Contested Hearing for a Ticket in Benton County Court, Washington
I really need advice on how to win my contested hearing in benton county court in Kennewick, WA
I'm very young and have no training in law or law enforcement, so I'm not sure how to go about this
Anyway, I got pulled over in Kennewick on May 14,2009 (the day before my 21st birthday!) for going 46mph in a 35mph zone - so 11mph over and I was fined $154 for this infraction
Now, I'm sorry but I'm a broke college student and I could not afford to pay this, and I did not want to admit that I committed the infraction, as that would have meant I would have had to pay - so I opted for the contested hearing
I've been doing some research, and so far it seems like the best options for me are to request continuances for as long as I possibly can (according to IRLJ Rule 2.6 (a) (1) that should be 120 days from the date of notice of infraction right?) and then try to subpoena the cop and the speed measuring device expert in order to help my case out as much as possible
Well, in addition to doing all of that I found that the cop charged me way too much for this infraction and in IRLJ 6.2 (d) (1) the statute code I was cited for (RCW 46.61.400) has a base penalty of $52 - could it be possible for the statutory assessments fees to be $102?!?! That just seems so ridiculous - I want to know:
1.) Is this an overcharge on my penalty?
2.) If it is an overcharge, can I use that fact against the officer who cited me? And/or will it help my case at all?
If it helps I'm a 21 year old college student, not even from anywhere near Kennewick, WA - I actually live in Bremerton, WA which is all the way on the other side of the state (like an hour away from Seattle, WA) - but I go to school at WSU in Pullman, WA which is in eastern WA but it's like 2.5 hours away from Kennewick...
Either way... PLEASE HELP!
Also, here is a link to the rules concerning the court i'm scheduled to be heard:
http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rules...p=clj&set=IRLJ
thanks!
Re: Contested Hearing for a Ticket in Benton County Court, Washington