So I went to court and fought the ticket I got on the GW Pkwy - 83/50 + reckless driving b/c over 80 in virginia. Let's just say that I learned a lot about law and that I suck as a litigator. I had great preparation, though. It never hurts to act like you're going to fight the ticket - you can always enter a guilty plea and plea bargain with the DA. ALWAYS request discovery from the DA - I got the calibration of the laser gun, and it was expired! My idiotic mistake was that I tried to use that to plea bargain and instead all I did was tip off the DA what I was going to to in court so he was able to get another park police cop to testify about the laser gun. If I hadn't done that, I could have thrown out the ticket! Anyway, the case went on for almost 45 mintues and the judge was pissed off at me so he fined me $500 instead of $300 like I probably would have gotten if I'd just plead guilty but he still dropped the reckless driving like he would have also. So, my advice is either get a lawyer or make sure you are really prepared and know what you're doing in the courtroom. If I get the transcript of the case I'll post it - it's pretty funny, except that I sound like a bumbling moron. I think I'm more pissed that the DA, who was pretty incompetent for a lawyer, beat me. Oh well.
Another intersting thing I learned - in Virginia, the law requires the officer to show you the laser or radar gun as proof and the gun has to be calibrated every six months. VA state code § 46.2-882. If you do get pulled over, don't make a scene or argue but if you do get a ticket research the state law covering them. Unfortunately for me, US Parks are covered by federal laws and are much less specific than state laws so the court has a lot more leeway in its decisions. And state law is lower than federal law, so the park police don't have to abide by state law even though that's what you are being charged with.
Expensive lesson for me - I just hope that the District is too unorganized to find out I got a ticket and I don't get any points on my license. Still have a ticket in montgomery county to take care of too. The only upside is that my gas mileage has gone up 2-3 MPG since I've been keeping off the go pedeal! But my fun in the SVT is permanently slowed down for a while...
Steven
'98.5 silver CSVT
goin' slow - pass me by
