What is the best approach for defending myself in a jury trial for a speeding ticket in Texas?

Question

Ticketed for speeding - 86 in a 55 mph zone; no radar proof; I insist, but can't prove, that I wasn't traveling even close to that speed; Texas DPS officer wrote the citation; occurred in weekday drive-home traffic on a major expressway through small South Texas towns; multi-lane traffic both directions.

FYI: I met with the Asst. DA and the Court Coordinator. The ADA reviewed my options with me and I chose a jury trial. Yes, that was truly one of my options. A date was set; however, a day before the hearing, it was "postponed indefinitely." I have not yet heard back from the Court Coordinator. It's been about 3 weeks.

I have no clue what "postponed indefinitely" means. Sounds weird, doesn't it?

PS: By the way, if I stated that I was NOT traveling 86 in a 55, it's the truth. I'm not a liar. 86 is pretty damn fast, and 30+ miles over the speed limit is quite excessive. I think I would be aware of doing that on a sober day on my after-work commute home. It's a route I've driven for nearly 5 years, so I'm well aware of the typical conditions, driver tendencies, MY driving tendencies, etc.

Answer 1

where i live, they don't use juries for traffic trials, those are only held before judges. the only thing that could cause your case to be dismissed would be if the officer who issued the citation did not appear, since he/she is the only witness for the prosecution. you will be under oath when you testify, so you have to tell the truth of the situation, all you can do is hope for leniency from the judge. i seriously doubt it will be a jury.

Answer 2

Apparently, he was following you and checked your speed by his speedometer. If you can prove his speedometer was faulty at the time or not inspected for accuracy at the scheduled maintenance period, you may have a chance. Find out what size tires were on his unit at the time. If someone installed smaller diameter tires than the factory specs (this could happen if an inexperienced person was assigned to this task), this would give his speedometer a false reading. Although, a 31 mph difference, would be a stretch. Lets say, if you were going 65 mph (this is easy to do if you are just following the flow of the traffic, which is recommended) and his faulty speedometer was showing 75, that would not be as much of a stretch, except, 75 mph in a 55 mph zone (20 mph over the speed limit) would be a lesser fine. He could easily have stretched this to 86 mph (31 mph over the speed limit), resulting in a stiffer fine and disqualifying you for Deferred disposition. jst a thght
Traffic fines are a major source of revenue for small towns. It seems there are a lot of places getting into the 'speed trap' business. A lot of people complain, but to no avail. Ask yourself if you can afford to fight this 'on principal', because it will cost you more to fight this than what the fine would be.
Good Luck

What are your options?

On any traffic offense, you have the absolute right to plead Not Guilty and request a trial.

If you wish to plead Not Guilty, you may request trial by Judge or Jury. That choice is yours. You are not required to have an attorney in Court, but you may hire one if you wish. The District Attorney of Collin County will have an attorney present to prosecute the case against you. The Judge is prohibited, by Law, from discussing your ticket with you unless you have pled guilty or no contest or the District Attorney is also present.

(Guilty or Nolo Contendre (No Contest)- By pleading Guilty you are admitting you were guilty of the offense. Nolo Contendre (no contest) is a neutral plea under which you are neither admitting nor denying the offense.)

If you choose to go to Court, you are responsible for bringing all papers, pictures, and exhibits with you to the Court hearing. You may also contact the Court for information on how to subpoena witnesses.

You may also plead Guilty or Nolo Contendre (No Contest) and pay the fine. Drivers under 17 who get tickets are required to appear in Court with their parents.

If you choose to plead Guilty or Nolo Contendre (No Contest), you may either pay your fine in person at the Court Office designated on the ticket or you can pay the ticket online.

How do you keep this off your record?

In some circumstances, you may request deferred disposition from the Court. If you have a good driving record, and you are not currently on deferred disposition, you may make a request to the Court. Deferred Disposition means you will be placed on probation for a period of up to 180 days. If you successfully complete the probationary period without receiving a moving violation anywhere in the State of Texas, the original charge will be dismissed. You must also provide the Court with proof of insurance.

Deferred disposition is not an option if your ticket was for speeding 30 miles per hour or more over the limit, or your ticket resulted from a traffic accident.


http://www.co.collin.tx.us/justices_peace/tickets.jsp

Answer 3

There is radar proof, the officers testomony which will be accepted as proof. He is not required to furnish you any proof.

So if that is your defense, don't,

you need to get records and ask for evidice

get the officers POST records, make him prove ( this has to be done in discovery before trial) that he is certified in the use of the radar gun, prove he is post certified and that the certification is up to date.

Make sure the radar gun is licenced by the FCC, did the officer do the tuning fork test before the start of his shift as would be required. Make them supply copies of that log in court.

Get a copy of the Radar POST training book, question the officer on how he caught you on radar, he would have to do it though a proper "tracking" method most likely, If his testomony does not match the training book, have the book entered into evidence to show the officer was not following proper procedure

If you merley go your word agaist his, just write the fine to them and don't waste your time

Answer 4

The radar record would be good except she said that there's no radar proof! How did he determine you were going that speed? Did he pace you or stopwatch or aircraft? Without having radar to contridict you're going to have a tough time. Chances are the officer isn't going to show up for court and the ticket will be dropped. They don't want to waste their time.

READ PEOPLE!!! She said that there is no radar proof so any answer that has to deal with radars in any fashion don't help her!

Answer 5

It's going to be his word against yours and if you don't have an attorney more than likely you will lose. Sorry but you don't have a witness and you don't know the law. The prosecutor will eat you up..lol.

BTW the person that said you have a right to a jury hearing is wrong. This is a misdemeanor and only trial by Judge.

Answer 6

Sounds like you'll lose this one.

Contrary to popular belief an officer is not required to show you the radar proof. The questions they may ask the officer would be about the calibration of the unit, qualifications of the officer, and did they follow the radar protocol.

Answer 7

If DPS is still using radar there is a chance that you can convince the jury that he radared another car and mistook yours for the offender because of the crowd. That approach has been know to work, because it happens, and the jurors may have had it happen to them.

If they're using laser, you're pretty much out of luck because it pinpoints a vehicle.

DPS, or that jackass cop in Driscoll?

Answer 8

1. The State has the burden of proof.
2. The officer is required to show you the radar readout. If the officer claims that the citation was issued by pacing (following you) then make him proove the "CALIBRATION" of the speedometer in his vehicle was accurate at the time of the incident. (Most cases accross the country they can not do this)
3. The State must proove beyond a resonable doubt that it was your vehicle traveling at the given speed.
4. Even if the Officer used a video dash cam make him proove that the speedometer calibration was up to date and accurate.

Answer 9

Request to see the last time the radar gun was inspected and calibrated. Chances are they won't have that information on hand and the ticket will be dropped.

To scfd524: Oops missed that one. You're right. And without radar proof on his side what is his defense?

Answer 10

Anyone who says there is a system to fighting traffic tickets in a moron. People will tell you that you can escape on formalities, like, I actually had one idiot tell me that if a cop isn't in full dress code you get the ticket dropped. Go ahead and tell that to the judge, and see what he says. Good luck with that. It depends on the facts of the case and how you present yourself. Even if the ticket is BS, if the judge says pay the fine, then you pay the fine.