Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
This post concerns a speeding ticket I received in November 2015, which I resolved yesterday in the Spokane County District Court in Spokane Valley, WA.
Due in large part to the legal and procedural information shared on this forum, I was able to get my first speeding ticket dismissed for lack of evidence resulting from an insufficient police affidavit. Incidentally, I was the only person in that packed courtroom to get their ticket dismissed.
I want to thank the community in general for the wealth of information and resources, and several forum members in particular (blewis, BrendanjKeegan, and Speedy Gonzalez) for their insightful and constructive posts.
This was my first noteworthy experience with our legal system, and my takeaway is that an informed citizen can make the process work for him/her if enough time and effort is taken.
Thanks again
Re: Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
Re: Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
Re: Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
Re: Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
Thanks for letting us know. Concerning Spokane County District Court I do have a question: Were you allowed to orally move for dismissal on your hearing date or did you serve/file the motions in writing beforehand?
Re: Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
The only filing I made beforehand was serving the office of the prosecutor with a request for discovery. The basic sequence of events at my hearing was as follows:
On the hearing date, after the prosecutor finished negotiating various reductions, amendments, deferrals, etc, I was called up to the stand, and the judge introduced my case. Before she called on the prosecutor to speak, I stated, "Your honor, before we begin, I would like to move to suppress the speed reading and dismiss for lack of evidence." I provided her with my copy of the police report, after handing it first to the prosecutor so he could confirm its veracity. Once she had the documents in hand, I read the contents of my motion, and she observed to the court that the police affidavit was insufficient.
Re: Successful Contested Hearing for a Washington State Speeding Ticket
Thanks wjb for that court info. With your report we now have 2 recent posters who have successfully dealt with the prosecutor at Spokane County District Court. Apparently they are not enforcing the local motion practice rule for infractions and instead have gone with a more hassle free approach where defendants run motions by the prosecutor at the hearing. That is good news and will help us on the forum.
Unfortunately another recent poster did not fare so well with Spokane Municipal Court. They wanted everything in advance and in written form, plus they accepted an officer affidavit that referenced a completely different citation number. I would rank them as a court in need of improvement.