Swinomish Tribe Speeding Ticket

My question involves a speeding ticket from the State of: Washington State

I was given a speeding ticket by the swinomish tribe in Anacortes on 3/18/2011.

If you have ever been to the casino you know how to get to oak harbor and how to get to burlington from entering and exiting and doing the loop around to the gas station.

So around 12 at night coming back from oak harbor I thought the casinos gas station would be open to get cheaper gas. I saw police had someone pulled over on E. Casino drive and went to fill up only to see I was one in twelve cars wondering the same thing why was the station closed. On my way back up the hill i stalled 2 times and pulling past a police car. They pulled 15 feet ahead and turned on there lights when i was already stopped.

I told them my trouble and I asked them if they where WSP or the sheriff. They moved to the next question of proof of insurance and took my id and went back to there car returning with a speeding ticket 51 in a 30 mph zone. I told my trouble again and they said well you should have told us we would have delt with it in another way. I felt I was on the show of super troopers. Here is the thing on the ticket in two places it says 5/18/2011. It also says I was paced by definition they have to be behind you.

So as soon as they got back in there car a few seconds later they had someone else pulled over. It took me a few minutes to get my car started and got to the crest of the bridge and ran out of gas. So sitting in my car watching them pull everyone over going up and down that road i counted 13 cars. Finally an elderly couple of Canadians pulled over and we went to get gas in Mt. Vernon's Am PM/Walmart. They said we are going home and never coming back to that casino again after being also harrassed as well. Keep in mind the Tulip tribe a time ago was doing this to people on I-5 not so long ago.

When I asked for discovery they said it was ambigious I even asked for such a thing and when discovery came I saw they sent me an SMD report why? They where parked a quarter mile ahead of me in the opposite direction. And the ticket says Paced.

On the ticket it says 0006 or 12:06 and on the notes from the cop it says the right hour and right date 3/18/2011. So this proves he wrote it up the moment I asked for discovery. And in the comments it says "I was sorry for speeding".

I am presuming. Skagit County prints these tickets out for the tribe and on the top and bottom it shows 2 check boxes in if the infraction was on tribal land or in skagit county.

I asked again for pre trial discovery and they gave me the same run around they said they are a Soverign Nation and the other run around's and said this will go in your file. They do not abide under Washington State Law.

Just wanted to put this out there and think if I dont show up to court they will send it to a collections agency. June 9th at 9 am is the court date.

Any Ideas?

What court is it in?

http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f6...ding%20ticket/

Swinomish tribal court on reservation road

Back in 2001 they where given the right to hand out tickets from what I have looked up online. I think it is pretty much a scam I have heard this happening all over the state and most people just pay I am told. Why pay if you never did the ticket.

What a classic kangaroo court you have here.

I'm wondering if this ticket will even go on your driving record. The state recognizes other states, but does it recognize a sovereign nation? Interesting question. Probably one for your insurance representative.

Reading the laws of the Swinomish Tribe:
5-01.190 Suspension.
The Court may order the suspension of a driver’s privilege to drive within the jurisdiction of the Tribe as part of any penalty ordered under this Title.

There is nothing there about the suspension of a driver's privilege outside of their nation or a direct link with WA DOL.

I wouldn't take my chances though.

Post up all of your materials and we'll see what we can figure out from them. From what I see, the officer will be required to go to court and testify as there is no code that allows him to write a statement and have that admitted without him present.

I am on photo bucket tried to link photos to this site and it will not work with the http or i would post the ticket and what they sent. Can I post direct links to this website without them deleting them?

http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f6...ding%20ticket/

I tried posting images here but to no prevail. Double click on an image to view upclose. Click once more to zoom out and preview and next are on the upper right. Also the crease in the ticket is from me folding it up and putting it in a folder. It was marked pace. A friend asked me about this.

I did a Google Earth of the location and he was up on the hill facing the opposite direction. I think he was near the hill trying to bust people coming around the hill. The red dot is the tribal cop and the blue arrows are the direction of traffic.

I posted the Paced formula I got off of Officer.com for anyone who later gets a ticket and need's this.

He even messed up on me having a CDL Class A and re-corrected his mistake before giving me the ticket.

Well, here's what I would do in court.

If the officer is not present then I would object immediately.
"Your honor, the officer is not present and there is no rule of law within the Swinomish Traffic Code that allows a written statement to be admitted into evidence in lieu of the officer's appearance in court."

If the court says something to the fact that the IRLJ governs all Swinomish Traffic Proceedings, I would say:
"Your honor, with all due respect, but I can find no where in the Swinomish Traffic Code that the Code has adopted the IRLJ. I respectfully disagree with your statement and would like you to point out for the record where the tribe has adopted the IRLJ."

You'll probably not do well with that. So you may need to move on. Again, you're kinda stuck in Kangaroo Court.


Next, you need to object to the SMD Certificate being admitted into evidence:
"Your honor, I object to this particular SMD Certificate being admitted into evidence due to the fact that there is no rule of law within the Swinomish Traffic Code that allows a certificate be admitted into evidence in lieu of expert testimony. Unless the prosecution has the SMD expert at trial today to testify, I object."

So the court might say something like they did earlier about the IRLJ being adopted. If the court says that it adopts the IRLJ, then you can object due to the fact that the SMD Certificate is not in "...substantially the [following] form..." as prescribed by IRLJ 6.6.


If that doesn't work, then attack the officer's statement:

I would first argue that the officer indicates that he used pacing, but testifies that he used an SMD.

The next thing I would argue is that the officer's statement was written for a different violation than the ticket was. The ticket was issued on 5/18/11 for a violation that occurred 5/18/11. However, the statement was written and signed two months prior to the violation on 3/18/11. Either the officer had a sixth sense, or the statement describes a different violation. Either way, you must acquit.

You can use this to your advantage, or you can not, but the officer signs the statement under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington. You can go two ways with this argument: 1) because the officer has signed it under penalty of the laws of another jurisdiction and not of the court's jurisdiction, there is no way of affirming if it is actually is truth, or 2) because the officer has signed under the laws of Washington, then all other laws of the State must apply.

Finally, you can argue that the officer said he only used one tuning fork, but clearly, the SMD certificate says that there are two. If he did not test the unit to the manufacturer or the expert's instructions, how can there be certainty in the way that the unit was operated. Make sure you point out that the officer's report says "A tuning fork." Not "both tuning forks." If you want to go one step further, you can say there is no way to definitively prove that the officer used the correct tuning fork as prescribed for the unit because he doesn't indicate where the tuning fork came from. There is no serial number, no certainty.


In any WA State court, you would have a good chance of dismissal. However, you're stuck with their court, their rules, their (for lack of a better term) crap. It's an unfortunate situation, but I wish you the best of luck.

Quote:

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Quoting squeak077

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http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f6...ding%20ticket/

I posted the Paced formula I got off of Officer.com for anyone who later gets a ticket and need's this.

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This is not a pacing formula (pic on link provided)... it shows possible error in the officer's conclusions with pacing done incorrectly.

With pacing the officer is required to maintain a constant distance during the measurement time period. Then he can speed up to pull you over (he would have to anyways, correct -- or he would still be down the road from you).

Thanks a lot for your input and time on this Brendan. We will see what happens. If anything going to go to a higher court. I posted this to warn other locals or visitors of what is going on up here and to stay away from these casinos.

I will keep this forum informed of the outcome.

Food for thought.....
http://www.police-scanner.info/live-...nner-feeds.htm
This is the Whatcom County scanner site:
http://bhamscanner.kicks-ass.org/
and this is the scanner box that opens up:
http://bhamscanner.kicks-ass.org/player.html
You can hear EVERYTHING thats going on in whatcom county. Enjoy!

Nice job, Brendan. I would also add that the Calibration Certificate was NOT signed under penalty of perjury. So, even if IRLJ 6.6 was "adopted" by the Tribe, this certificate does NOT comply.

Barry