bratok

Got a ticket yesterday, but the cop did not fill out the date and time of the offence fields (he left them completely blank).
Would this be a fatal error in court, and would it actually be accepted to court at all, since the date of the offence is unknown? (i.e. how do they know 15 days have not passed) ?

What's my best course of action?

YellowCavy

take it to court, if the cop shows then show the judge theres no date on the ticket and hope for the best. Or do this. Ask the cop what time of day the ticket was issued. Whatever he says say thats funny because the ticket doesnt have a time or date on it. How can the court be sure your even telling the truth.
If the judge buys it then the cop looks like a dick and you get off a ticket. It could end up making things worse, for one the cop marks your plates to pull over and annoy. lol

You can get out of a speeding ticket if the cop was sitting in a parking lot with a radar gun and there is no picture. how? Ask the cop if he looked away from your vehicle even for 1 second. He will probably say no. If he does ask him if he looked both ways before entering the street/road to chase the speeding vehicle. If he says yes then tell him he just said he didn't lose sight of you not even for a second, and tell him he just lied in the courts. Ask him if hes 100% sure if it was the same vehicle that he pulled over. If he says hes 100% sure then remind him about the looking both ways and how he lost sight. He will then have to say hes not 100% sure. You just caught a cop lying in court, the cop isn't 100% sure it was the same vehicle. The ticket will be thrown out and the cop looks like a complete moron.

In theory it works haven't tried it yet. Buddy in law school told me thats how you get out of a speeding ticket.

kazanak

That's actually pretty clever. Thanks for that YC :thumbsup:

Bookm

Plead not-guilty (<3> see back of ticket). When your case is called, approach the defence table. Wait to see how the Crown handles this one. He will be reading from the citation and the first thing he will try to state to the court is the date of the infraction (wish I could be there for that, LOL). It's absolutely necessary for the correct date and approximate time to be established before a trial can commence. The crown will ask for a continuance and retry you at a later date. Be sure to object strongly... "my court date is today! I am prepared today! If the prosecution is not prepared then I request this case be dismissed".

Whatever you do, don't get tricked in to offering the date yourself ("defendant chooses not to offer evidence against himself"). It's possible that the court will allow the citation to be amended based on the officers personal notes, but I doubt it. Also remember, the officer has 30 days from the date of filing to correct his error, so just hope no one in the court notices the omission, lay low, and wait for your court date.

gldwngr

Your buddy is wrong. I've seen people try it in court and all it gets them is rolled eyes from the bench.

All the cop has to demonstrate is that he did not lose sight of your car for any significant time. Your car can only move so far in the time it takes to shoulder check before pulling out to go after you. Unless the road is filled with identical yellow Cavaliers, it will be plenty easy enough for a cop to demostrate that he was able to maintain reasonable contact and pull over the correct car.