When you've decided to fight a traffic ticket in court, you can expect to square off against the police officer who pulled you over and wrote you a ticket. In many cases, the officer will show up to court and prove to be a worthy adversary to you and your attorney. However, it's also possible that he or she will fail to appear—which can be good news for you. In this case, your attorney will argue for a case dismissal, but the judge won't automatically agree. It will help your case to make some strong points should the police officer not showing up. Here are some points to make.
You've Taken Time Off Work To Appear
You need to make sure that the judge is aware of how inconvenient it is for you to show up to court but not have the police officer there, too. One of the points that you should politely make is that you took time off work so that you could appear in court. Don't be afraid to get specific. For example, you might mention how much money you're losing in wages by taking the unpaid day off, if applicable. You could also point out that your absence from work will put you behind on an important project that has a tight deadline.
You've Worked Hard To Build The Case
You should also talk about how your traffic law attorney and you have worked hard to put together a case in your defense. Outline the various steps that you've taken, alongside your attorney, for this purpose. For example, you might have recruited witnesses, gone through traffic camera footage, revisited the scene multiple times, and more. If possible, note the time investment in this process, and point out how the officer's failure to show up means that all of this time was wasted.
You've Juggled Your Personal Life
Preparing for your day in court can mean a lot of sacrifices in your personal life. For example, if you're a stay-at-home parent, you may have had to arrange babysitting for your kids not only on the court date, but also on other dates that you've gone to meet your traffic attorney. If you lost your license as a result of the traffic charge, you may have had to take a long journey by public transportation just to get to court. Upon hearing your points, the judge may grant your attorney's call for a case dismissal.
Share4 February 2019
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