When do Traffic Court Filing Deadlines Start to Run

I would go to the Bellevue District Court and ask to see the certificate for the radar unit specified in the officer’s affidavit. You can get a copy for a small fee. If the date is more than one year prior to the infraction notice, you could possibly get your ticket dismissed. Calibrations for certain units might be good for 2 years, but when I attended Bellevue court in late 2009, a one-year standard was applied on every motion to suppress based on the calibration date.

It’s no longer necessary for you to file with the court a copy of your discovery request stamped by the prosecutor’s office, because your reason for doing that would have been to get proof of service in case the prosecution did not comply within 2 weeks. The request you prepared also asked for the calibration certificate, but there is no rule requiring them to provide it since the court should have a copy. So if it’s not on file at the court or if it’s out-of-date you could have grounds for dismissal.

I will leave it to others to comment if there are any potential issues with the officer’s statement.

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Quoting searcher99

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It’s no longer necessary for you to file with the court a copy of your discovery request stamped by the prosecutor’s office, because your reason for doing that would have been to get proof of service in case the prosecution did not comply within 2 weeks.

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Please do NOT advise people to disobey court rules. The reason for serving your request on the prosecutor and filing a copy with the court is NOT for "proof of service" (although it conveniently works out that way). The reason is, simply, that IRLJ 3.1 (b) REQUIRES it. It may not be necessary -- logically. But, one of the quickest ways to shoot yourself in the foot is to not follow the rules.

Thanks, jojo. I do appreciate your input and have a question for you. Should the OP repeat the discovery filing or just file a copy with the court of the prosecutor’s form that was submitted but never stamped? Essentially it looks like someone at the Bellevue prosecutor’s office did not cooperate when Confused Citizen attempted to serve the request. I can see that the rule was not followed correctly but how does that affect the OP’s case at this point? The court date is not until July 28 so there’s still plenty of time to properly file for discovery and be more assertive this time or to take other corrective measures.

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Concerned Citizen, we can wait for clarification from jojo or others, but based on what he is saying you probably will at very least need to take a copy of the form you actually served on the prosecutor (their version) to the court and ask a clerk to file it. You can do that at the same time you ask for the radar certification. Then you would be in compliance with the wording of the rule.

Thanks for the info guys, i filed the discovery request at the court house today and i asked to get a radar certificate, the lady at the desk said they will just hand me a big book and said i could go sit down and choose pages for them to print (.25 cents a piece). she said they cannot help you look for any data or tell you how to use the book so i was not sure what to do with it. i looked thorough it and found all the most recent pages that listed the radar used in my case stalker II serial AS009135. please let me know if i got the right stuff or what i should go back to get.
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Any suggestions? it looks like the last calibration date was 11/28/2012 that's almost half a year from the citation date any defense to that?

So it looks like the radar unit used for your ticket was calibrated about 18 months prior, and the normal interval is listed as 24 months. My problem is that I haven’t been back to the Bellevue District Court in well over 4 years. Since then it appears the city has changed its radar certification standard from 1 year to 2 years. What I do know from my observations back in late 2009, is that the most common motion from attorneys representing Bellevue speed infraction cases was to suppress radar evidence based on units calibrated over 1 year before the ticket, and all such motions that I saw were granted.

I did notice one statement in the officer’s affidavit that could be incorrect: “Speed limit signs were located at 16800 block of NE 8^th St (Westbound) and … (Eastbound).” On Google Maps the only signs I see headed westbound are at the 17200 block (next to the Methodist Church), then a sign increasing to 30 MPH opposite the park at the 16000 block. The image date is 3 years old, so you would have to go there and check signs. I don’t know if this sort of discrepancy would cast enough doubt on the officer’s statement to change your outcome. Maybe someone else here can comment.

If practical, you might want to do what I did--observe at least one infraction hearing prior to your scheduled date, when attorneys are present (sometimes an hour or so earlier than the session for people representing themselves). Note the most common motions that are successful and also note if a prosecutor is present, and if so what lesser amended charges might be available.

If no other suggestions are made and attending a court session isn’t practical or cost effective, your safest option might be to try seeking an amended charge to a non-moving violation, or if no prosecutor offers anything just use your deferral.

Thank you searcher99, i totally miscalculated the time between the calibration and infraction i was thinking it was 2013 for some reason. 18 months seems like a very long time for a speed measuring device to be be accurate i will look into how long they are valid according to the court. i will also look into the posted speed signs and see if there is a discrepancy there.

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also as i look into those things, i found this defense on the forum in another thread, it looks like it would apply to the officers statement. could it work in my situation?

"Motion 5
I motion to suppress the officer’s statement on lack of sufficiency and a motion for dismissal. The officer did not specify the distance from the target. We have no knowledge if the acquisition point was within acceptable operating parameters"

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Quoting Confused Citizen

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Thank you searcher99, i totally miscalculated the time between the calibration and infraction i was thinking it was 2013 for some reason. 18 months seems like a very long time for a speed measuring device to be be accurate i will look into how long they are valid according to the court. i will also look into the posted speed signs and see if there is a discrepancy there.

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The court has no opinion on how often an SMD should be calibrated. They simply read the certification, which should SAY how often the device should be calibrated. As long as the cert complies, it's perfectly fine. WSP devices are certified every two years, while some local departments certify every year, and one that I've heard of is every three years. I believe that the IACP has a 2-year policy.

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Quoting Confused Citizen

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also as i look into those things, i found this defense on the forum in another thread, it looks like it would apply to the officers statement. could it work in my situation?

"Motion 5
I motion to suppress the officer’s statement on lack of sufficiency and a motion for dismissal. The officer did not specify the distance from the target. We have no knowledge if the acquisition point was within acceptable operating parameters"

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I won't even speculate -- I have no idea about whether the above motion was concerning RADAR, LIDAR, pace or aircraft or whether or not it worked for the person who posted it. If you really wanted an opinion, you should have provided a link to the thread it was taken from. As it is, there is no context.

Thanks jojo, i guess the radar calibration is valid if the certification good for 24 months according to the court print outs.

I found the motion here with similar circumstances, 5mph over and use of radar http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98504

I have searched the manufactures website (http://www.stalkerradar.com/law_stalkerII.shtml) for working ranges for the unit but cannot find a specific range is just says you can adjust range sensitivity. could i motion to dismiss based on the fact that i cannot gather evidence for accuracy of distance, because there is no distance stated in the the officers sworn statement?