LostYooper
New Member
First off this is my first post and hopefully last
I am posting on behalf of my 75+ year old mother. She is a model citizen, volunteers 20 hours a week....
She was charged with §28-701.02 Excessive speeds A.1. exceeding 35 mph at 12:40pm in a school crossing
Her clocked speed was 37 mph. The cross walk signage is portable and is required by law to be removed when school is not in session. §28-797 D
She did not notice it was up.
To make it brief(please ask quesions):
1)The officer was rude and intimadating. When my mother asked if it mattered that school was not in session, he replied "NO". She did not know that they had a summer program and did not recall the sign being up. She was following another vehicle. Basically she felt that no sign was up and really did not understand what she was charged with.
2) Mom went to court. The Justice of the peace looked surprised and basically told her to plead not guilty.
3) Mom called the school and ended up speaking with the principle. The priciple was very nice and told her that absolutely the signs were taken down immediately after summer school let out at 11:45 am
4)Mom meets with an attorney. He states that he would need $2500 to represent her and recommend she get a letter from the principle and appear at the pre-trial conference. The judge is a fair man blah blah. On reflexion some really poor free advice.
5)Mom and I attend the pretrial with a letter(from the principle) stating absolutely that the signs were down by 12:15pm which is a full 30 minutes before she was pulled over. The assistant(?) attorney insists on a plea of guilty to a class 3 misdemeanor and at first refuses to look at the letter. He goes in the backroom and returns and says "fine lets go to trial". He doesn't want to entertain any reduced offers. Mom goes before the judge(after listening while one wife beater or junky gets charges dismissed or reduced). The Justice will not look at the letter.
6) Now the good part. On returning, mom calls the principle to tell her she may have to appear in court. She is very happy to do so and will call the janitor(who is in charge of place the signs in the cross walk) then call back. Well she calls back the next morning to tell mom the signs were not taken down(as required by law)until 1:30pm because it was the last week of summer school and the janitor went home late.
7) Mom tried every lawyer in town and either they don't want the case or they don't handle that typ of case. Even though all their yelow page ads claim they will handle workmans comp, divorce, wills and even murder trials. This leaves the original lawyer that wants $2500 to speak on the phone.
Now to the questons:
1)In general what does she do now?
2)The principle will testify that the signs were left up improperly. Is that a defense? Would that sway the justice if she appeared in court?
(There is a civil penalty in not taking the signs down prompty after school closes(did not happen))
3) I feel that these charges which amount to going 2 mph over 35mph under these circumstances are absolutely unreasonable. Am I nuts?
4) Does she need the janitor as a witness?
TIA
-Son that wished he never moved his mom to Arizona
ps tried to post links to AZ statutes but was not permitted to do so. Please pm if you need them
I am posting on behalf of my 75+ year old mother. She is a model citizen, volunteers 20 hours a week....She was charged with §28-701.02 Excessive speeds A.1. exceeding 35 mph at 12:40pm in a school crossing
Her clocked speed was 37 mph. The cross walk signage is portable and is required by law to be removed when school is not in session. §28-797 D
She did not notice it was up.
To make it brief(please ask quesions):
1)The officer was rude and intimadating. When my mother asked if it mattered that school was not in session, he replied "NO". She did not know that they had a summer program and did not recall the sign being up. She was following another vehicle. Basically she felt that no sign was up and really did not understand what she was charged with.
2) Mom went to court. The Justice of the peace looked surprised and basically told her to plead not guilty.
3) Mom called the school and ended up speaking with the principle. The priciple was very nice and told her that absolutely the signs were taken down immediately after summer school let out at 11:45 am
4)Mom meets with an attorney. He states that he would need $2500 to represent her and recommend she get a letter from the principle and appear at the pre-trial conference. The judge is a fair man blah blah. On reflexion some really poor free advice.
5)Mom and I attend the pretrial with a letter(from the principle) stating absolutely that the signs were down by 12:15pm which is a full 30 minutes before she was pulled over. The assistant(?) attorney insists on a plea of guilty to a class 3 misdemeanor and at first refuses to look at the letter. He goes in the backroom and returns and says "fine lets go to trial". He doesn't want to entertain any reduced offers. Mom goes before the judge(after listening while one wife beater or junky gets charges dismissed or reduced
). The Justice will not look at the letter. 6) Now the good part. On returning, mom calls the principle to tell her she may have to appear in court. She is very happy to do so and will call the janitor(who is in charge of place the signs in the cross walk) then call back. Well she calls back the next morning to tell mom the signs were not taken down(as required by law)until 1:30pm because it was the last week of summer school and the janitor went home late.
7) Mom tried every lawyer in town and either they don't want the case or they don't handle that typ of case. Even though all their yelow page ads claim they will handle workmans comp, divorce, wills and even murder trials. This leaves the original lawyer that wants $2500 to speak on the phone.
Now to the questons:
1)In general what does she do now?
2)The principle will testify that the signs were left up improperly. Is that a defense? Would that sway the justice if she appeared in court?
(There is a civil penalty in not taking the signs down prompty after school closes(did not happen))
3) I feel that these charges which amount to going 2 mph over 35mph under these circumstances are absolutely unreasonable. Am I nuts?
4) Does she need the janitor as a witness?
TIA
-Son that wished he never moved his mom to Arizona
ps tried to post links to AZ statutes but was not permitted to do so. Please pm if you need them
Last edited:
