I Fought the Law, and _I_ Won!

[TheDude]

After being falsely arrested 8 months ago, and after 8 months of agonizing over it, and after 30 days of intense study and preparation, I have had my day in court today, and the case was dismissed!

We were all just seated in the courtroom when the bailiff called my name. I said, "here", and he said, "Your case is dismissed". It lasted about 30 seconds!

I went to the clerk/cashier's office and got some paper for my records. It was marked "Officer doesn't remember"!?!

Bwaaahahhaha! There's $1000+ that I saved on California taxes!

Thanks in part are due to this web site, Marc Stevens, and caticketbusters.com .

Good luck to all- it can be done!

TheDude

[notavoter]

Dude, Congrats

[Marc Stevens]

Congrats Dude, get this man a white russian. Can you give us the details on what you did to defend against the complaint?

[NonEntity]

(05-02-2013 05:15 PM)TheDude Wrote:  After being falsely arrested 8 months ago, and after 8 months of agonizing over it, and after 30 days of intense study and preparation, I have had my day in court today, and the case was dismissed!

Congrats!

Details please (so others can benefit.)

- NonE

[TheDude]

(05-02-2013 05:29 PM)notavoter Wrote:  Dude, Congrats

BWAAAAHAHAHAHA! That's right!

[TheDude]

I'll try to keep it succinct.

They call Los Angeles the City of Angels. I didn't find it to be that exactly, but I'll allow as there are some nice folks there.

First Scary Appearance Before the Fascist:

1. I demurred the Notice to Appear

This was thrown out, I think. Commish said that there was a 10 day rule to filing before the court date. CVC 40513 states that it is to be filed in open court or as the court allows. It is to be heard immediately, and if not, notes are to made in the record as to why not.

2. I requested a verified complaint

This was thrown out. Apparently, according to his worship, the cop's signature verified the complaint, and I don't need anything else. According to CVC 40513, after a MAGISTRATE indorses [sic] the notice to appear with certain verbage, it MAY be used AS a verified complaint with my written notice. I gave no such consent. (emphasis and sarcasm mine)

3. I filed a motion for discovery

The motion called for all witnesses and evidence, including copies of both sides of the original complaint. I really wanted to see what notes the awficer put on the back of the ticket- esp. notes that might prejudice the judge or send secret decoder ring messages to him.

His Worshipfulness, always looking out for me, of course, graciously entered a plea of Not Guilty on my behalf (how kind of him, no?) and I just shot him a look that could not be mistaken for anything other than "Really?"

Not wanting to take any more of His Commissionerness' valuable time, I collected my copies of filed (in duplicate) stuff from the court clerk, but noticed that the demurrer was not in the stack. I had to specifically request it. Hmmm....

The trial date was set for 30 days later. A week before that date, I submitted a motion to have my commish-entered plea removed (PC 1018). When I showed up for court, we were sat down after a pep-talk from the bailiff about how good this "judge" is and yada yada about taking a plea bargain or traffic $chool and after about 30 seconds they took a roll call, called me first, and informed me that my case was dismissed.

I got a piece of paper from the clerk and it said something like "Officer does not recall incident". Yeah, right! Haha!

I think I had a good chance of winning it at a trial (as the last resort, but I came prepared). The citation was for driving in darkness with a burned out tail light, but the stop occurred 1.5 hours before sunset. The cop signed "Under the penalty of perjury, the aforementioned is true and correct"(not "to the best of his knowledge"). I would have made the case that if I am to be convicted of any of these citations, the cop would have to be held to the penalty of perjury, or that the statement that he signed meant nothing, and the complaint was not really verified, false, no jurisdiction, I don't know, I would have rolled with something good. I had 10 pages of cross-examination that would have him pigeon-holed.

I realize now that the DA doesn't do the prosecution here, and I'm wondering what tactics might work with that.

Hope you all enjoyed and can benefit from this. Please ask any questions you want.

Abiding,
TheDude

[Habenae Est Dominatus]

(05-06-2013 12:06 AM)TheDude Wrote:  Hope you all enjoyed and can benefit from this. Please ask any questions you want.

Abiding,
TheDude

Just so ya know, you could have started a new thread on this board with your post.

[Whip]

Good on you, Dude.