Traffic Court QUestion - NJ

[boanon]

Hello. My wife went to court today for her cell phone ticket. She called in weeks ago to plead not guilty and was given a court date in an official legal notice. She showed up to court today for her trial and the officer was non on duty and did not show up. She filed a motion to dismiss, but the judge just rescheduled for another day she will have to take off of work and told her "we can't have all officers on duty every day." I know the usual is to dismiss, especially when you call to intend to plead not guilty. I also do not like the judge's comments. Is there any recourse or just keeping showing up until the officer decides to come?

 

[army judge]

Hello. My wife went to court today for her cell phone ticket. She called in weeks ago to plead not guilty and was given a court date in an official legal notice. She showed up to court today for her trial and the officer was non on duty and did not show up. She filed a motion to dismiss, but the judge just rescheduled for another day she will have to take off of work and told her "we can't have all officers on duty every day." I know the usual is to dismiss, especially when you call to intend to plead not guilty. I also do not like the judge's comments. Is there any recourse or just keeping showing up until the officer decides to come?

There might be other recourse in due time.
But, the state gets some continuances, too.
Until a pattern develops, if she wants a trial, she should appear as directed!
You may not like the judge's alleged comments, but in his/her courtroom, they can say most anything they desire.
A judge is as close to roaylty that we get in this country.
At least when they're sitting on the bench!

 

[mightymoose]

If you can show that the officer was served a subpoena and failed to show in court, then you have a pretty valid argument. You will have to make some calls and see if you can find out if he was served.
It is not unusual for police officers to miss court dates because they never received the subpoena, in which case the hearing would be rescheduled.
If you can show that he failed to appear then you might be able to raise this next time around or go through an appeal process.