Your First Layer of Defense

On your ticket will be a date and time for your first kourt appearance. This is called an arraignment, or calendar call. MAKE SURE YOU ARE THERE AND ON TIME! Do not miss your kourt date. A little problem will turn into a HUGE problem as your license will be suspended and a warrant issued for your arrest. The arresting officer will NOT be there for your first kourt appearance. This is for the kourt and the officer’s convenience, not yours. You will have to appear twice. This allows the kourt to find out who plans to plead guilty or NOT GUILTY. Afterwards you will be given a second kourt date. On this date you and the officer will both appear for trial. The officer will either be sent a “notice to appear” or a subpoena.

Most speeding ticket defense sites and print books advocate changing your kourt date (requesting a continuance) as a way to increase your chances that the officer may not show up for your trial. Some even refer to this strategy as some great-unknown insider secret. Some even advocate you call the police department and simply ask for the officers work schedule. Think they will give that to you? Some suggest going to the police station and asking to look at an events log to try to determine an officer’s work schedule and then rescheduling your kourt date to a date you have determined might be his day off. Even if you are successful in rescheduling your kourt date, and doing so is effective in confusing the system to the point the officer does not show, you will NOT obtain any advantage from this.

We do NOT advocate asking for a continuance or ANY changing of your original kourt date once the actual trial date has been scheduled. There is a reason for this. There is NO easier way to win than if the arresting officer does not show for trial.

However, the only time the kourt will dismiss a charge when the arresting officer does not show for trial is on the original kourt date set at your arraignment.

If you cause a trial date to be changed by requesting a continuance and the arresting officer does not show, the prosecutor will request a new trial date from the judge. The judge will grant it because you yourself have been granted a new trial date and lets be honest, it is only fair to grant the state a new trial date as well.

I have seen this happen numerous times. A defendant will request and be granted a continuance for whatever reason, and at time of trial, the arresting officer does not show. The state then asks for a continuance and is granted one. What advantage have you then obtained?

This trick advocated by almost all speeding ticket defense sites and print books (repeatedly delaying the trial by asking for continuances) almost never works.

Both the judge and the prosecutor know this ploy, and it will be noted on your case file. At the new trial date they will read these notes and the judge will grant the state a continuance. Now you will have to come back to kourt a THIRD time.

What Are the Chances the Officer Will not Show?

Depends on the type of officer and kourt. Most city police departments in Georgia share the same physical building as the city (municipal) kourt, hence municipal kourts are sometimes called Police Kourts. Chances are about 100% a city cop will show. They want their MONEY!

Your chances improve slightly with the county officers and deputies. The Georgia State Patrol Troopers usually shows, but not always.

Speed traps (such as radar enforcement sites) are generally conducted for a full day or more at a time, sometimes involving more than one officer.

It is common for a speed trap to generate several dozen or even a hundred tickets in one or more days of ticketing. Many of these tickets will be given the same kourt appearance date. This first appearance date is called an "arraignment". It is the date where a Georgia citizen pleads guilty or NOT guilty. Since the officer MUST be present, then your actual trial cannot take place on this first appearance day since the officer won't be there.

Often, the judge will take all the citizens who appear on the same arraignment date and lump them together with the same trial date. This is a great convenience to the officers. This is called their convenience day. The officers can appear in kourt on a single day and testify against several Georgia citizens who may want to fight their tickets.

Your chances improve that the cop will not show on a Tuesday trial date following a Monday holiday such as Memorial Day or Labor Day weekend. The reason for this is simple. Most police departments are fully staffed over the holiday weekends in order to deal with the massive accident caseload that always accompanies such weekends. Many cops will have worked extra shifts and overtime and will not show up on that Tuesday date. If your original kourt date is set for a Tuesday following a Monday Holiday, your chances go way up the officer will not show. I have seen this happen many times.

If the officer fails to show up to testify against you on your original kourt date it is a great feeling since your ticket MUST be dismissed without even having the trial.

Another thing to consider is shifts. If you received your ticket from a graveyard shift cop at 3AM in the morning, he now has to show up in the daytime to testify. He may not. Anyone who has ever worked graveyard shifts knows what its like to disrupt ones daytime sleeping schedule.

The officer is supposed to show up early enough for kourt that he/she is in the courtroom, ready to go, at the beginning of the kourt session, just like you.

If your case is called and the officer is NOT present, request dismissal. Otherwise, they will let you sit in the courtroom for hours (perhaps even for an entire day) just in case the officer shows up late.

It is also possible the kourt will grant a continuance (over your objection) if the officer does not show on your original trial date. The kourt may take into consideration the reason the officer did not show.

The officer failing to show due to being ill or other emergencies may give cause to the kourt to grant a continuance. Reasons such as the officer being off or on vacation are not acceptable excuses, but not at fault emergencies might be considered. Keep that in mind.

ALWAYS, I REPEAT ALWAYS OBJECT to ANY requests for a continuance for any reason by the state when the officer fails to show on the original kourt date.

WARNING!

If the state requests a continuance because the officer fails to show for trial, and it is on the original trial date, the judge will grant it EVERYTIME if you stand there and say nothing. By your silence, the judge is assuming you are agreeable to the states request, so he will grant it. YOU MUST OBJECT!

Your Honor, the defense OBJECTS to this request for a continuance by the state. The defendant has already had to take 2 days off from work and make 2 separate kourt appearances. It is blatantly unfair to make me come back a third time just because the state is not prepared.

If you make the proper objection to any requests for a continuance by the state, and it is on the original kourt date, the judge in most cases will deny the request and dismiss your case.

The kourts are not stupid. The officers are supposed to be there at the beginning of that kourt session just like you and check in with the prosecutor. The prosecutors know they have no case without a witness. Once they know your officer is not there, they will make you wait until the very end of kourt hoping he will show up late. Usually when they get to you last, they will simply dismiss the case themselves in these circumstances. Provided of course, it is your original kourt date.

When Prosecutorial Panic Begins

You will know that the prosecution is beginning to panic when they start to offer you plea bargains and you do not see your officer present in kourt.

In almost every case, that the officer is not present for, the prosecution comes to you to start offering plea bargains. That could range from a reduced speed charge to a non-moving violation. You will have to decide what to do. If you are certain the officer is NOT there, it is your original kourt date, then stand your ground and request a dismissal, but ONLY if it is your original kourt date.

They may agree to reduce your charge to a 14 MPH over the limit charge, or to a Too Fast For Conditions charge, or to a non-moving violation charge. None of these charges carries points or will appear on your MVR and your employer (if they care) will never know. If you were indeed guilty, this is a small victory and you might want to accept such a plea and beat a hasty retreat out of kourt.

However, this offer of a plea bargain is almost always a result of the prosecution panicking (because they have no witness, and as such NO CASE whatsoever) and are simply trying to save the day and get some type of reduced conviction versus nothing at all.

As we stated earlier, your arresting officer is required to show up at the beginning of the kourt session just like you. They almost never arrive late. They are usually on time, or not there at all. You may have to decide on taking the risk of a no show officer, showing up late.

What happens if the cop does not show?

Your case is called and the arresting officer does not show. The officer must show to give his testimony. If the officer does not show, you ask for a dismissal. The prosecutor may try to argue that another kourt date would be more appropriate.

You argue “Your Honor, the trial is here, today, the defense came prepared. It is of no fault that the prosecution is unprepared and if they are unable to proceed, I motion for dismissal."

Stand your ground. Unlike pre-trial offerings to reduce your ticket to a non-moving violation that you might want to consider, once it is a known FACT that the officer is not in kourt, and most likely will NOT be in kourt that day, do NOT accept anything short of a dismissal of charges. They cannot try you without the officer there as they have no witness and the case law referenced at the beginning of this lesson makes it clear that a citation alone is insufficient to support a conviction. Again, it is important at this stage to stand your ground if the officer fails to show, AND it is on your original kourt date.

Special Notes:

If for some reason you need to get a continuance anyway, and at a later delayed kourt date the officer fails to show for trial, and you are offered a plea bargain to any charge that is ONLY a fine, no points and no MVR report, then you might want to consider taking it. The reason for this is simple. If you reject the plea bargain, the kourt will make you wait around all day in hopes of the officer showing up late.

If you reject the plea bargain, and at the end of kourt session the officer does not show, the state will ask for a continuance, and it will be granted. The earlier offered plea bargains will be pulled off the table and no longer offered even if you suddenly become agreeable to such.

We NEVER recommend changing your original kourt trial date set at arraignment. It is your only chance to win if the officer is a no show.

The officer may NOT show. Many cases are dismissed due to the lack of a prosecution witness. There could be many reasons for the officer not showing. Below are a few examples.

The officer may fail to show because of any of the following:

The officer is killed in the line of duty between the time he wrote you the citation and your kourt date.
The officer is fired for misconduct.
The officer is ill.
The officer transfers out of state.
The officer works the graveyard shift and is not going to miss a day’s sleep to testify against just you. Remember, this graveyard shift cop may very well have written numerous tickets that same night. Since 98% off all those that receive tickets just pay up, the graveyard shift cop may not forgo his daytime sleep patterns just to testify against one defendant.
The officer is in the military reserves and is called up for duty. (This actually happened to me)
Your trial date falls during his vacation schedule and he simply decides to ignore it.
The state screws up and fails to send the officer his “notice to appear.” (This actually happened to me)

This is why you must always plead NOT GUILTY at your arraignment and show up for your trial on the original kourt date. This is the FIRST step in the Georgia $peedingTICKETKILLER system. You cannot put yourself into a position of benefiting from any of the above or other possibilities unless you plead NOT GUILTY, and show up for trial on your originally scheduled kourt date.

It is my experience (though there are no official statistics that I know of) that officers show up about 70-80% of the time overall. That means you have a 20-30% chance of winning without a fight, if it is on your original kourt date. Not great odds, but not bad either. It is a great feeling to win this way.

What happens if they attempt to hold a trial on your FIRST kourt date and you are not prepared?

In a few rare instances, the kourt may attempt to hold a trial on your first kourt date appearance. Do NOT allow this, if you are not prepared. You Argue:

Your Honor, the defense thought this first kourt date was just an arraignment. Defendant has not had time to hire an attorney and will need additional time to do so.

The US Supreme Court has already ruled that you cannot be forced to trial without benefit of counsel. Every prosecutor and every judge in the State of Georgia knows this. The judge has no choice but to grant you a second trial date.

Does that mean you are then obligated to hire an attorney? No, of course not. You have the right to change your mind. If the judge asks you how much additional time you need to hire an attorney, at least 4 weeks is always a reasonable amount of time the kourt should grant. Also, you can find a lawyer near you or even online to get help.

Click on the BUY NOW button to Purchase Your Copy of
the Georgia $peedingTICKETKILLER CD
via Major Credit Card Today!

Email Page

GuestBook

Send Me Updates

There are currently [ 3 ] citizens logged into "the Georgia $peedingTICKETKILLER.com" web site.