Wrongful Arrest and Officer Lied in Court

Its a long story and not relevant in court, but to some it up, he is part of a network of which one of the other "members" and I had a verbal dispute, low and behold 12 hours later I am sitting in jail without having committed a crime. However, its inadmissible in court because its all he said/ he said...

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Quoting Dogmatique

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That right there is going to be your downfall.

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can you expand on that theory, why would that be my down fall,?

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Quoting Rsmith1981

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can you expand on that theory, why would that be my down fall,?

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Because you have no authority to demand punishment. Dedicating your life and funds to vengeance is, most likely, a hollow endeavor.

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Quoting Rsmith1981

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Its a long story and not relevant in court, but to some it up, he is part of a network of which one of the other "members" and I had a verbal dispute, low and behold 12 hours later I am sitting in jail without having committed a crime.

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Fair enough... So it would be safe to assume that your attorney was aware of this network, the verbal dispute and the connection between both -that being this particular officer- BEFORE your trial?

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Quoting Rsmith1981

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However, its inadmissible in court because its all he said/ he said...

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So that is inadmissible in a trial;
You've already been convicted based on the evidence which was admitted;
An appeal, is a review of the case and the evidence presented during the trial, in a light most favorable to the verdict;
Explain to us, if you would, why are you hanging your hopes on an appeal/what are you appealing???

You were charged with BUI, which means that the officer alleged that you were operating the boat. You claim that somebody else was operating and that you were just a passenger, but the officer's decision to charge you gave you a pretty good idea from the moment you sobered up to the time of your trial that the officer didn't believe your story and was alleging that you were the operator. I have no access to the officer's incident report but I expect that it, also, expressly or impliedly identified you as the operator of the boat.

While it is interesting that you claim that, even as he arrested you and hauled you of to jail for operating the boat while drunk, the officer admitted that you were not operating the boat, I can see why nobody took that claim seriously. Frankly, I have heard all sorts of crazy things from intoxicated drivers over the years, usually to find that when they review the facts in more detail or we get a copy of a patrol car video the haze starts to lift and I get an, "Oh, yeah, that's what happened... I guess I remembered things wrong." Sometimes, also, the police will humor a drunk driver in order to get better cooperation: "Of course you weren't operating the boat... Of course you didn't switch operators when you saw me observing your boat," none of which means that the officer is agreeing that the drunk wasn't operating the boat or that the officer didn't see the switch.

Your big surprise at trial was that the officer testified that he saw you operating the boat? It seems to me that you and your lawyer should have anticipated that the officer would recall things that way, given that he cited you for the offense. You and your attorney had the opportunity to present your own evidence and witnesses to contradict the officer's testimony. It would appear that at the end of the day, though, you were not able to convince the judge, prosecutor or jury that the sober guy was the operator.

Having presented whatever evidence you have to show that you were not the operator and that the officer was biased, and having failed to convince the judge, prosecutor or jury that your story was more credible than the officer's, the chances of convincing a prosecutor to file perjury charges hover at approximately 0%. I'm sure your lawyer has already explained that to you.

You do have the option of appealing, and I expect you have discussed that with your lawyer as well. I do not give you a huge chance of succeeding on appeal given that the finder of fact at the trial court generally has the last word on witness credibility and allegations of bias, so I would encourage you to discuss with your lawyer whether there are additional issues you might include in your appeal.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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You were charged with BUI, which means that the officer alleged that you were operating the boat. You claim that somebody else was operating and that you were just a passenger, but the officer's decision to charge you gave you a pretty good idea from the moment you sobered up to the time of your trial that the officer didn't believe your story and was alleging that you were the operator. I have no access to the officer's incident report but I expect that it, also, expressly or impliedly identified you as the operator of the boat.

While it is interesting that you claim that, even as he arrested you and hauled you of to jail for operating the boat while drunk, the officer admitted that you were not operating the boat, I can see why nobody took that claim seriously. Frankly, I have heard all sorts of crazy things from intoxicated drivers over the years, usually to find that when they review the facts in more detail or we get a copy of a patrol car video the haze starts to lift and I get an, "Oh, yeah, that's what happened... I guess I remembered things wrong." Sometimes, also, the police will humor a drunk driver in order to get better cooperation: "Of course you weren't operating the boat... Of course you didn't switch operators when you saw me observing your boat," none of which means that the officer is agreeing that the drunk wasn't operating the boat or that the officer didn't see the switch.

Your big surprise at trial was that the officer testified that he saw you operating the boat? It seems to me that you and your lawyer should have anticipated that the officer would recall things that way, given that he cited you for the offense. You and your attorney had the opportunity to present your own evidence and witnesses to contradict the officer's testimony. It would appear that at the end of the day, though, you were not able to convince the judge, prosecutor or jury that the sober guy was the operator.

Having presented whatever evidence you have to show that you were not the operator and that the officer was biased, and having failed to convince the judge, prosecutor or jury that your story was more credible than the officer's, the chances of convincing a prosecutor to file perjury charges hover at approximately 0%. I'm sure your lawyer has already explained that to you.

You do have the option of appealing, and I expect you have discussed that with your lawyer as well. I do not give you a huge chance of succeeding on appeal given that the finder of fact at the trial court generally has the last word on witness credibility and allegations of bias, so I would encourage you to discuss with your lawyer whether there are additional issues you might include in your appeal.

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I agree. The OP did not show up for court; lawyer offered statements that were clearly not admissible - I assume that the statements were not admitted into evidence or given little weight by the court due to the witnesses absence ; and the attny is using his judgment that you & your witnesses need not appear & I don't think rises to the level of malpractice.

Unless your witnesses are willing to go down to the DA's office or police department and file a sworn complaint of perjury then you will also have no luck with criminal perjury charges.

The OP took the charge too lightly & this is the result of such an attitude; its not uncommon, even for innocent people.

The officer did arrest you for operating a boat under the influence ... you must have known he thought you did. Maybe the officer made a wrong identification, a simple mistake. Without witnesses giving testimony to support a wrong ID having been made your cause was lost.

I don't see anything the OP can do to rectify this. Perjury must be knowingly done ... testifying to your ID could have been a simple case of mistaken ID, ie not a knowing error.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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You were charged with BUI, which means that the officer alleged that you were operating the boat. You claim that somebody else was operating and that you were just a passenger, but the officer's decision to charge you gave you a pretty good idea from the moment you sobered up to the time of your trial that the officer didn't believe your story and was alleging that you were the operator. I have no access to the officer's incident report but I expect that it, also, expressly or impliedly identified you as the operator of the boat.

While it is interesting that you claim that, even as he arrested you and hauled you of to jail for operating the boat while drunk, the officer admitted that you were not operating the boat, I can see why nobody took that claim seriously. Frankly, I have heard all sorts of crazy things from intoxicated drivers over the years, usually to find that when they review the facts in more detail or we get a copy of a patrol car video the haze starts to lift and I get an, "Oh, yeah, that's what happened... I guess I remembered things wrong." Sometimes, also, the police will humor a drunk driver in order to get better cooperation: "Of course you weren't operating the boat... Of course you didn't switch operators when you saw me observing your boat," none of which means that the officer is agreeing that the drunk wasn't operating the boat or that the officer didn't see the switch.

Your big surprise at trial was that the officer testified that he saw you operating the boat? It seems to me that you and your lawyer should have anticipated that the officer would recall things that way, given that he cited you for the offense. You and your attorney had the opportunity to present your own evidence and witnesses to contradict the officer's testimony. It would appear that at the end of the day, though, you were not able to convince the judge, prosecutor or jury that the sober guy was the operator.

Having presented whatever evidence you have to show that you were not the operator and that the officer was biased, and having failed to convince the judge, prosecutor or jury that your story was more credible than the officer's, the chances of convincing a prosecutor to file perjury charges hover at approximately 0%. I'm sure your lawyer has already explained that to you.

You do have the option of appealing, and I expect you have discussed that with your lawyer as well. I do not give you a huge chance of succeeding on appeal given that the finder of fact at the trial court generally has the last word on witness credibility and allegations of bias, so I would encourage you to discuss with your lawyer whether there are additional issues you might include in your appeal.

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Why is it that everybody in the world defaults to the police were right the accused are wrong?

I guess I'll just leave it at that since this is going nowhere, even if my memory was hazy as you point out, there were four of us on the boat, two of which haven't drank in 20 years. The facts are the facts, I did not operate the boat and the reason we did not come prepared for the officers false testimony is because I would never have guessed he would make up a new story...

The fact still remains the officer has his own personal agenda and is operating outside the law, this is a relatively minor offense in NC, its a class 2 misdemeanor, and does not convert to your driving record. The point being if I was guilty I would have shown up, apologized to the judge and taken my penalty which would likely have been 1000$ fine and maybe an AA class.

But that is not the case, I cannot let this injustice go un-checked, My record is spot-less I don't even have a speeding ticket on record, why should I be subjected to a charge that is entirely 100% false?

Whining isn't becoming, and won't help you. As you've been told, if you want to appeal your conviction you may do so. Talk to your lawyer.

When a police officer tells one story, the defendant tells another, and there is no evidence to suggest that the officer is lying, people (such as the judge, jury and prosecutor in your case) tend to believe the officer as the officer has no motive to lie and the defendant has a big one. You had your chance to prove that the officer was lying when he was on the stand and the jury believed him. If three of your friends testified that you weren't operating the boat and the jury disbelieved them all, that's unfortunate for you but it's not our fault.