no prior accidents/tickets.. completely clean record. So traffic school is an option right now granted the judge will allow me to go to
interesting information. thanks.If the officer doesn't show up but the court doesn't automatically dismiss the case for a trivial violation such as lane change or speeding, you should be asking the judge to dismiss ("failure to prosecute" if the judge asks the reason), NOT a mere fine reduction. You need to object then and there to any attempt to reschedule and raise the issue on appeal if the court won't budge. Unless both you and the officer made a prior appearance together and you were granted a continuance for whatever reason or you were given prior notice rescheduling the trial, the judge ordering a continuance when you showed up and the officer didn't would make a decent case for abuse of judicial discretion on appeal, IMO.
my intention is not to fight it as I know I will most likely lose. I just am banking off the fact that I have a 50% chance of getting my ticket dismissed if the cop does not show up.As for your case, it would be a tough one to argue if the cop showed up. It wouldn't be easy to explain to the judge why driving 20mph over posted limit of 35 on a road with street parking at night was safe. It's not impossible, but it's an uphill battle.
is this where I go to the court in question and pay the bail amount and plead not guilty for a court date? How would I get a copy of the officer's statement?That being said, the first step would be to go ahead and file the 'i am not guilty' declaration and have a look at the officer statement if he replies.
I am just trying to get a reduced fine and traffic school if the cop shows up. Is this feasible given I play the sympathy card with the judge and ask for traffic school so I can learn more about the rules of driving? If I plead guilty, will the judge be likely to dismiss my option to attend traffic school?
One last note. In the OP, I stated that the officer marked my car down as a 2 door (it was a 4 door sedan) and as gray (it was blue slate). The officer is trying to use his training as a "radar". Therefore his testimony is accepted.
But if he can't get the # of doors correct while standing 1 ft away from the car (at a standstill) then how accurate could his estimate be at 50ft and moving? It was dark and cloudy out so I would think that that's another hit on his crediblity? It's alot harder to judge distance when it's dark. Visual landmarks are harder to see, depth perception is lessened. Could I make a case off this?
thank you for your time, it is much appreciated.

