional handle it.

Chucky, you're absolutely right, there is an element of invincibility, arrogance, and pride that comes with every win. It's a hobby. A jigsaw puzzle of relationships between various aspects of traffic law. I once won a ticket by suppressing the training of the person who certified the radar gun used to calibrate the speedometer on the cop car that paced me. (Phew...that was a mouthful).

Blatant ignorance of these relationships is precisely why I asked my original question. Is there a magic sentence "Please keep your personal opinion out of this and keep it within legal framework" ?

From a practical perspective, it taught me a lot about immaculate order, paper trails, and staying calm in front of a judge.