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  1. #1

    Default Trial Procedures and Appeal

    My questions involves court procedures for the state of: NJ Careless Driving

    1. Background: discovery on expert background was not given in advance as filed for and defense filed a motion to dismiss any reliance upon information not provided in discovery.

    Is defendant required to object to every piece of information testified to during trial as an expert? or is the judge supposed to be intelligent enough to not rely upon such testimony in his assessment of the case?

    I am under the impression that the judge knows what he can rely upon irregardless if defense did not constantly object.

    This is pertinent as in my trial the judge ruled that he relied upon expert testimony based on background of officers when such background was specifically objected to on at least 2 occassions and agreed to by judge although the defense did not continue to keep objecting as the court was so rude to defense.

    Please tell me the judge screwed up as he can't rely on them as an expert if it was not proven that they were experts.....

    2.The judge also in his ruling stated a number of things as fact that a witness clearly did not say and in fact stated something completely different. Example judge stated that witness vehicle was to the side of defenses when the witness clearly stated he never even entered intersection and in fact he said he parked his car on the side of the road exactly where he was when he viewed the accident.

    3. Judge also said that guilt was as i cut off another driver. The term cut off was not defined nor was the distance of the turn from other driver ever defined. Other driver in fact stated that they had seen me in the intersection prior to them even entering with my turn signal on (note very wide intersection so sheer fact that I made it all the way accross and was turning prior to them entering was huge). There was no testimony that cutting off someone was careless and likely to cause an accident which is a requirement of careless driving.


    I have more than above to file an appeal but, the above are my questionable ones.

    Last question:
    4. If I win on appeal or I get a retrial, who bears the cost of the appeal? Note the appeal is based on many facts including the fact that Discovery was never delivered and the court did not adjourn the trial although a motion for such was delivered including motions to discmiss such evidence, adjourn, or dismiss for failure to provide such discovery. That plus above and a number of other facts.

    Note: I would have given this up but I am so torn about this and can't sleep. I had a perfect driving record and I know this is stupid but I really can't sleep and it's tearing me up. Admittedly I am type A and I always go by the book and follow the ruled. I didn't make a careless turn and in fact the other driver was speeding, didn't look and note I had to slow in my turn as there were men on the side of the road who there were no signs for but when I saw them I almost was stopped mid turn and the other driver came speeding and slammed me past the mid point of my vehicle. I know I was right and the judge clearly had everything stacked against me irregardless as to what was proven/said. I proved that I was in intersection first, the skid marks were not there and others were that support my version, I had their witness agree that the accident happened on the other side of the road, I had the other driver admit that I was in the intersection before they even entered, I had the other driver admit that they were driving the posted speed limit when there was men working and they saw me in the intersection and didn't slow down nor take any action. There was nothing to state that I did anything other than make a left turn which they said was careless but they never stated that it was more likely to cause an accident which had to be proven as the mere fact of an accident is not prima facie evidence. The sheer fact of making a left is not careless driving nor is it more likely than not to cause an accident and that was also stated.

    There was so many holes in testimonies that there is no way a person who was impartial could have said beyond a reasonable doubt.

    Please help me put this to bed. It's been 10 days of no sleep and I have 10 days to file my appeal. I have even gotten relaxation tapes to no avail. It's not about money but clearing my name.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Trial Procedures and Appeal

    Unfortunately, we're in no position to guess as to what your issues are for appeal and have no access to the record. If you didn't make a timely objection to a witness, testimony and/or evidence, the normal consequence is that the objection is deemed waived. "Cut off" has a plain language meaning - I can't imagine that you don't know what it means when somebody says that one car "cut off" another.

    You should expect to bear the cost of your own appeal.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Trial Procedures and Appeal

    If you turn left in front of someone you can expect to be found guilty. If it was this important to you, you should have hired an attorney. At the traffic court level you can expect to be ignored even if your objections are correct as a matter of law.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Trial Procedures and Appeal

    Thanks attorney filed my appeal on Friday. A cop who is a good friend gave me attorney name in a neighboring town. i only talked to my cop friend after the trial although he said I should've talked to him before as he could have helped me defend myself and gotten me this lawyer sooner. I didn't want my friend knowing that I even got a ticket as I hate owing favors and even having friends even think I was guilty of something. I also didn't want my cop friend to pull any favors with the neighboring town and I felt if I did talk to him, he would have thought that's what I wanted.

    An attorney is taking my case for $125-200. I had ordered the transcription immediately as I knew the trial was a shamm (that cost was huge). Will see what happens. The attorney was impressed with my appeal.

    My appeal is based on 16 different things that 3 individually put a reasonable doubt and collectively more than show a reasonable doubt.Along with the partiality of the judge and officers. The attorney only added wording and modified a few things before putting it with his own letterhead. He charged me $25 for putting it on his letterhead.

    I also did object to officers testimony and judge ruled in my favor so judge should nevr have relied on him as an expert as he so declared. Attorney agreed that the statements of the witness should have had the highest importance and been what was relied on above other statement which he said none proved me guilty. Attorney couldn't believe what the judge ruled and how he ruled against me and he couldn't believe how the judge was ruling against me on 4 of the objections that were made during the trial. He did say i screwed up big time although I didn't lose but that even with my major mistakes he still believed they could never have declared me guilty. He's offering me a job after the case part time!

    Funny was lawyers I spoke to before wouldn't bother with my defense as they didn't believe me and said best thing would be they would plea the case which was worthless to me and I did easily on my own. They were talking mega bucks to argue the case originally and they couldn't even give me a decent degree of certainty that they could win so I hope this will end up being cheaper in the long run.

    I don't care about the cost (I can't afford it though) as i wasn't careless and the cost of getting the trial and filing the appeal isn't what this was about and I'll spend my last dime proving my record. Unfair from all instances but, the courts were unfair. Cop even lied on stand really aggravating me, all of a sudden he don't recall although he could recall stuff he didn't see.

    I work late nights so going to court in the day doesn't bother me.

    Attorney said it would take only a couple of questions and what he saw in the transcription would declare easily a mistrial and he said the statements made he could prove my innocence. he charged me $25 to get the appeal on his letterhead. Not sure but he seemed positive that I could win on that alone. He also said that he could get the court to pay for his costs and the appeal cost because of something to do with the delayed discovery, makes the defendant able to get refunded for their costs??

    Well I'm waiting with baited breath and will let you know how it turns out. I hope the $25 was money well spent. I feel great now that this guy is on my side.

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