out of state ticket

[sureshotsk25]

I got pulled over in North Carolina for speeding in a 65 mph highway zone. I had gotten behind a red convertible in the fast lane and hit my cruise control, then got stopped about 5 mins later. I didn't see any cops staked out, nor did I see or hear any aircraft. I didn't even smell bacon until it was in my rearview. The guy didn't say how he clocked me, but put down that I was doing "75+" on the ticket. He didn't ask me to sign the ticket, acknowledging that I had received it and agreed to pay or appear in court. I'm from Ohio, and have an Ohio license and Ohio plates. My court date is coming up on the 5th of April...what are the odds this guy will show up in court, and does the fact that I didn't sign the ticket benefit me in any way?

[Igovert500]

Doubt it, and if he's a dick he'll probably show up. The ticket should say how he got you. Also there is a great book called Case Dismissed by Jeff Mulligan(i think) that helps get your case dismissed. It's highly recommended and has its own website...I'd check it out. Also with out of state tickets, it's probably wont give you any points, but your insurance might still find out about it and raise your rates. So check if tickets transfer from NC to Ohio and also if your insurance company raises it based on tickets or on points. Good luck

[lwpat]

Originally Posted by sureshotsk25

I got pulled over in North Carolina for speeding in a 65 mph highway zone. I had gotten behind a red convertible in the fast lane and hit my cruise control, then got stopped about 5 mins later. I didn't see any cops staked out, nor did I see or hear any aircraft. I didn't even smell bacon until it was in my rearview. The guy didn't say how he clocked me, but put down that I was doing "75+" on the ticket. He didn't ask me to sign the ticket, acknowledging that I had received it and agreed to pay or appear in court. I'm from Ohio, and have an Ohio license and Ohio plates. My court date is coming up on the 5th of April...what are the odds this guy will show up in court, and does the fact that I didn't sign the ticket benefit me in any way?

Not signing the ticket in immaterial. Read the article
Speeding Ticket Urban Legends

The Case Dismissed book the other poster mentioned is good but you can find most of the same information on the net for free. In NC the first court date is usually an arraignment rather than a trial. If you plead not guilty then they set a trial date. You can try for a Prayer for Judgement plea. This is usually limited to NC residents but sometimes the judge will go along with it anyway.

Try to get the ticket reduced to an under 10mph violation. Some insurance companies will give you a pass if you just have one. The ticket will be reported back to Ohio and show on your MVR unless you can get it reduced to a nonmoving or the PJ.

Good luck and repost the results.

[sureshotsk25]

I did some research on some of the options that are open to me.

It seems like, given the circumstances of the stop, most likely I was clocked by someone else, then pulled over by the guy who wrote the ticket. Chances are, if I go to trial (btw, thanks for the heads-up on the arraignment vs trial info), the ticketing officer will show, but not the guy who actually registered my speed. In this case, all research I've done indicates this is a great grounds for dismissal, because the officer who monitored my speed is the material witness. The ticketing officer can only testify to the events that happened during the stop. Something else that might work to my advantage is the fact that this SHP officer was a pretty young guy--he might not have had the necessary training to clock someone and make a stop himself--which is why he didn't actually clock me or indicate how I was caught or by whom.

Between arraignment and trial, I can motion for discovery on just about anything--records of all the officer's stops, results of the trials, the owner's manual for the radar gun (provided it was radar), calibration and testing records, etc. If any of those records don't exist, it adds into my reasonable doubt argument. The best case scenario is either that he says he paced me, then stopped me (because given the circumstances, that would have been impossible) and I can really shoot that argument to shit, or that he says someone else clocked me and that guy doesn't show up. Besides, he's required by law to recall the details of the stop from memory, and can't read it off the ticket, and can't testify to what the other officer saw.

However, I've also talked to my best friend's dad, who is a detective and used to have traffic duty way back in the day. He said I might not even have to go through any of that trouble, if I plead not guilty, then talk to the ADA about a plea bargain. He said that since my record is clean to this point, I have a better chance of getting down to a lesser charge that doesn't include something that would hike my insurance rates, or even getting a deferral of prosecution for 6 months to a year. In that case, if I don't get stopped again, the case gets dropped.

I'll let you know what happens after arraignment tomorrow.

[sureshotsk25]

I asked for Prayer of Judgment and it was granted.

I found that there's a difference between "exceeding posted speed limit" and "exceeding 65 mph". Apparently, they consider 65 to be the 'safe speed' in the state. If you are caught exceeding the safe speed, you can't ask for Prayer of Judgment. However, since the posted speed limit and the safe speed limit were the same thing in my case, she allowed me to request the PJ. So now, I stay clean in NC for 3 years, the ticket is wiped from my record, which is perfect because I'm only going to be here for another year and I don't plan on revisiting anytime soon.