Citation with multiple errors

[jakejm79]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

Got a speeding ticket early this morning for doing 45 in a 25, firstly I know I wasn't doing that so I plan on fighting it.
My ticket has numerous errors on it.
Firstly my DL state is wrong (or at least was written wrong at some point and poorly corrected).
2. The violation date is wrong, while the time was correct (a little after midnight, 00:16AM), it was dated for the previous day, actually according to time and date of the offense per the ticket I was tucked up in bed and had been for several hours.
3. The street is wrong, the town contains too byways of similar name, one suffixed Road and one suffixed Street according to both the town street map and assessors database and mapping. The infraction took place on the one named Street, the citation says Road, the posted speed limit is very different for both of these byways, 35 and above for the Road and 20 for the Street.
4. The ticket says the posted speed limit is 25 MPH, but there is no where on my route traveled where it is that speed limit, it is either 20, 35, 45 or 50.

Do I have any hope here?

Seems like they could all be classed as simple mistakes or typos, but if the officer doesn't appear to know what byway I was actually traveling on, what the posted speed limit is on said byway and also what day it is, how can he actually enforce things.

Thank you for any help or advice, MA isn't my home state, I know at home, I'd just check not guilty meet with the prosecutor the morning of my court date, show him a copy of the ticket with the are you kidding me on all these mistakes and it would get dropped, but this whole pay $25 to see a magistrate has me doubting things.

 

[drruthless]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

Got a speeding ticket early this morning for doing 45 in a 25, firstly I know I wasn't doing that so I plan on fighting it.
My ticket has numerous errors on it.
Firstly my DL state is wrong (or at least was written wrong at some point and poorly corrected).
2. The violation date is wrong, while the time was correct (a little after midnight, 00:16AM), it was dated for the previous day, actually according to time and date of the offense per the ticket I was tucked up in bed and had been for several hours.
3. The street is wrong, the town contains too byways of similar name, one suffixed Road and one suffixed Street according to both the town street map and assessors database and mapping. The infraction took place on the one named Street, the citation says Road, the posted speed limit is very different for both of these byways, 35 and above for the Road and 20 for the Street.
4. The ticket says the posted speed limit is 25 MPH, but there is no where on my route traveled where it is that speed limit, it is either 20, 35, 45 or 50.

Do I have any hope here?

Seems like they could all be classed as simple mistakes or typos, but if the officer doesn't appear to know what byway I was actually traveling on, what the posted speed limit is on said byway and also what day it is, how can he actually enforce things.

Thank you for any help or advice, MA isn't my home state, I know at home, I'd just check not guilty meet with the prosecutor the morning of my court date, show him a copy of the ticket with the are you kidding me on all these mistakes and it would get dropped, but this whole pay $25 to see a magistrate has me doubting things.

You could try and have ticket dismissed...did the cop get your name right? Did he get your address right? You could claim It wasn't you ( wouldn't suggest doing so) You should speak with an attorney. oh, If the cop got everything wrong, take some extra cash incase the court doesn't buy your story.
Good luck.

..___________________________
~ There is such a fine line between clever and stupid

 

[jakejm79]

May name was correct and so was my address, since he copied those directly from my license (how he make a mistake on the issuing state of my license I don't know).

The way the citation is writing with all the errors, there is no possible way I could be guilty of the offense since I wasn't there on that date, the posted speed limit on the byway I was driving on does not reflect that of what is written on the citation and lastly I wasn't driving on the byway listed either (and hadn't been that night). In fact I'm not guilty of the alleged offense on the date the stop did take place either, but IMO those mistakes are some pretty glaring errors.

Do I have any right to find out the officer's schedule (or at least previously worked schedule), if I could prove that he wasn't working on the morning of the date listed on the citation it may help.

 

[Zigner]

May name was correct and so was my address, since he copied those directly from my license (how he make a mistake on the issuing state of my license I don't know).

The way the citation is writing with all the errors, there is no possible way I could be guilty of the offense since I wasn't there on that date, the posted speed limit on the byway I was driving on does not reflect that of what is written on the citation and lastly I wasn't driving on the byway listed either (and hadn't been that night). In fact I'm not guilty of the alleged offense on the date the stop did take place either, but IMO those mistakes are some pretty glaring errors.

Do I have any right to find out the officer's schedule (or at least previously worked schedule), if I could prove that he wasn't working on the morning of the date listed on the citation it may help.

I think your "glaring errors" aren't that big of a deal honestly. The "possibly" incorrect state is a non-issue. The mixup on the date is the next least likely thing to help you, while the mixup between road & street is a close third. The posted speed being incorrect is going to help you even less, since you'll have to prove what the speed limit was at the place you were stopped. Your testimony that the posted speed was actually LESS THAN 25 is only going to hurt you.

Now we're down to your word that you weren't doing 45 vs the officer's word that you weren't doing 45. What evidence do you have to counter the officer's testimony of your speed?

 

[jakejm79]

I agree on the issuing state of the license, I mentioned it purely because of the other errors and it goes to show the care clearly not taken in getting the details right.
So what you are saying is an officer can write a citation and as long as some of the information is correct, even if it didn't happen on that date or in that area. They just pick a car get the driver's information and car information and then just make up the rest and its fine, that somehow doesn't seem fair.

Now I know some of you are officers or troopers and I appreciate all that you do, but I also know how these small towns work and that they do rely on revenue from speeding tickets and the like, I also no the official stance on this is that isn't the case but I think we are all mature enough to know that truly isn't the case.

My word vs. his word, other than my GPS records and the fact that I am accurately able to depict the events that happened with the correct information (date it happened and where it happened) surely should mean my word counts for more than his, or is it as long as he remembers he got the speed correct, nothing else needs be accurate?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

I agree on the issuing state of the license, I mentioned it purely because of the other errors and it goes to show the care clearly not taken in getting the details right.
So what you are saying is an officer can write a citation and as long as some of the information is correct, even if it didn't happen on that date or in that area. They just pick a car get the driver's information and car information and then just make up the rest and its fine, that somehow doesn't seem fair.

Now I know some of you are officers or troopers and I appreciate all that you do, but I also know how these small towns work and that they do rely on revenue from speeding tickets and the like, I also no the official stance on this is that isn't the case but I think we are all mature enough to know that truly isn't the case.

My word vs. his word, other than my GPS records and the fact that I am accurately able to depict the events that happened with the correct information (date it happened and where it happened) surely should mean my word counts for more than his, or is it as long as he remembers he got the speed correct, nothing else needs be accurate?

If you can get GPS records that show you were not on that road at that date and time, along with photographs showing every speed limit sign on both roads show something other than 25MPH, there's a chance the magistrate will dismiss the ticket.

Something to keep in mind is that many courthouses in Mass don't allow cell phones or any electronic devices, so make sure you print out the photos and GPS logs.

 

[Zigner]

If you can get GPS records that show you were not on that road at that date and time, along with photographs showing every speed limit sign on both roads show something other than 25MPH, there's a chance the magistrate will dismiss the ticket.

Something to keep in mind is that many courthouses in Mass don't allow cell phones or any electronic devices, so make sure you print out the photos and GPS logs.

How would the OP have the information verified for authenticity? How would the OP overcome his own testimony that he was speeding by an even great amount than he has been accused of?

 

[jakejm79]

When did I ever say I was speeding at any amount. All I said is I wasn't doing 45 MPH that I was accused of, I was well aware of the speed limit and was driving within it (yes even the actual posted 20 MPH not the 25 that was supposedly posted).

Thank you. I am aware of the no cell phone rule and I do plan on taking pictures and print outs of whatever information I can gather.

 

[Zigner]

When did I ever say I was speeding at any amount. All I said is I wasn't doing 45 MPH that I was accused of, I was well aware of the speed limit and was driving within it (yes even the actual posted 20 MPH not the 25 that was supposedly posted).

Thank you. I am aware of the no cell phone rule and I do plan on taking pictures and print outs of whatever information I can gather.

What "GPS Record" do you believe exists? By what method do you intend to authenticate your printout?

There is no way on God's green earth that you're going to convince the court that the officer's estimation was off by =>25 mph

 

[jakejm79]

My headunit in my car actively measures GPS speed and location has I drive and logs it along with a wide range of OBDII parameters (including but not limited to speed signal sent from the wheels to the ECU, RPM, etc). This is paired with the provided GPS time stamps.

I can't convince the court is estimate was off by 25 MPH, but it is clearly in writing that is estimate of the day it took play was off by 24+ hours and the location it took place was off by several miles. Seems like an obvious assumption.

So basically any officer can write a ticket for a significant amount over the speed limit regardless of if someone was speeding or not and since the range from posted to speed limit to the alleged estimate speed is so great they are guaranteed not to be able to fight it. Seems like another reason for an office to use an inflated figure for the estimate from the get go.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

My headunit in my car actively measures GPS speed and location has I drive and logs it along with a wide range of OBDII parameters (including but not limited to speed signal sent from the wheels to the ECU, RPM, etc). This is paired with the provided GPS time stamps.

I can't convince the court is estimate was off by 25 MPH, but it is clearly in writing that is estimate of the day it took play was off by 24+ hours and the location it took place was off by several miles. Seems like an obvious assumption.

So basically any officer can write a ticket for a significant amount over the speed limit regardless of if someone was speeding or not and since the range from posted to speed limit to the alleged estimate speed is so great they are guaranteed not to be able to fight it. Seems like another reason for an office to use an inflated figure for the estimate from the get go.

Don't worry about "authenticating" the information. This is a clerk's hearing. The rules of evidence don't apply. If you can demonstrate the the officer made enough mistakes, the clerk may simply dismiss it.

 

[Zigner]

Don't worry about "authenticating" the information. This is a clerk's hearing. The rules of evidence don't apply. If you can demonstrate the the officer made enough mistakes, the clerk may simply dismiss it.

I will defer to your knowledge of the procedures in the OP's state...

 

[jakejm79]

Don't worry about "authenticating" the information. This is a clerk's hearing. The rules of evidence don't apply. If you can demonstrate the the officer made enough mistakes, the clerk may simply dismiss it.

Thank you SteveF, that is what I am hoping for. I will be writing and requesting a copy of the officer's portion of the citation, calibration records of Radar device, etc, hopefully that will turn up yet more errors.

 

[Just Blue]

Thank you SteveF, that is what I am hoping for. I will be writing and requesting a copy of the officer's portion of the citation, calibration records of Radar device, etc, hopefully that will turn up yet more errors.

Curious...Are you in Northern Worcester County?

 

[jakejm79]

Nope, I rarely travel out that way.