Contesting a Speeding Ticket in Washington

Some more information. I got additional documents from the Prosecuting Attorney today which are identical with the previously posted material but with a new calibration certificate. I have uploaded the new certificate to the previous photo site. This one has a better serial number, but the officer's number starts with 1 K and the certificate starts with 2 K's. The new certificate says it is good for 3 years and the SMD is still in calibration. I expect a small error on the serial numbers is not sufficient to have the ticket dismissed (or is it????) so we will go the deferral route.

Thanks for all the help from everyone.

Check with the courts if this cert is even on file with them. They fact that they had to send discovery to you twice suggest to me that they don't have their ducks in a row. When you verify that they don't, move to dismiss the cert provided since these certs are allowed to be used in lieu of an expert on the basis that they are properly filed. (see IRLJ 6.6)

The officer's report doesn't mention the make or model of the unit. Argue that you can't determine the particular model used from that report and have speed readings suppressed on those grounds. You can combine this to strengthen your argument about the use of two 'k's in the officer's affidavit.

I also looked over the cert you were provided with and it seemed a bit off. The certs need to follow, basically, a certain established format. Our cert states that the technician supervises "all" radar/lidar, but fails to specify his jurisdiction. Does he supervise all units in the US? In Canada? In the world? Or ever radar in his living room? Argue that the cert is insufficient as it fails to specify where his supervision begins and ends.

I've seen plenty of cases dismissed for mismatched tuning forks and bad certs, but it also depends on your judge. Whatever route you guys decide to go, best of luck!

Time to update with the results - Short Answer - Case Dismissed. Long (interesting) Answer -
Our court docket started with someone who used the "standard" How To Beat A Speeding Ticket website information. He subpoenaed the ticketing officer who was questioned by the Prosecutor to establish the speeding infraction. The defendant then started his examination by saying that he had hoped that the officer would not show up. Not a good sign. He then spent 15-20 minutes with rambling questions aimed to undermine details about the stop and the radar device to no effect. He then briefly tried to argue about how under some cases, radar might be inaccurate. When he finished up, the judge went after him by saying that all he did was raise speculation that did not shift the balance of weight of the case very much. The defendant than complained about raising reasonable doubt and it was explained that all that was needed was whether it was more probable that he was guilty or innocent, not reasonable doubt. Verdict - guilty. This guy had train wreck written all over his defense. I was surprised the judge let him go on when it was clear in the first couple of minutes what his plan was from the start. After this, the prosecutor left while the judge dealt with some deferred judgements on criminal cases before returning to us lowly speeders. When it was our turn, my wife was very nervous and asked the judge to let me speak for her, which he kindly did. I moved to suppress the radar reading since the officer did not identify the make or model and the serial number did not match the calibration certificate so there was no way to identify the device or its calibration. The prosecutor had not returned and the judge said that since there was no one from the state to object, he granted the motion and dismissed the case. I'm not sure how it would have turned out if the prosecutor was there, but we got the desired verdict.

Thanks to all on this site, including MoMoney and blewis for their advice, we would have not been prepared without you.

Congrats on your win!