My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Texas
I have seen the entire 12 minute video of the police stop, as provided to me by the prosecution (city attorney). It shows 3 different views, the street view from inside the vehicle, the view of the officer in his vehicle, and the officer cam. The video does have audio. The officer has music on and a barking police dog when the radar starts saying speeding over and over again. The video shows the officer is not wearing a seat belt at all. It shows he was parked, put his vehicle into gear, and proceeded with pulling me over without ever using his seat belt. I feel I can use this to raise doubt that he was following the proper rules for using radar to pull over a vehicle since he was not obeying Texas traffic laws himself.
Continuing, the officer's body cam is the only video that shows the speed on his radar. However, it only shows this alleged speed after he had me pulled over and was getting ready to exit his vehicle to speak to me. It never shows what my speed is in the video at the time his radar says speeding and it does not show the speed when he does a u-turn to pursue me.
In addition, the video does show 2 vehicles that were passing me in the opposite lane (officer was facing East and I was driving West) when his alarm goes off. Literally 2 seconds later, another vehicle appears in the video passing the officer's vehicle from behind who is stepping on his brakes.
Also, the video also shows that when the officer made a u-turn to pull me over that the posted speed sign that I passed as I was passing him was posted at 55 MPH. He even has the video and audio of me saying that the posted speed says 55 MPH. He replies no you were doing 54 in a 40 MPH zone.
I asked for a trial by jury in this case. I did this because it is a small town of 5000 citizens. Also, the courthouse, jail, and police office are all in the same small building. It is literally 3 different rooms. It is not a large facility by any means. The judge is appointed (not elected) so I felt he would side with the prosecution no matter what evidence I provided. I felt I could raise reasonable doubt with the jury.
Next, I have emailed the county clerks office to subpoena items I want for my defense. I also called. I am getting no reply. Court is next week. It is stated on a letter from the county clerk that I must give 48 hours notice if I am unable to appear for an allowed reason. I can and want to appear but if I don't have what I need, I will lose my case. Can I ask the judge to dismiss since my emails and calls are being ignored? I would go in person to make such a request but I live 4 hours away from the city and county where I was allegedly speeding.
Last point is that I plead not guilty on February 8. I was never told or signed anything that says I waive my rights to a speedy trial. The date was set to be heard on March 9, 2016. I never received any notification at all from the court. So I emailed on Friday, March 4 an inquiry as to what I need to where, where do I need to go, etc. to the county clerks office since I could not get them to answer their phone. I received a reply on Monday, March 7, saying that the court is in receipt of your letter that I am unable to attend court on March 9 and that it has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 13. No where in my email does it state that I could not make the court date or that I asked for the court date to be postponed. On Monday, March 14, I received an official letter from the county clerk's office dated March 10 giving me all the information that I asked for in my email with the new trial date. Since the date I plead "not guilty" to the actual court date is beyond 45 days, do you think I should try and motion to have it dismissed due to the lack of not getting a speeding trial? If yes, can I do this before the court date or do I have to wait until that day?
Thanks for your help.
I have seen the entire 12 minute video of the police stop, as provided to me by the prosecution (city attorney). It shows 3 different views, the street view from inside the vehicle, the view of the officer in his vehicle, and the officer cam. The video does have audio. The officer has music on and a barking police dog when the radar starts saying speeding over and over again. The video shows the officer is not wearing a seat belt at all. It shows he was parked, put his vehicle into gear, and proceeded with pulling me over without ever using his seat belt. I feel I can use this to raise doubt that he was following the proper rules for using radar to pull over a vehicle since he was not obeying Texas traffic laws himself.
Continuing, the officer's body cam is the only video that shows the speed on his radar. However, it only shows this alleged speed after he had me pulled over and was getting ready to exit his vehicle to speak to me. It never shows what my speed is in the video at the time his radar says speeding and it does not show the speed when he does a u-turn to pursue me.
In addition, the video does show 2 vehicles that were passing me in the opposite lane (officer was facing East and I was driving West) when his alarm goes off. Literally 2 seconds later, another vehicle appears in the video passing the officer's vehicle from behind who is stepping on his brakes.
Also, the video also shows that when the officer made a u-turn to pull me over that the posted speed sign that I passed as I was passing him was posted at 55 MPH. He even has the video and audio of me saying that the posted speed says 55 MPH. He replies no you were doing 54 in a 40 MPH zone.
I asked for a trial by jury in this case. I did this because it is a small town of 5000 citizens. Also, the courthouse, jail, and police office are all in the same small building. It is literally 3 different rooms. It is not a large facility by any means. The judge is appointed (not elected) so I felt he would side with the prosecution no matter what evidence I provided. I felt I could raise reasonable doubt with the jury.
Next, I have emailed the county clerks office to subpoena items I want for my defense. I also called. I am getting no reply. Court is next week. It is stated on a letter from the county clerk that I must give 48 hours notice if I am unable to appear for an allowed reason. I can and want to appear but if I don't have what I need, I will lose my case. Can I ask the judge to dismiss since my emails and calls are being ignored? I would go in person to make such a request but I live 4 hours away from the city and county where I was allegedly speeding.
Last point is that I plead not guilty on February 8. I was never told or signed anything that says I waive my rights to a speedy trial. The date was set to be heard on March 9, 2016. I never received any notification at all from the court. So I emailed on Friday, March 4 an inquiry as to what I need to where, where do I need to go, etc. to the county clerks office since I could not get them to answer their phone. I received a reply on Monday, March 7, saying that the court is in receipt of your letter that I am unable to attend court on March 9 and that it has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 13. No where in my email does it state that I could not make the court date or that I asked for the court date to be postponed. On Monday, March 14, I received an official letter from the county clerk's office dated March 10 giving me all the information that I asked for in my email with the new trial date. Since the date I plead "not guilty" to the actual court date is beyond 45 days, do you think I should try and motion to have it dismissed due to the lack of not getting a speeding trial? If yes, can I do this before the court date or do I have to wait until that day?
Thanks for your help.
Speeding Tickets: Texas, Trial by Jury, Alleged 54 MPH in a 40 MPH Zone
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