—–Original Message—–
From: tony
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 6:30 AM
To: info@coptalk.info
Subject: wrong car on ticket.
i just got a ticket the other day and the police officer wrote me a ticket for 5 over but he wrote on the ticket i was driving a 86 ford. but i was really driving a 99 Cadillac escalade will this help me beat the ticket in court?
Our Replies:
5 over, hmmm. Must have been a slow day for the cops wherever you live. Most cops don’t bother giving tickets for 5 over unless it’s a zero tolerance special enforcement detail or if the driver really pissed off the cop.
It’s a crap shoot, could go either way in court. The error could cause doubt on the officers credibility (if he made a mistake on the car, maybe he made a mistake on the speed, etc). If you go to court you can argue the above point of maybe he was in error on the speed just like he was in error on the vehicle description, or maybe he pulled over the wrong vehicle after clocking a Ford with the radar (if it was a radar ticket) etc. You’d have to establish enough doubt for the judge to dismiss the ticket. The officer will have to explain why he wrote the wrong vehicle information down. If you admit being pulled over by the officer and you signed the citation, the judge may not care too much about the error in the vehicle information. You have a 50-50 chance.
If the officer paced you in his patrol car, you can ask when the patrol car’s speedometer was last calibrated. If it hadn’t been calibrated lately you might win your case in a 5 mph over case. It’s not uncommon for speedometers to be off by a few miles an hour so if the officer cannot show that the speedometer was recently checked and was accurate, the citation might be dismissed. If it was a radar or laser ticket, you’ll have to hope the officer doesn’t show up or the errors on the citation cause enough doubt. Let us know what happens.
Hope that helps..
Mark
© Coptalk
Is the license plate correctly listed on the cite?
If you "RESPECTFULLY" explain to the judge that the citation has inaccurate vehicle information listed – he may decide to dismiss the citation in the "interest of justice". The few cites I’ve written where I listed wrong dates, locations, speed limits, or vehicle information were always dismissed in court so I learned quickly to ALWAYS be accurate when filling out cites – but mistakes happen, and when they do, they usually end up being in the driver’s favor. There are not too many similarities between an 86 Ford and a 99 Escalade. Sounds like the officer maybe entered the wrong plate into the computer and didn’t give it a 2nd thought.
Good luck!
Jim Lambert
Coptalk
