I went to traffic court to fight for my ticket today and I lost! I am furious because the highway patrol officer did not tell the truth in court. I truly believe I did not do anything wrong and this trial was unfair. The next process is to appeal my case. I have no experience in doing this, so I posted on Expert Law forum to ask for advice. I am posting the same thing here. You guys can read about what happened, and maybe give me some suggestions on how to appeal the case? Thanks in advance!
Oh! One more P.S. I am behind on replying comments, I will try to get to all the comments as soon as I can. Thank you guys for your patience. ^^
------------------------------------------------
How Should I Appeal for My Case?
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California
Case:
I was driving behind a bus in carpool lane. The carpool opened up to two lanes. I merged over to the second lane, which became an exiting lane in about 1 mile. I changed back to the original lane in front of the bus before the dotted white lines become double solid line. A highway patrol officer came into the carpool lane between me and the bus from outside the carpool lane and pulled me over. He issued me a 21755vc violation ticket, which is "unsafe passing". I stated that I didn't think it was wrong because I pass at the dotted white lines area and the bus was far behind. He answered that there is no passing in carpool lane whatsoever.
What happened in court:
I went to court today to fight the ticket. The officer stated that he was behind the bus and witnessed that I passed the bus at the double yellow line. When he pulled me over and told me I was not supposed to cross the double yellow line, my answer was "I thought I could do that." Also I was the only driver in the car (It's true, but I will explain this later). He did not issue me a ticket for that, but only gave me a verbal warning. The judge found me guilty.
The lying officer:
The officer did not speak the truth!
(1) He was not driving behind the bus, I was! If he was behind the bus, where was I? How did I pass the bus?
(2) I did not change lane at double yellow line! I continously argued this point with him while he was issuing the ticket. I said it was dotted white line and I thought I could pass at dotted white line. He replied, "it doesn't matter if it was dotted line. There is no passing in carpool lane."
(3) He did not give me a verbal warning about driving in carpool lane by myself. Because I have a hybrid car with the decal sticker! I have the right to drive in carpool lane by myself!
(4) He stated the second lane was an exiting only lane. But I argued on the ground there was only a diamond sign with no arrow nor the word EXIT. I showed it in my drawing. But he told the judge my drawing was not correct and there was no diamond sign on the second lane. I drove by the site just to make sure my drawing was correct. There are 2 diamond signs on the road within that 1 mile stretch.
The procedure in court:
The officer made his statement first. Then I made my statement. I provided a drawing of what happened. The judge asked me to hand the drawing to the officer. After the judge examine the drawing, he asked the officer if the drawing was correct. The officer answered no. Then the judge declared right away that I was guilty.
Why do I want to appeal:
(1) I truly believe I did not do anything wrong.
(2) The officer was totally lying about what happened. He provided false statement with no evidence.
(3) The judge did not give me enough time to present my case. I was given about 1 minute to make my statement. The officer made his closing statement and I was not given the chance to make my closing statement before the judge made decision.
Now my question is, HOW SHOULD I APPEAL MY CASE?
I have never appeal before. Actually, never even been in traffic court before. It's my first time everything!
What points should I use for my Proposed Statement?
Thank you guys so much for reading my long post. Thanks in advance for your help!
[ad#ad-unit]
Wow you're poor Eileen..
ReplyDeleteIf you take a look at the California Driver Handbook (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl600.pdf), it doesn't say that you cannot pass other car in carpool lanes. It also says that you can change lanes across broke white line.
However, for section 21755
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21755.htm
it says that one "may overtake and pass another vehicle upon the right only under conditions permitting such movement in safety" and whether it is safe or not is highly subjective. If the officer thinks that it is unsafe to pass another car in carpool lanes and the judge choose to believe him, then it's difficult to win the case.
Maybe you can try to deal the case by attacking the trustworthiness of the officer. From you description, I see two points that you can bring evidence to prove that the officer was lying:
- He gave you a ticket and in the court he said that he didn't. Do you still have the ticket with you? If you do, show it to the judge and it proves that he was lying
- Go to Google Maps and take a satellite image of the place of incidence (or go there and take picture yourself). If there is a diamond sign on the second lane and the officer said that there's not any, it's obvious that he was lying
If you can prove that the officer was lying, then he's not that trustworthy anymore. If the judge doesn't trust him, I think you can win.
Hope it helps!
I agree with the 1st reply, take google image or try to go back and take pictures (pls be safe), also, show proof of your hybrid decal as a right to drive in the carpool alone. I believe those with the original issued ticket from the officer will prove you're not lying and the officer should be punished for lying in opening court!!! how dare him!!!
ReplyDeleteMy husband said all highway patro car have the viedo camera so you can require the viedo clip to prove his statement. So give it a try! Good luck!
ReplyDelete又讓我這個小婦人上了一課, highway patro car 有全程錄影就好囉.
ReplyDeleteHow many tickets do you think cops write every day? Do you think they're going to remember every detail of every ticket? I'm not saying he *didn't* lie, but maybe he just misremembered the details.
ReplyDeleteAnd is it worth your time to fight this thing? I'm sorry to say courts are completely overburdened. The judge isn't going to waste any time arguing with you on a little traffic case. It's your word vs. the cop's, and guess what? The cop is going to win most of the time. I've had similar experiences and it stinks, but you have to factor in whether or not it's worth your time and money to fight it. And don't forget being stressed, losing sleep, etc.
highway patrol & Cop lies a lot, they always add up few more speeds for speeding ticket.
ReplyDelete