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Path: utzoo!linus!hlh
From: hlh@linus.UUCP (Henry L. Hall)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: RE:request for help, more information: legal advice
Message-ID: <545@linus.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 24-Dec-83 11:09:29 EST
Article-I.D.: linus.545
Posted: Sat Dec 24 11:09:29 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Dec-83 00:25:11 EST
References: <619@wateng.UUCP>
Organization: MITRE Corp., Bedford MA
Lines: 35

		In general, driving over 160 kph (~100 mph), even on 
	a deserted highway, is not a good idea, but this is not 
	necessarily the place to proselytize on speeding habits.  
	Anyway, a friend of mine did get caught for driving 95 mph on 
	a two lane non-divided highway (Route 2, west of Route 128) at 
	3:00 am on a Sunday morning.  He said that even though the 
	policeman aknowledged that no one else was on the road, he still 
	received a ticket for reckless driving (at the time, Massachusetts 
	law decreed that the charge for driving in excess of 90 mph was a 
	criminal charge).  The penalty for this charge was $250 plus a 
	3 month suspension of driving priviledges.  He was driving a well
	maintained BMW 320i and when a lawyer brought up this fact along
	with his need for the car to get to work, the judge agreed to
	reduce the sentence to a speeding violation.
		With cases like these, I wonder why the police insist
	on creating an extra court case in an already overloaded judicial
	system for what certainly cannot be an isolated case.  Maybe the
	officer just thought that like most of the driving public, my
	friend would just accept the citation without trying to fight it
	in court.
		There is a book authored by lawyer F. Lee Bailey on fighting
	traffic tickets in various states.  For example, in California, if
	you are observed speeding by an officer in a helicopter or an airplane
	and then pulled over by another policeman in a car, you have the right
	to request that the trial be held in the county seat of the particular
	county you were observed in and BOTH officers must appear at the trial.
	Failure of either officer to appear constitutes a mistrial.  In certain
	counties, such as San Bernardino the county seat can be over 60 miles
	from the place you were observed.

		Jurisprudence not necessarily = Prudence,
	Henry L. Hall

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