Trial by Declaration

[David N.]

...can work. I finally got my fine refunded for a ticket back in January that I fought via trial-by-declaration in April (there's a thread on it somewhere if you look). Took them long enough, but I had a good case against the officer having any formal evidence, and the judge was convinced.

I'm not condoning ticket fighting (or acquiring). But for those that have recieved them (unlawfully or not) and were curious, trial-by-declaration can work (and was free ).

-David

Very nice

[rick3000]

Glad you didn't have to pay! But what's trial by declaration?

[David N.]

It's a method of trial for traffic tickets that exists in certain states. You request it during arraignment instead of a normal trial or traffic school. You just write up in you side of the story in a document and send it to the court. The officer is then pressed to write his or her own side of the story, and the judge looks at both and makes a decision.

It's a good first step if you want to skip lawyer fees or aren't so good at defending yourself in person (or if your schedule is just really busy). If you lose it, you can always request a real trial afterwards.

[rick3000]

That's cool!
Glad you won!

[meerzee]

Similar to my feeling on the chaos on the bogg thread, I say if you do the crime, then do the time. Don't cry about getting caught if you choose to step into the game - just be a man about it, chalk it up to life and move on. I just don't approve of side-stepping the technicalities of the law, just because you can, especially when you are truly guilty. I don't know your unique conviction(s) here nor am i concerned with the details, but unless truly prejudicial, I would have just paid the fine and be done with it.

There is something to be said of someone with honor and integrity.