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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    3

    Default No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow

    My question involves traffic court in the State of: Washington. Hello everyone. Thank you for taking the time to review my question. I have beaten 2 or 3 tickets between 2006-2008 by filing a written request for discovery and never recieving it. All of those times i ONLY made the request to the countys prosecuting attorney. Ive been doing some research and its recomended to file with the court and PA so im a bit confused as i never filed with the court before but got my dismissals. This brings us to now I did the same as i have in the past my court date is tomorrow morning and i still have not recieved discovery. What do you fine folks think my odds are to have this infraction surpressed and dismissed? Did the laws change and i have missed it? I dunno. Any thoughts will be much appriciated!

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

    Default Re: No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow but Confused

    Actually, I have no idea how it will go. If the judge is a stickler for the rules, he will deny your motion for dismissal, but will probably grant a continuance, if you ask for one. Or, since the "file" copy is just a way of showing that you did, indeed, submit a discovery request and if you can demonstrate "proof of service", the judge may dismiss it.

    In either case, I'd appreciate it if you'd come back and let us know how it went -- along with telling us which court.

    Good luck,
    Barry

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow

    Thank you very much for the reply barry! A continuance is my backup motion and a last ditch effort being deferal. I do have proof of service I will have with me so hopefully all goes well. Ill be sure to give an update tomorrow. Thanks again!

  4. #4

    Default Re: No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow

    Jetes, can you described how exactly you were able to have those tickets dismissed before? Did you just come to the trial armed with proof of discovery and tell the judge "Your Honor, I sent these and never got any response, so I'd like to request for dismissal"?

    Even though I know it is possible, I'm surprised you make it sound so easy. I thought one'd have to argue one's request a bit. Or is it just easier in Washington than California?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    3,577

    Default Re: No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow

    Yep, it's different in WA. IRLJ 3.1 (b) states (in part):

    Quote Quoting IRLJ 3.1 (c)
    If the prosecuting authority, without reasonable excuse or justification, fails to provide the citing officer's sworn statement, the statement shall be suppressed.

    Barry

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow

    So today wasnt so good. I learned a hard lesson and now im going to pass it on! So This was my first time in the city of everetts court so i did everything ive done in the past, filed for my discovery within the correct time frame, and i never recieved it. I thought i was golden. I took the contested option and explained to the judge what i did and made the motion to surpress and dismiss. He told me there was no records of me asking for the discovery so I told him i had proof of service. He got mad and said bring that here, I did. He then preceeded to start laughing at me and said this is the stamp for the snohomish county prosecuting attorney, This is the city of everett, ((everett is in snohomish county! ive had dismissals in arlington and marysville filing with the same snoho county PA. why is everett different?)) this document is no good here, Now what do you want to do. I asked for a continuance and he laughed even harder and said I could grant that but im not going to. Do you have anything else to say? I simply shook my head no because i went into shutdown mode from being so angry with this wonderfully fair nice judge. In hindsight I could have taken a few other routes to argue my case but my emotions got the best of me and cost me a nice chunk of change and a ticket on my record for the next 5 years. I wanted to go defered as a last resort but once you commit to having your contested hearing you are not eligible anymore according to this judge. Another thing I saw today that i have never seen is the citys PA was there offering people amendments to their tickets to make their 150-190$ speeding tickets non moving violations and charge them 202$ for expired tabs, thus not having anything go on your record. How the heck is this even possible to just change the charge?? I dont know. Anyhow the only good out of today for me was the learning experiance. Keep calm have a couple backup plans and arm yourself with evidence for your defense. I can think of 2 other ways i could have had great odds at getting my dismissal but i didnt take the time to gather the proof i would have needed because i never got my discovery and my emotions got the best of me. I just dont understand why it erks the legal system so bad when one tries to use their own rights by their own accord. oh well Ya live ya learn.....i guess im not doing to bad tho i have had 6 tickets in my life and gotten 3 dismissed. Thanks for reading and the input on this one everyone.

  7. #7

    Default Re: No Discovery Recieved, Court Date Tomorrow

    Quote Quoting Jetes
    View Post
    So today wasnt so good. I learned a hard lesson and now im going to pass it on! So This was my first time in the city of everetts court so i did everything ive done in the past, filed for my discovery within the correct time frame, and i never recieved it. I thought i was golden. I took the contested option and explained to the judge what i did and made the motion to surpress and dismiss. He told me there was no records of me asking for the discovery so I told him i had proof of service. He got mad and said bring that here, I did. He then preceeded to start laughing at me and said this is the stamp for the snohomish county prosecuting attorney, This is the city of everett, ((everett is in snohomish county! ive had dismissals in arlington and marysville filing with the same snoho county PA. why is everett different?)) this document is no good here, Now what do you want to do. I asked for a continuance and he laughed even harder and said I could grant that but im not going to. Do you have anything else to say? I simply shook my head no because i went into shutdown mode from being so angry with this wonderfully fair nice judge. In hindsight I could have taken a few other routes to argue my case but my emotions got the best of me and cost me a nice chunk of change and a ticket on my record for the next 5 years. I wanted to go defered as a last resort but once you commit to having your contested hearing you are not eligible anymore according to this judge. Another thing I saw today that i have never seen is the citys PA was there offering people amendments to their tickets to make their 150-190$ speeding tickets non moving violations and charge them 202$ for expired tabs, thus not having anything go on your record. How the heck is this even possible to just change the charge?? I dont know. Anyhow the only good out of today for me was the learning experiance. Keep calm have a couple backup plans and arm yourself with evidence for your defense. I can think of 2 other ways i could have had great odds at getting my dismissal but i didnt take the time to gather the proof i would have needed because i never got my discovery and my emotions got the best of me. I just dont understand why it erks the legal system so bad when one tries to use their own rights by their own accord. oh well Ya live ya learn.....i guess im not doing to bad tho i have had 6 tickets in my life and gotten 3 dismissed. Thanks for reading and the input on this one everyone.
    Hey Jetes,

    Sorry to hear about that. Everett court is somehow different when you file the discovery. Last time, I filed my discovery with the court first then asked where else I should file. Clerk told me to go to any city hall. When I went to Mukilteo city hall they had no idea how to process the discovery. Then they gave me PA number. After calling PA, they told me to file it at the police station, which I did.

    It took me two hours of driving and waiting to file the damn discovery! Anyways, better luck to you next time.

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