the following is something i've posted on several message boards i belong to
and i figured that this list would be of greater assistance to me as you all
come from around the nation and, as enthusiasts, must have plenty of
valuable and insightful experience:
after a long trial by written declaration, the judge has ruled against me. i
want to relate my story and see if anyone shares my sentiments and has any
ideas or advice towards fighting this ruling.
chronology of events:
5/29/02 - ticket issued going down the I-5 to los angeles somewhere in the
middle of nowhere (fort tejon area i think...heading south before entering
the mountains north of vallencia/magic mountain). had my valentine one with
me but heard the warnings too late, saw the cop in the center dirt median
and as i saw him ease off the median, i knew he was going after me as i was
the only car around so i immediately pulled over to the side. hell, i
stopped before he was out of the dirty. my reason? i'm not going to waste
his time or my own. in other words, i was being cooperative. unfortunately
for me, the cop storms up and starts screaming at my passenger and i asking
us why we were going so fast and etc. he already framed me as someone who
was being unruly and uncooperative. i was incredulous, in such a state of
disbelief with this officer's behaviour towards me that i was speechless and
when i could utter something, i chuckled. you know how it is, the chuckle
that expresses your thoughts of "oh my god, i can't believe this, you've got
to be kidding me (that you're treating me this way)." of course, and i fully
understand this mistake, he takes it as me being rude. so he gets even more
pissed off, and i try to diffuse the situation by reassuring him that i'm
not trying to be rude or flippant, me being totally caught off guard with
his behaviour towards me. suffice to say, it was useless. i was cited for
exceeding the maximum speed limit and 2 fix-it tickets (both very minor, 1
legit, the other a misunderstanding but i'm too lazy to bother with it). i
am peeved with how the officer treated me.
7/1/02 - appearance date on ticket, but after receiving the courtesy notice
and reading http://www.helpigotaticket.com, i submit a request for trial by
written declaration.
7/15/02 - i serve a Discovery request on the District Attorney of that
court/jurisdiction that is handling my case. discovery is the process by
which you obtain the material/evidence/exhibits that the
plaintiff/prosecution is going to use against you in court so that you may
review that material to help you make your case. there is a time limit from
which they are to provide this information to you.
7/29/02 - i receive a reply from the CHP (Bakersfield branch) saying they
found no records of me, the officer, or this ticket and that the ticket
number is not part of their area. i don't even know what to say.
8/1/02 - i resubmit my discovery request asking the court to order the DA to
comply with my request (its his responsibility to find the documents that
i'm requesting wherever they may be, not mine).
8/17/02 - i submit my statement of facts (as it was due by the 20th or 25th)
and a motion for dismissal on the grounds that the DA has not complied with
my request (i had not received the discovery documents), and that they (the
prosecution) are attempting to submit evidence not disclosed under
discovery.
9/6/02 - received discovery documents, this time from the CHP of the fort
tejon area. so the DA made the mistake of requesting the documents i request
from the wrong CHP branch. the documents are the basics, radar logs, officer
certification to use the radar, copy of the ticket and officer notes etc.
however, there are 2 pieces of interesting evidence:
- notes by officer on the ticket: the officer writes that i was rolling when
he stopped me, not parked, that he stopped me with the red light and siren
(which i do not recall). anyway, the officer writes in his notes that i was
laughing and making rude comments/uncooperative. i suspected this was what
he was thinking. the truth of the matter is that this was a case of him
already condemning me (read bias) and miscommunication.
- a handwritten note written by the judge on my discovery request saying
that the defendant, me, sent the discovery request to the wrong CHP area.
this is patently false and it bothers me that the JUDGE is the one who is
thinking this. i submitted my request as is customary to the DA of the
court/jurisdiction who is responsible for procuring the documents i
requested. it is HIS responsibility for forwarding my request to the wrong
CHP branch, not MINE. i believe he is thus liable for failing to provide me
the documents under discovery from which i would be able to form my case.
since they failed to provide me the documents in time, i could not build a
case upon them and was forced to submit my statement of facts within the
time they allowed me without such knowledge. i submitted a motion for
dismissal because the DA or the court failed to provide their evidence as
they are required to. as such, i believe they cannot prove a case if they do
not have one, and if they have one, they HAVE to allow me to review it (all
of this is under law of course).
therefore, i suspected that i'm now screwed. i had a feeling that by sending
this to me finally and AFTER i submitted my statement of facts, they're
likely to to use the officer's case against me without allowing me to
respond to it. i believe the case should've been dismissed because i think
they violated procedure.
9/7/02 - i received the court's decision finding me guilty for my speeding
violation AND with an added order by the judge to suspend my license for 30
days starting 10/01/02. O-M-G.
so it seems they're either punishing me for trying to fight the ticket and
losing OR the judge thinks i need more punishment based upon the officer's
case (which casts me as an uncooperative subject in the whole ticket
affair...aka, i look bad and i deserve more punishment.).
my first gripe about this was that i didn't have a chance whatsoever to
counter or argue against the cop. since i didn't know what he was going to
argue, i couldn't respond appropriately to it.
my second gripe is that this was all caused by the court/DA, not by any
fault of my own. i did what i was supposed to do and allowed to do under law
in this type of trial. i think the judge ruled on this case using the
prosecution's case that was not fairly disclosed to me under discovery. yes,
they sent it to me eventually, but they also sent it to me right before they
made the ruling, thereby not actually giving me the chance to view the
materials before conducting the trial. i could not possibly submit an
amendment to my case within 24 hours. hell, i received the discovery
documents AFTER the judge ruled! the judge must've ruled using the
prosecution's case (and likely ruled the way he did on account of what the
prosecution said about me). this is what i think is known as "trial by
ambush," aka, the prosecution submitted evidence not disclosed under
discovery.
now i have the option for a trial de novo which would make me go down there
(300 miles away) for an in person trial. the issue here is that i don't
think i should have to resort to a trial de novo because i'm dissatisfied
with this trial's result. rather, i'm dissatisfied with how this trial was
conducted. i feel as if this trial was a sham and it was not fairly
conducted. the fact that the judge added on a suspension just makes me feel
even MORE wronged! not only did i have to go through all this headache and
get cheated out of a fair trial, i now get my license suspended for a
month?!? you've gotta be kidding me! and if they're punishing me more on
account of me exercising my RIGHTS, that's even more outrageous! no matter
what, i can't see this as a fair trial and i want to fight this trial, not
this decision.
i know some of you are legal experts or lawyers or have had similar
experiences so i'm here requesting your opinions and advice. is there anyway
for me to get this ruling thrown out on account of how the trial was
conducted? the trial de novo is not technically an appeal, just a new trial,
and what i want is an appeal and new judgement upon this whole matter AFTER
a FAIR trial.
any help would be most appreciated. thank you for your time and effort in
reading all this.
UPDATE: i've been told that i may be able to appeal this case and if i am
not granted an appeal, i may have to resort to a writ of mandate. i'm even
less familiar with these two processes as i am with what i've already
managed to drag myself through (trial by declaration) so any information on
these would be helpful as well. i've been doing research for several days
now and the amount of information is unbelievably daunting. as a student at
berkeley, i've made an appointment for free consultation with the campus
attorney that is available for students. i'm not expecting much but maybe
she'll be of some help.
again, my goal is to get this entire matter dismissed, vacating the guilty
verdict and, if necessary, correcting my record so that there are no further
adverse effects from insurance or whatnot later on. my case, imho, lies in
arguing the the prosecution failed to disclose what they must under
pre-trial discovery and that the court/judge proceeded with trial in light
of this and possibly using the prosecution's materials against me when they
were not provided me. in a sense, i don't think i was given a fair trial and
i suspect not a timely (read: speedy) trial either. i already know that this
won't get resolved until after october and i'll have to obey the judge's
orders until then anyway. i just want to make sure they don't get away with
sticking this to me. all i have as a poor college student is some time and
energy, financial resources are slim and i want to explore all free sources
of help that i can. thank you for understanding.
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