can judge increase ticket?

Got pulled over today. Cop lowered it from 83 to 71 in a 65. Now, I still think I'm gonna plead not guilty, go to court admit guilt and try and get the judge to switch it to a 'disobeying traffic control device'...therefore no points here in PA, instead of the 1 or 2 points I get with the 6 over the limit speeding ticket....plus thier county makes a bit more $$$. Everybody wins, except insurance company.

I feel like I should know this, but I wanted to double check...can a judge raise the ticket. ie, court starts, cop says I radared him at 83, lowered it to 71 on the side of hte road. I try negotiating, judge is not in a good mood and says, now your stuck with an 83 in a 65. I mean I think it's possible, highly unlikely, but possible. Just wanted to double check.

it all depends on how you present yourself in court...if you go in there acting (at least) sorry and that it won't happen again then it shouldn't change, however if you go in there acting like you weren't in the wrong at all he'll definetely give you what you deserved in the first place..

How come cop lowered the speed in the ticket? I had quite a few of tickets, and never had and never heard about this.

The cop won't say he lowered it. He'll say that he got you for 71. He won't attack his own integrity by saying he reported it falsely (if he does you should be able to get out of it by questioning if you were even speeding)

The judge doesn't know what happened on the street, and has to go by what the cop says. The cop made the "arrest" for going 71 mph.

No, this has all happened to me before. The last ticket I got went down exactly as I described. I got pulled over on radar at like 86mph. Talked with the cop on the side of the road (just like I did this time). Cop lowered the ticket to 75mph. I still plead not guilty. Got a court date and showed up all dressed up like normal etc.

Cop started out and said 'I pulled him over on such and such a date and time doing 86mph in a 65. I wrote the ticket for 75mph in a 65. My radar gun was last calibrated at such and such a time, etc.

Then judge asked me what I had to say. I said, the officer is exactly right, that's what happened. I just came here to ask for a bit mroe leniency as points are a major concern for me...insurance on my car isn't cheap, etc.

Judge lowered it a 2nd time. To something like 70mph in a 65 zone.


I've been in court plenty of times, so I'm comfortable with all that and know how to act and dress, etc. I'm just curious, basically because this cop was sooo lenient on the side of the road...that I almost don't wanna fight it. I still wanna go and ask if they would change it to 'disobeying a traffic control device' so they make anotehr $40 and I get zero points. But my only concern is what if I get some prick of a judge who had a bad day and wants to take it out on me.

I know it's highly unlikely, but I'm just curious, can he overrule the cop's initial leniency and find me guilty of doing 83 instead of 71?

No, this has all happened to me before. The last ticket I got went down exactly as I described. I got pulled over on radar at like 86mph. Talked with the cop on the side of the road (just like I did this time). Cop lowered the ticket to 75mph. I still plead not guilty. Got a court date and showed up all dressed up like normal etc.

Cop started out and said 'I pulled him over on such and such a date and time doing 86mph in a 65. I wrote the ticket for 75mph in a 65. My radar gun was last calibrated at such and such a time, etc.

Then judge asked me what I had to say. I said, the officer is exactly right, that's what happened. I just came here to ask for a bit mroe leniency as points are a major concern for me...insurance on my car isn't cheap, etc.

Judge lowered it a 2nd time. To something like 70mph in a 65 zone.


I've been in court plenty of times, so I'm comfortable with all that and know how to act and dress, etc. I'm just curious, basically because this cop was sooo lenient on the side of the road...that I almost don't wanna fight it. I still wanna go and ask if they would change it to 'disobeying a traffic control device' so they make anotehr $40 and I get zero points. But my only concern is what if I get some prick of a judge who had a bad day and wants to take it out on me.

I know it's highly unlikely, but I'm just curious, can he overrule the cop's initial leniency and find me guilty of doing 83 instead of 71?

:dunno: In all the times I've been to traffic court, I've never seen a cop say that he lowered the speed on the ticket. I'd be tempted to say that since the officer stated he lowered the speed, there is a reasonable doubt as to whether I was speeding or not. Since he now says one thing but made an official report of another, that shows reasonable doubt as to the actual speed you were going.

:dunno: In all the times I've been to traffic court, I've never seen a cop say that he lowered the speed on the ticket. I'd be tempted to say that since the officer stated he lowered the speed, there is a reasonable doubt as to whether I was speeding or not. Since he now says one thing but made an official report of another, that shows reasonable doubt as to the actual speed you were going.


I just wanted to update this. I bought 2 books on fighting speeding tickets in court, as well as got the help of a lawyer for free actually (via family friend). Wish I had known this before, because I could have easily gotten my last ticket dismissed instead of getting it reduced once on teh side of hte road and again in court, settling for 2pts. I counted it a victory at the time, but now I'm pissed :iceslolan

One of hte books I got, as well as the lawyer, brought up hte point, that hte cop does this on-the-side-of-the-road bargaining in an attempt to get you to think he is cutting you a break, whereby making you less likely to fight it (well duh, obviously). But they brought up the same point you did, the cop does have discretion in whether to warn you (verbally or written) or whether to ticket you. But he doesn't have this type of discretion. And if this is repeated in court you have an VERY good chance of getting the ticket dismissed. The one book went so far as to say it's a good idea to get a mini cassette recorder and carry it in your car. And secretly record the conversation at the time of ticket.

This type of bargaining on the side of the road may mean he was cutting you a break because you were nice, or it could also mean there were variables that could have affected his radar reading, making it less likely to hold up in court.

Getting the officer to admit this variance in recorded speed and ticketed speed can sometimes be enough on it's own to get the ticket dismissed, and if not, it definately brings the validity of the radar reading into serious doubt. So paired with a half-decent defense against radar, winning the case should be fairly easy.

Court tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Good luck! :smile:

Sweet. Looking forward to the update!!

Got pulled over today. Cop lowered it from 83 to 71 in a 65. Now, I still think I'm gonna plead not guilty, go to court admit guilt and try and get the judge to switch it to a 'disobeying traffic control device'...therefore no points here in PA, instead of the 1 or 2 points I get with the 6 over the limit speeding ticket....plus thier county makes a bit more $$$. Everybody wins, except insurance company.

I feel like I should know this, but I wanted to double check...can a judge raise the ticket. ie, court starts, cop says I radared him at 83, lowered it to 71 on the side of hte road. I try negotiating, judge is not in a good mood and says, now your stuck with an 83 in a 65. I mean I think it's possible, highly unlikely, but possible. Just wanted to double check.

It would be very unusual for a judge to raise a ticket.
But there is a big main part played by the Prosecuting attorney's office.
He is the main link between the arresting officer and the judge.
They can drop or change the charges as they see fit.
It may cost you a few bucks but have your attorney talk to the prosecuting attorney before it goes to court.
I have been there and saw it happen.
Sometimes them people scratch each others back.:grinno:
Good luck
MT

Well alot of unexpected stuff happened. First off, turns out my lawyer practices in NY adn NJ and was allowed to practice in Ohio before...but they didn't let him practice here in PA today. So we had gone over our strategy a number of times, and I was pretty confident I could go through it on my own anyway. So I go in, he follows just to watch and be a 'presence'.

Cop is running a bit late, so judge basically shoots me straight saying he wants to get the next 4 trials done in 30 minutes, he knows (by a ticket for 6 over hte limit) that the cop already cut me a decent break. He says he's accepting any plea bargain and even suggests a few. Cop comes in, he doesn't even remember me or my ticket, so I have a pretty good feeling about ruining his case. However, the judge mentions the plea bargain to him, cop quickly agrees, I hesitate, debating whether I wanna still fight it, or settle. My lawyer suggests I don't push my luck with the judge and take a bargain with no points. So I did, semi-reluctantly. I mean, that was an outcome I had previously told him I was more than happy with...
Had a pretty solid defense and didn't even use it. Oh well, it's saved for next time :biggrin:

Hey, well done. No points is no points!

Good job Igo... Its a win.. justwould have been cooler to actually have the battle you were preparing for! haha You were there with sword and armor, and the other general never showed up!:confused: semi anti-climatic but good for you.:popcorn: