Now I want to talk about everything that is wrong with what happens when you contest a ticket. It was nothing what I thought. I have had the opportunity and privilege to view court cases in action because of my internship with the Attorney General's Office so I felt that the hearing would have some kind of structure similar to those cases. So when I walked I knew my role and that the burden of proof was on the officer. I was obviously the defendant and and the officer acted as the prosecutor. Every argument I made either by siting a case or siting relating incidents the officer would always come back with the hearsay argument or "I cant comment on that" . My major question is, why is the officer acting as the prosecutor? The court room and judge seemed to be there just for show and it might as well have been the officer and I arguing face to face. The whole thing was a big shab and shouldn't have event taken place.
I work in the city civil traffic court at the city, which is not where you went. But here's how it works in our court.
ReplyDeleteYour first hearing is arraignment, where you plead guilty and pay the fine, or you plead not guilty and can request a trial. You can also mail in a response providing your drivers license picture, and make a claim that you were not the driver. If the photo radar picture doesn't match you drivers license, the case can be dismissed.
if you mailed in a response to the ticket saying you're not guilty and want a hearing, your arraignment will be vacated and you'll be summoned to attend a hearing.
At that hearing, the officer is not summoned because no officer stopped you at the scene. A technician for the photo radar camera is summoned to testify that the camera was in proper working order. You can challenge the camera function. The judge, not the witnesses, decides who has to answer what questions.
So none of these sound like what happened to you. What happened to you just doesn't sound like justice. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, and I hope none of the customers we serve at my court walk away feeling so disenchanted with the system.
I am glad the cameras are gone!! There were a headache in a way. I also thought they were not effective. Usually, people in Phoenix take the same route to and from work, church, and etc. So we pretty much know where the cameras are and when to slow down and when we can speed up.I read on a website that the reason the cameras are being taken down is because a large percent of people who got tickets from the camera didn't pay them and the cameras was pretty much a cost not a benefit to the state of Arizona.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the radar cameras are completely disappeared. They were making many citizens sick. I personally overheard my close friend barking about them because he received a perfect picture of him speed. We actually discussed our different views of them. I think you all can tell his preferred side of argument.
ReplyDeleteI have only been to court for a ticket once but i got the same feeling you did. I was 16 and got pulled over for going 45 in a 35. The officer was a complete ass and ended up tacking on drag racing to my ticket. In hindsight i probably could have been more cooperative but i was 16. Anyway, i went to court to fight it and it was quite obvious to me and my dad i was going to get a guilty verdict regardless of what i said. I felt like the Officer and Judge were in cahoots from the get go.
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