I thought it would be a good idea to share it with you guys. My buddy got ticketed in this county. We found out that anything above 95 in this county carries a mandatory jail sentence. He was pretty scared initially but then he was prepared for jail also. He pleaded no contest w/ explanation in General Distritt. Court with lawyer and asked for mercy. Judge gave him active 7 days in jail (usually it is 10) with 6 month license suspension and $1500 in fine. He appealed to circuit court. This time he prepared his defense with electromagetic interference as his basis. He showed that there are 2 crossovers within 700 feet and sometimes state troopers are present on both the crossovers. Videotaping was used. Then, numerous case references and FCC reports were used to show that it was responsibility of police officer to testify that the equipment being used was subject to minimal distortion and external interference. The Judge rejected many official Government documents becuase they were not endorsed by Commonwealth of Virginia. This was pretty strange. He also successfully challenged Police Officers ability to visibly estimate the speed of the vehicle. Main Points were the assumptions that one had to make before estimating speed, importance of background(spacing of trees, bushes). He did all this without a lawyer but he is an exceptionally talented science student(Physics major). The case lasted for about 2 hours where District Attorney aggressively attacked him but my buddy never presented his side of the story and never gave him the opportunity to cross examine him. The courtroom was getting filled as every minute passed by. I was very scared for my friend because I could see many Police Officers looking at him with a very frightening look. In the end, he motioned for dismissal on 2 grounds:
1) The inability of Police Officer to testify that the unit was operating w/out external interference.
2) Incompetentness of Officer to visually estimate speed beyond a reasonable doubt.
Dismissal was granted for first count. You could see the Officer's face when he asked for dismissal on grounds of imcompetentness. My buddy gave a spectacular performance. People were looking at me because we had been sitting together earlier. I was very a bit nervous because of the extra, undesired attention. After dismissal he went upto the judge and shook his hand and walked upto the prosecution and did the same. Outside the court an attorney told us that the Police Officer was a Sargeant and had been in that county for over 7 years and this was the first time he had seen someone get his ticket dismissed with such neatness. It was a spectacular experience. The only person who gave my friend a smile was the court official in brown uniform who was helping my firend in playing the video tape.
By the way before our case there was a woman who used radar detector to defend herself by saying that she thought that radar did not scan her because her radar detector did not go off. I thought that her argument was not so dumb as she was treated by the court and the judge blasted her for using it in Virginia. Though she was from New York where they are legal I think.
Anyways, let me know how did you guys find this post and let me know if you have any questions.
1) The inability of Police Officer to testify that the unit was operating w/out external interference.
2) Incompetentness of Officer to visually estimate speed beyond a reasonable doubt.
Dismissal was granted for first count. You could see the Officer's face when he asked for dismissal on grounds of imcompetentness. My buddy gave a spectacular performance. People were looking at me because we had been sitting together earlier. I was very a bit nervous because of the extra, undesired attention. After dismissal he went upto the judge and shook his hand and walked upto the prosecution and did the same. Outside the court an attorney told us that the Police Officer was a Sargeant and had been in that county for over 7 years and this was the first time he had seen someone get his ticket dismissed with such neatness. It was a spectacular experience. The only person who gave my friend a smile was the court official in brown uniform who was helping my firend in playing the video tape.
By the way before our case there was a woman who used radar detector to defend herself by saying that she thought that radar did not scan her because her radar detector did not go off. I thought that her argument was not so dumb as she was treated by the court and the judge blasted her for using it in Virginia. Though she was from New York where they are legal I think.
Anyways, let me know how did you guys find this post and let me know if you have any questions.
