Whether to Seek a Continuance or Deferral on a Speeding Ticket
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington (Spokane)
I have a court date set for June 28th on a contested speeding ticket. I just found this forum yesterday and have been feverishly reading everything I can. I did not request discovery in time. How would I go about requesting a continuance so that I can request discovery? I originally contested it just to ask for a deferral or a reduced fine/citation, which from reading seems like I would do with the prosecutor on the day of the hearing. Any help or pointing in the right direction would be appreciated.
Re: Whether to Seek a Continuance or Deferral on a Speeding Ticket
Is this in district court or municipal court? Perhaps somebody from Washington will chime in with some information about local court practices, including whether you can expect a prosecutor to be present at the hearing; but it would help to have specificity about the court. You can contact the court to ask about its policies on continuances -- in some parts of the country, traffic courts are pretty liberal about granting a first continuance, but other courts may require a formal motion. If you're in the Spokane County District Court, that court allows you to petition for a deferral online.
Re: Whether to Seek a Continuance or Deferral on a Speeding Ticket
You can always go the court and ask for a copy of the statement that the officer filed. Be prepared to pay a copying fee if needed. If you can do that really quick and post a redacted copy (remove case#, any personally identifying info), we can have a look at potential technical attacks.
Find out when it was filed while you are there. They legally have 5 days from the date of the cite, not including day of, holidays, or weekends. Essentially 7 days after the cite was issued.