Officer changed information on citation after i Recieved my carbon copy

[ksigatmsu7f02]

What is the name of your state? Louisiana

I recieved a speeding ticket on I-10 in Louisiana for 85 in a 70. I had a fail safe defense set up and ready. When I arrived at court for my arraignment, I happened to glance at the prosecutors copy of the citation which had two areas that on my carbon copy were either blank or crossed out, filled in. The two areas were the title and description of violation and radar serial number. When I saw this I didn't even know how to react. Wouldn't this be an illegal practice? It would be along the same lines of filling out extra items on a manual credit card transaction after the customer has signed for the items purchased, except this is directly in court. I questioned the prosecutor on this and he said it didn't matter because my copy isn't important, and that "all that matters is that we have it correct to prosecute you properly." I am trying to prepare my case from this point because I feel this is grounds for immediate dismissal and possibly charges filed against the officer for falsifying court documents. I know a District Attorney for another court in the area and I am going to meet with him next week. Has anyone seen or heard of this before? Thanks for your help.
Jason

 

[stevek3]

What is the name of your state? Louisiana

I recieved a speeding ticket on I-10 in Louisiana for 85 in a 70. I had a fail safe defense set up and ready. When I arrived at court for my arraignment, I happened to glance at the prosecutors copy of the citation which had two areas that on my carbon copy were either blank or crossed out, filled in. The two areas were the title and description of violation and radar serial number. When I saw this I didn't even know how to react. Wouldn't this be an illegal practice? It would be along the same lines of filling out extra items on a manual credit card transaction after the customer has signed for the items purchased, except this is directly in court. I questioned the prosecutor on this and he said it didn't matter because my copy isn't important, and that "all that matters is that we have it correct to prosecute you properly." I am trying to prepare my case from this point because I feel this is grounds for immediate dismissal and possibly charges filed against the officer for falsifying court documents. I know a District Attorney for another court in the area and I am going to meet with him next week. Has anyone seen or heard of this before? Thanks for your help.
Jason

It sure wouldn't be kosher in Ohio. But you're in Louisiana, where David Duke happily burns crosses and chicks happily flash their boobs. Best of luck.

 

[Who's Liable?]

Look at your rticket carefully and see if there is a cluase or statement taht says something to the affect of "This copy is an exact copy of the original" If is says that, you can challenege the original copy...

 

[ksigatmsu7f02]

A little more info

I have spent today going over pages of Louisiana law. I have found that as long as he did not get a court order to amend the ticket it violates up to four laws. First forgery RS 14:72 , second Malfeasance in Office; tampering with effidence RS 14:134.2, third Filing or maintaning false public records RS 14:133, and fourth law broken would be Injuring public records 14:132. The last two might not be valid as I don't beleive a citation is a public record. I am sending a Request of Disclosure tommorow, and after that I will ask for the court order to amend the traffic ticket which I know was never given, because there would have been an actual amendmant not just an edit done on the ticket, and at that point I will file a complaint with the Louisiana State Police against the officer, and shortly after file charges against him and then file a Motion to Dismiss the charges. If anyone has any other advice I would definatly appreciate it but after talking to an attorney and my own investigations from what I was told I feel that this is the best way to pursue this. Also just so you know I do plan on dropping all charges against the officer if my case is dropped. I do understand this was most likely a simple error that he thought would not even be noticed. I have made simple errors before and will not expect him to be held accountable for it.
Thanks for your help,
Jason