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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    5

    Default How to Prove that a Delay is Prejudicial

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



    My focus is on (4) the last part of the Rule. How would I show prejudice in this case? How is there prejudice if I have not received a notice of hearing in that timeframe?

    Additional information, I received a speeding ticket in Thurston County, Washington on Nov. 29th. I sent my ticket on Dec. 12th checking the box requesting a contested hearing. I still have not received anything from the court.



    Rule 2.6: Scheduling of Hearings in Washington State Court Rules : Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

    "(a) Contested Hearings.

    (1) Except as provided in sections (1)(i) and (ii), upon receipt of a response submitted pursuant to rule 2.4(b)(2),
    the court shall schedule a hearing to determine whether the defendant committed the infraction. The hearing shall be
    scheduled for not less than 14 days from the date the written notice of hearing is sent by the court, nor more than 120
    days from the date of the notice of infraction or the date a default judgment is set aside.

    (i) If authorized by local court rule, a defendant who requests a contested hearing may first be scheduled for a
    prehearing conference, which shall be scheduled for not less than 14 days from the date the written notice of the
    hearing is sent by the court nor more than 45 days from the date of the notice of infraction or the date a default
    judgment is set aside, unless otherwise agreed by the defendant in writing.

    (ii) The prehearing conference may be waived by the defendant in writing if the waiver is received by the court
    before the time set for the prehearing conference. If the prehearing conference is waived, the case will be set for
    contested hearing. The contested hearing shall be scheduled for not more than 90 days from the date of the prehearing
    conference or, if the prehearing conference is waived, from the date the waiver of the prehearing conference is
    received by the court.

    (2) The court shall send the defendant written notice of the time, place, and date of the hearing within 21 days
    of the receipt of the request for a hearing. The notice of the hearing shall also include statements advising the
    defendant of the defendant's rights at the hearing, how the defendant may request that witnesses be subpoenaed, and that
    failure to appear may be a crime for which the defendant may be arrested, and, in a traffic infraction case, the defendant's
    privilege to operate a motor vehicle may be suspended. If a local rule is adopted implementing sections (a)(1)(i) and (ii),
    the court shall advise the defendant in the notice of the defendant's right to waive the prehearing conference.

    (3) The court may schedule the hearing on a contested infraction for the same time as the hearing on another
    infraction alleged to have been committed by the defendant. The court may schedule the hearing on a contested
    infraction for the same time as the trial on a misdemeanor arising out of the same occurrence as the infraction.

    (4) The infraction may be dismissed upon a showing of prejudice if the court does not send a defendant written
    notice of a hearing within 21 days of receipt of the request for a hearing."

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    3,577

    Default Re: How Do I Show Prejudice in This Case

    Quote Quoting Soriano
    View Post
    My focus is on (4) the last part of the Rule.
    Then you are focusing on the wrong thing. My advice is to call the court clerk and see if they even received your hearing request. If so, see if they mailed out your hearing notice. If so, did they mail it to the right address?

    Fix any of those problems that you encounter. Why? Because, if they did not receive your hearing request, you will get hit with a "failure to respond". That's an additional fine, forfeiture of your license, and a few other nice surprises. If they did receive your request and sent out the hearing notice, you've actually been scheduled for a court date. Even though you claim you haven't received that notice, the hearing date will come and go, and the court will enter a "failure to appear", a "default judgment" of guilty, an additional fine, loss of your license, along with the other nice surprises (especially the ones from your insurance company).

    After you've verified that the court did, indeed, not send your hearing notice within 21 days -- through no fault of yours -- then you can worry about how to show that you can no longer present a viable defense because you didn't receive the notice on time.

    Good luck,
    Barry

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: How Do I Show Prejudice in This Case

    Quote Quoting blewis
    View Post
    Then you are focusing on the wrong thing. My advice is to call the court clerk and see if they even received your hearing request. If so, see if they mailed out your hearing notice. If so, did they mail it to the right address?

    Fix any of those problems that you encounter. Why? Because, if they did not receive your hearing request, you will get hit with a "failure to respond". That's an additional fine, forfeiture of your license, and a few other nice surprises. If they did receive your request and sent out the hearing notice, you've actually been scheduled for a court date. Even though you claim you haven't received that notice, the hearing date will come and go, and the court will enter a "failure to appear", a "default judgment" of guilty, an additional fine, loss of your license, along with the other nice surprises (especially the ones from your insurance company).

    After you've verified that the court did, indeed, not send your hearing notice within 21 days -- through no fault of yours -- then you can worry about how to show that you can no longer present a viable defense because you didn't receive the notice on time.

    Good luck,
    Barry
    I just received the court date in the mail today. The date on the ticket that says when they sent it is 01/15/2014 and it's the 21st today, so I'm assuming that my request for a contested hearing had to have gotten to them no later than 6 days after I sent it on December 12th. which would be around the 20th of December, well over that 21 day time period.

    Now, I have another question.

    How would I go about with a request for discovery?
    I live in Clark County, and my ticket is in Thurston County, so if there was a way I could do it over mail that would best. But if not, would you be able to lay out the steps for me?

    Thank you so much.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: How Do I Show Prejudice in This Case

    All that and more is in this thread stickied to the top of the ticket forum: http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89115

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