Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of Washington.
Hi,
I received a speeding ticket when I was driving on I5 in Snohomish County, Washington (It would be exit 230s of I5) on 11/1/2013 at around 9:00 pm. I was driving back to my house in Des Moines after picking up my friend in Bellingham airport. Since the road is quite faraway (almost 100 exits) and it was a bit late so I drive faster than the speed limit to get home early for school on the next day. Suddenly, a police officer suddenly came out from the left shoulder and pulled me over. I was accused of driving "Speeding 21MPH over limit" on 70 mph limit road. I am not sure how could I got that fast because I drove no much faster than other cars on the road.
The process was quick because I did not accept or argue with him at all, it was just question and silent. The reason was because this is the first time that I got pulled over in my life and first time I received a speeding ticket so I didn't know what to say and I didn't want to mess thing up. The fine is $206 and is due within 15 days.
So based on my situation, what is the best method that I can do to reduce or even dismissed it? I am a college student on tight budget so paying that much of money would mean the whole month of eating instant noodle for me.
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Quote:
Quoting
backtaro
So based on my situation, what is the best method that I can do to reduce or even dismissed it? I am a college student on tight budget so paying that much of money would mean the whole month of eating instant noodle for me.
The best method can only be determined after you request and examine the evidence against you.
Read Procedural Guide to Traffic Tickets in Washington State for a detailed tutorial.
These are the basic steps:
- Request a contested hearing.
- Request discovery.
- Make copies.
- Redact personal information.
- Make scans or hi-res photos and upload to an image sharing site.
- Reply to this thread with links to images.
- Examine the evidence against you with assistance from forum members.
- Formulate a plan.
In any case, you will need to travel to the court in order to have any chance of saving money.
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Hi guys,
So I've just received the mail from the court that my Contested Hearing would be on January 6th, 2014. Right now I am moving to preparing the document to request discovery based on the blewis. However, there are two concern that I would like to ask:
- How do I determine the city of the court?
"State of Washington, County of Snohomish, City of _____ (use the title on your notice)
Plaintiff,"
The title on my notice is
"SNO CO DIST CT CASCADE DIC
COUNTY OF SNOHOMISH
415 E BURKE
ARLINGTON WA 98233"
So should I list the city as Arlington?
- The second concern that I have is I could not recall the citation number on my ticket. So I could not fill out this part
"3. Design and Construction Certification for the SMD used on 11/01/2013 in issuance of Citation #___________, if not on file with the court pursuant to IRLJ 6.6(d)."
Is this really a deal breaker? Is there anyway that I could achieve these number? Should the case number and the citation number be the same?
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
In your case there is no city charging you. The plaintiff is Snohomish County, which is divided into 4 divisions, or districts. In place of “City of _____” you can put “Cascade Division”. The county web site lists cities with their own prosecutors but for you it’s a county court and prosecutor (scroll to the bottom for the Snohomish County Prosecutor phone number). You can call the prosecutor’s office for a mailing address.
The case number and the citation number should be the same.
.
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Thanks a lot for your valuable information searcher99
This is how my current discovery request look like:
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY, STATE OF WASHINGTON
State of Washington, County of Snohomish, City of Cascade Division
Plaintiff,
vs.
ABC
Defendant
Case No.: ABC 3Z0386558
REQUEST FOR DISCOVERY
Pursuant to IRLJ 3.1(b), I respectfully request that the Prosecutor’s Office provide discovery of the following:
1. A list of the witnesses the plaintiff intends to call at the hearing.
2. A copy of the citing officer's sworn statement.
3. Design and Construction Certification for the SMD used on 11/01/2013 in issuance of Citation #ABC3Z0386558, if not on file with the court pursuant to IRLJ 6.6(d).
Dated this 23rd day of November, 2013
ABC
Seattle, WA
My question is:
1/ Is there anything wrong with the title? I used the form from Barry on this forum (thanks Barry!) but in his sample, it is municipal court but I used district court, is this interchangeable?
2/ Is it matter if I used 0 (zero) instead of O (letter) since I cannot distinguish between them in my contested hearing notice?
3/ Barry suggested that I should print 3 copies and get date stamps from Prosecutor's office and Court Clerk but in my case, these office are very far far away from my place, is there any alternative method? I heard about CRRR but I don't really understand how that works in this scenery.
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
First, if that is your real case number you should not post it here because anyone can read it. Always leave out anything that identifies you personally.
I have limited experience with discovery requests, so if anyone is more familiar please feel free to correct. I believe that what you have is ok except that you can delete “City of”. Barry gives 2 titles because it’s either a city court or a county district court so you use the one that applies to your case. There is a leading zero in the case #, not the letter “O” so you have read it correctly.
CRRR is short for “Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested”. You address a copy to the county prosecutor (call for the address) and another to the court, take the envelopes to a post office counter clerk, fill out certified mail cards and pay an extra fee. When your request is delivered, someone has to sign for it. A delivery confirmation gets mailed back to you, which is your proof of service.
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. Wishing you and your loved one the happiest of holiday!
I finally able to scan and upload all the discovery document that I received from the prosecutor office. I feel it is a little less than what I expected a discovery would come with, but it is my first time requesting and receiving discovery. Is there any loophole in the discovery package that could benefit my case?
Another question is my contested hearing date is January 6, 2014, should I postpone the court date in order to be better prepared for the contested hearing? Is it possible to do it now?
http://imageshack.com/a/img27/8366/v3mj.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img42/9654/vk5g.jpg
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Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Seriously? That's ALL you received? If so, Merry Christmas to you -- you just won. As soon as your case is called:
"Your Honor, I move for dismissal due to lack of evidence. The officer's statement was NOT provided to me in the discovery materials."
You owe Searcher a drink.
Barry
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Wow. Can't even believe that. And a State Patrol officer, nonetheless.
Re: Speeding Ticket in Snohomish County, Washington
Hi guys,
There is one last page on the discovery material but due to the forum rule, I cannot upload more than 4 pictures at one time.
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/6553/tsfj.jpg
It is great to know that I would win this case but would this last page change the whole result?
Bests,