When do Traffic Court Filing Deadlines Start to Run

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington

Hello, long time reader first time poster, i was hoping some of the experienced experts here could chime in with a clarification to rule IRLJ 2.2. i have read alot of info on the forum including the procedural guide to WA tickets (great post), but there is one thing i cannot find. i understand holidays and weekend-days (sat-sun) do not count towards the 5 day total, but what about the actual day of infraction or when the ticket was issued?

Here's my example: lets say i got a ticket for 5mph over in a 25mph zone with not one other car on the road (board l.e.o i guess), and the printed ticket was issued to me right then and there with the options for hearing/court info etc. on 5/27/14 and i go to the court house computer and the e-ticket processed filing date was 6/3/14 i count 6 days excluding sat,sun, and holidays (i don't think there were any that week?) would that be ground for dismissal or does 5/27 not count? appreciate any insight.

To my understanding your example complies with IRLJ 2.2(d) which states “The notice must be filed within five days of issuance of the notice, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.” That means 5/27 is day zero and 5/28 is day one, making 6/3 day five (excluding the weekend).

If you would like further assistance, file for discovery and link redacted images of what you receive to this thread. Forum members might find other defenses for you.

There is no reason to rely on someone's "understanding", when there are Court Rules governing the issue. IRLJ 6.1 states:

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Quoting IRLJ 6.1 Time

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Time shall be computed or enlarged as provided in CRLJ 6, except that the time in which to respond to the notice of infraction under rule 2.4 and the time in which to file an appeal may not be enlarged.

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And, CRLJ 6 states:

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Quoting CRLJ 6 Time

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(a) Computation. In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by the local rules of any court, by order of court, or by an applicable statute, the day of the act, event, or default from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period so computed shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a Saturday, a Sunday, nor a legal holiday. Legal holidays are prescribed in RCW 1.16.050....

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Searcher99 is correct -- it was, indeed, filed "within five days of issuance". Sorry.

Thanks jojo for providing that better information. I was just approaching it from a mathematical perspective but probably should have read more of the rules. Also to Confused Citizen I should not assume you actually have a ticket since your question was hypothetical—sorry about that and thanks for asking.

Thank you searcher99 & jojo for the responses and clarification. i will proceed with a discovery request, i wrote example above because i was not 100% certain of the dates but i re-checked the records and the dates are correct. and i do have a citation to deal with for 5mph over from the example scenario.

I dropped off my contested box check ticket in person at the court house and am now waiting for my court date, can i request discovery now from the prosecutors office or do i need to wait until i have a court date? also if i decide to retain an Attorneys help later on will my request for discovery affect the courts decision in anyway?

Your hearing notice includes a case number to reference on the discovery request, so I would wait until that notice arrives. Your discovery request has no effect on the court’s decision if you later retain an attorney, but you would be required to give whatever materials you received to your attorney.

Ok so i got my notice today but here is the weird thing i got two letters, opened them up and they both have the exact same dates info etc, but one is a green Mitigation hearing notice and one is yellow contested hearing notice. is this a clerical error? and should i be concerned about it? when i handed in my ticket i marked it on the spot and the clerk asked me "contested?" and i said yes she so ok your notice will be in the mail.

I would check with a court clerk. If both notices are at the same time in the same room with the same judge you are probably ok, but otherwise you might need someone to remove you from the mitigation calendar.

So i went to the Bellevue downtown prosecutors office with 3 copies of my discovery request using the guide off this forum, went up to the front desk with the papers asking how to file for discovery and the man behind the counter handed my a form to fill out and said this is how its done here now, it was a paper titled "Defendant request for discovery" asking questions like name, date, case number, court date, etc. i filled it out he asked for id then took a photo copy and gave me one copy with no date or stamp he did not take my printed forms. i asked what about filing with the court house he said he was not sure how to answer that. so my question is has anyone dealt with this? and what should i do? my court date is July 28th and it said on the form papers will be processed and mailed within two weeks.

im still not sure what to do with the court filing, but i got my discovery papers. I have uploaded them please let me know if you see a defense. any help is greatly appreciated. http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps7742aeb5.jpg http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...psebc83cf1.jpg http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...psb4d2d710.jpg

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.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...psde4eacfe.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps7b416c65.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps4330602d.jpg

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?

The Stalker II has a range of about 1 mile. Are you going to try to argue that you might have been BEYOND that range?

At that range That's definitely not something i would take on, i would leave that to the professionals. i do remember the cop stepping out into the road way to flag me down very far ahead like 2-3 cross streets but i couldn't get an accurate measurement.

searcher99 however is accurate in his finding:
I did notice one statement in the officer’s affidavit that could be incorrect: “Speed limit signs were located at 16800 block of NE 8th 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.

i went up and down NE 8th street a couple of times and there are no other speed limit signs except 16800 east and 17200 west, so a speed limit sign posted westbound at 16800 would be incorrect because that's the way i was headed and there was no sign. would this error in the statement give a chance for dismissal?

The speed affidavit is pretty air tight my best suggestion would be to try for a reduced fine/plea bargain or consider a deferral if this will affect your insurance rates.

I do highly recommend going in early and observing if you do try and contest this, the judge may accept an argument about the speed limit sign posting location and it changing to 30MPH a few more blocks away but I see it more likely they will ask "so?" as a small factual error of four blocks does not make a difference in going above the posted speed. Which based on the officer's statement his evidence is pretty weighty that you were going above the posted limit regardless of the exact location of that posting. I also believe that Bellevue like most places around here has the catch all city wide speed limit of 25MPH "unless otherwise posted"?

~Spike~

Figured i should update this with the outcome:
Thank you to everyone who replied, i had court this morning i had it continued once due to work and it sent it a month further. i had the defense of no speed limit sign located where officer swore there was one ready, with maps printed out, but as i sat in court i noticed every ticket in front of me was getting amended to inattentive driving (non-moving) so when it was offered to me i decided to take it. i think that was the safest outcome i must also say every lawyer i talked to said Bellevue is hard to get anything reduced but it was extremely easy i barely said anything, and also the judge was very nice and professional. thanks again!

Thanks Confused Citizen for your update. I think you did a very good job managing your case and securing a favorable outcome.