How to Request Dismissal of a Ticket

[Dagobert]

My question involves a speeding ticket from the State of: WA


I got a ticket a few months ago in Lynnwood and my hearing date is fast approaching, less than a week. Thus far the prosecution has failed to share it's evidence in discovery so with any luck this is what I'll get off on. I'd like to ask all of you for a little help with court room procedure. This is my first hearing and I haven't been able to get down to the court room to sit in so I'm walking in blind. I've been reading and thinking about this for a while but I'd like to be sure I have the timing and wording of my play down. Here's what I believe will happen, assuming I am never granted my discovery request:

Hearings will be going on (I'm going to be there an hour early to watch a few if possible) and my name will be called. The judge will ask me if I wish to change my plea and deffer the finding. I will answer no. I will be asked if I have any pre-trial motions.
"yes your honor. I would like to move that the officer's written statement and or court room testimony be suppressed. The reason being that on *date of service* I served the prosecutor's office with a request of discovery asking for the officers statement as well as a list of witnesses that will be present and the prosecution failed to meet this obligation."
I have a stamped copy as proof of service and one on file with the clerk of courts so I expect the motion to pass.
"I would like to move that the case be dismissed due to lack of evidence your honor." Case closed, go home.

So how's that? I'd like to know if my idea of how this works is accurate and whether I've worded it properly. After that is there some kind of receipt I can get at the clerks office? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated, thank you very much.

[blewis]

You realize that no two judges and no two jurisdictions are the same. But, in general, I'd say you have a good handle on the procedure. BTW, if the judge does not ask for pre-hearing motions, you might want to just pipe up and say, "Your Honor, I have a pre-hearing motion".

As far as the wording of your motion, it's pretty good -- a nice combination of respectful tone, not sounding TOO much like a lawyer, while still getting the message across.

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck,

Barry

[BrendanjKeegan]

Yep, Barry said it on this one: you've got a good feel.

However, delete the words "and court room testimony." If the officer shows up (which is HIGHLY unlikely in both Lynnwood KCDC and Lynnwood Muni unless he was subpoenaed), he can still offer his testimony. So court room testimony can't necessarily be suppressed if the officer shows up.

But if the officer shows up and he wasn't subpoenaed, you can motion for a continuance and then talk to the officer and prosecutor in private to get the notes.

Brendnan

[Dagobert]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I asked for a list of witnesses the prosecutor is going to call and I'm under the impression that they can't use anyone I have not been previously notified of. Thanks a lot for the comments guys, I'll let ya know what happens.

[blewis]

You would be absolutely correct in a "criminal" case (although there are even exceptions to that rule). However, this is a traffic infraction. I asked an attorney about this once, and she said that, literally, ANYONE in the courtroom, including the defendant, CAN be called to give testimony. So, if the officer is there, there's some good chance your objection will be overruled -- but, certainly make the objection, if the officer is called.

Barry

[Dagobert]

Hey everybody, I know it's been a while since this happened but I have been to the hearing and here's how things went down:

I requested at my hearing that the evidence be suppressed and to my surprise and dismay the prosecution objected and the motion carried. It seems that I had dotted my I's but neglected to cross a T; I had not put my apartment number on the original request of discovery so the office had sent it but it had never arrived. I got a continuance and made a new request and as of yesterday I have my discovery.
I am going to scan it if I can find a scanner to use and post it for your scrutiny but it looks to me like it's all in proper order. The ticket was filed two days after issuance. and what I got as an officers report is so short there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for error. They use a prefabricated form that has places to be circled and crossed out and really doesn't say much.
So the question is where to go from here? I'll try to get an image posted in the next day or so and any advise would be great. Thanks for everyone's help so far this site has been great!!

Dagobert

[Dagobert]

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong, I'm trying to post a PDF of my discovery but I cannot find the manage attachments icon that the FAQ page says I should see. Any help would be cool; the hearing is this Wednesday so it's probably a lost cause at this point but either way I'd still like to learn from this.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can't post attachments. You will have to host the file on a different server and post a link.

[BrendanjKeegan]

Not a lost cause... use imageshack to upload...

[Dagobert]

I believe this should work, the image of the Acrobat logo has to be clicked and then it brings you to the discovery image. I have posted the submitted officers report. The other two documents in the packet were a cover letter explaining what I got and where I could view the SMD calibration and certification log and a copy of the filed ticket (filed two days after issue so that avenue's closed).
The only thing I can think of at this point is that the ticket and the officers statement state that I was doing 48 in a 35 but I was only cited as 45 in a 35 and maybe this is a technical error. It occurs to me that the judge would probably laugh at me for complaining about what amounts to a "favor" from the officer (and maybe even ad the 3 extra miles to the charge, who knows) but it's a thought and worth throwing out here.
I'll try to be on here as much as I can between now and the hearing in three days, any ideas about avenues I should explore or more information I could provide shall be appreciated.

Thanks all!!

http://www.myimagehosting.com/show-1...uc-123332.html


http://www.myimagehosting.com/show-1...uc-123332.html


Here maybe one of these will work.