My question involves traffic court in the State of Washington:
I recently had a contested hearing concerning a speeding ticket in the city of Seattle. I made a rookie mistake by not hiring an attorney thinking that the ticket errors were so obvious the court would have to dismiss the case – wrong! The judge wouldn’t even listen to my attempt to show that the officer’s statement was obviously about a different car and incident. I am appealing and arguing that I was never allowed to present my evidence and testimony to make my case. While observing another court case, the judge in that case made the statement that, “As the Supreme Court has ruled, if the officer is NOT in court, the officer’s statement MUST be read into the record.” (Emphasis added.) Does anyone know if that is true and if so, where the court ruling can be found? Thanks for your help.

