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  1. #1
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    Jul 2012
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    Default Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington

    I was ticketed for speeding in an obscure, non-residential road beside the Tyee Golf Course. The police car was unmarked and parked on the side near 200th.
    I am enclosing the files that I received after requesting for discovery. The court date is on Wednesday, 6/19/13. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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    Can anyone give advice? I'm a stay-at-home mom and I don't know how I'm going to take care of the ticket amount and other subsequent fees. I've used my deferral four years ago. If there's no way to fight this ticket, how do I request to have it changed to inattentive driving? TIA

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    Can I use the "subsection" argument? Also, the officer doesn't state when he was trained - can I bring that up, too?

  2. #2
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    Sep 2005
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    98,846

    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    How about posting the basic, relevant facts here? Some people will follow your links, but most will not.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    I couldn't upload more than 4 images, so I posted the links instead. I did a workaround and put two images together in one file.

    I did request for a continuance to give me more time to figure out what to do. Please, anyone, look at the files --- I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.



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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Snohomish, WA
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    1,588

    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    The officer does not establish whether the device actually passed or failed any or all of the calibration testing. It is impossible to internally test the unit with the tuning forks. The tuning forks are for external testing only. He fails to establish if he used the self-test diagnostic switch. Given all of that, and the fact that he doesn't say how long ago he was trained -- which could have been last week for all we know -- the statement that it "appeared to be working properly" does not really hold water.

    I don't know if you will get anywhere with the argument or not, but I don't see much else.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    Quote Quoting Speedy Gonzalez
    View Post
    The officer does not establish whether the device actually passed or failed any or all of the calibration testing. It is impossible to internally test the unit with the tuning forks. The tuning forks are for external testing only. He fails to establish if he used the self-test diagnostic switch. Given all of that, and the fact that he doesn't say how long ago he was trained -- which could have been last week for all we know -- the statement that it "appeared to be working properly" does not really hold water.
    I don't know if you will get anywhere with the argument or not, but I don't see much else.
    Thank you!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    You should spend a while in court watching attorneys make a few arguments. Then you will understand which ones will work in that courthouse.

    Along with what Speedy said, the officer failed to establish when before and after the stop the radar device was tested. It could have been weeks before and weeks after. It needs to be within a reasonable amount of time to be considered accurate during the violation. Without a pinpoint of when before and after there is no way to ascertain that it was working properly during the stop. And even so, he says it appeared to be working properly - was this during the stop or during the tests?

    Also, speedy's argument can be further bolstered by the officer's own testimony. He states that he was in stationary mode while later stating that the patrol speed window matched his speedometer. If there was ANYTHING in the patrol speed window, then he would have to be moving. Therefore, his vehicle was moving, but he was in the stationary mode. Obviously in the wrong mode which lead to the erroneous reading.

  7. #7
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    Jul 2012
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    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    Quote Quoting BrendanjKeegan
    View Post
    You should spend a while in court watching attorneys make a few arguments. Then you will understand which ones will work in that courthouse.

    Along with what Speedy said, the officer failed to establish when before and after the stop the radar device was tested. It could have been weeks before and weeks after. It needs to be within a reasonable amount of time to be considered accurate during the violation. Without a pinpoint of when before and after there is no way to ascertain that it was working properly during the stop. And even so, he says it appeared to be working properly - was this during the stop or during the tests?

    Also, speedy's argument can be further bolstered by the officer's own testimony. He states that he was in stationary mode while later stating that the patrol speed window matched his speedometer. If there was ANYTHING in the patrol speed window, then he would have to be moving. Therefore, his vehicle was moving, but he was in the stationary mode. Obviously in the wrong mode which lead to the erroneous reading.
    Thank you, Mr. Keegan. The hearing was rescheduled to mid July. I will go to the court next week and watch how the attorneys make their arguments.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    CT & IL
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    5,273

    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    Is this 20K hours of maintenance ? What does that mean.

    Object to this ... right to confront .. Melendez-Diaz case

    Object over vagueness ...

    He does not claim to be an expert - object to relevance

    I would go over and scan or copy all of the records he has that he says he makes available ... why not?

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Ticketed for Speeding in Seatac, Washington

    The case was dismissed. Thank you so much, Speedy and Brendan!

    The first motion that I used did not work. I wanted to use the simple IRLJ 2.1(b)(4) first after reading this.
    I am posting the narrative of the day's event, which could be helpful to other people. I actually used the officer's name, but didn't include it in the narrative so it will not be picked up by the web's search engines.

    Even though my court hearing time was at 2pm, I got there before 1pm, hoping to hear the other cases before mine. The court doors did not open until 1:30pm when the prosecutor arrived, and the court went in session when the judge arrived at 2:10pm. I don't know why it started late since there were cases scheduled for 1:30pm.

    The first case that was heard was from an older, female lawyer defending herself. The judge informed the prosecutor that she and the defendant knew of each other, asked the prosecutor if that was alright with her, and the prosecutor said yes. The lawyer /defendant subpoenaed the officer, who was the same officer who wrote my infraction. He showed up, gave his testimony, was cross examined, etc. The judge later on found the infraction not committed.

    I was so nervous about the officer being there, that I seriously considered asking the prosecutor to have my ticket amended to a non-moving violation. The subpoenaed officer (the same one who issued my ticket) stayed for a bit longer because there were three other officers there who were subpoenaed by another person involving a non-stop while riding his Harley. That case dragged on for more than 1.5 hours because the defendant claimed that he was being profiled, cited Gregoire's bill numerous times, and chose to air his civil complaint in a traffic court. The officer who wrote my ticket eventually left. The prosecutor entered into evidence and played a conversation with a sergeant, (recorded a few days after the infraction was written up), who was able to get the defendant to agree that he did make a California stop. Before playing the 20-minute tape, the judge asked the defendant if he had any objection, and he said no. Well, his infraction was found committed because of his admission on that tape. The prosecutor left in a hurry around 3:35pm, as soon as the case finished. She apologized to everyone and said that she needed to go.

    The rest of the cases were of the open-shut variety --- some requested deferral, others explained their circumstances and their cases were most often found not committed. The judge was lenient as long as there weren't any verbiage on the officers' notes that contained admission of guilt from the defendants. After a few other people (including a Sounders ass't coach) and no-shows, my name was called at around 4pm. As soon as my name was called and I reached the front, I proceeded to say, "Your Honor, I have a preliminary motion."

    "Okay"

    "Your Honor, I move to dismiss pursuant to IRLJ 2.1(b)(4). The officer did not denote the subsection of the RCW I allegedly violated."

    "So, on the infraction, 46.61.400, speeding 16 over. So, you're saying he did not cite the particular subsection of that particular statute?"

    "Yes, your Honor."

    "Is there any case law that you have that stands for that proposition?"

    "Well, the IRLJ 2.1(b)(4) --- I have the copy of that. Without knowing specifically which subsection I am accused under, it is not possible to formulate a defense."

    "Alright, the court finds that --- what was written -- if it was just the statute without the subsection, the court will grant that motion, but since the officer did put speed 16 miles over the limit, the court will withhold that motion. So, do you have any other motions?"

    "Yes, your Honor, I move to suppress the speed reading evidence per IRLJ 6.6(c). There was no evidence contained in the officer's statement that establishes whether the RADAR system passed or failed any or all of the calibration testing. The officer establishes that the unit was calibrated, but does not establish whether the device passed any of the calibration checks. He failed to establish when before and after the stop the radar device was tested -- It could have been weeks before and weeks after. The officer also fails to establish if he used the self-test diagnostic switch, and he doesn't say how long ago he was trained. Furthermore, the officer's statement that the RADAR unit was checked internally with the tuning forks is incorrect since the tuning forks are for external testing only. His statement that "the RADAR unit appeared to be working properly" is not sufficient and does not state if this was during the stop or during the tests. Therefore, the device cannot be legally authenticated as reliable. The RADAR evidence should be found to be insufficient and the speed reading evidence should be suppressed per the rule."

    "Okay, so I will suppress the RADAR reading. Any other motions? I will suppress just the RADAR."

    "Your Honor, I move for a dismissal for lack of evidence."

    "No, there is still evidence. So, I will review that just to see if there is enough to establish the charge. So, the RADAR is suppressed. Are you moving to suppress any other type of evidence?"

    "Your Honor, I move to suppress the speed reading evidence in the officer's report as it is inconsistent. In his own testimony, he states that he was in Stationary Mode, while later stating that the Patrol Speed indicator of the RADAR system matched the speedometer of his ..."

    "I'm suppressing all RADAR. So, what I will be looking to is if the officer made any testimony about pace, whether you gave any statements on the officer's notes."

    "Yes, your Honor."

    "So let me just read the evidence to see where we're at. Any other motions?"

    "No, your Honor."

    Judge verbally reads the officer's notes.

    "So, based upon that, the court doesn't find that there's enough to go forward with evidence on the case. The court finds the infraction not committed."

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