Ticket Part 2
So today was my big day in court. About a month ago I had to go to Vista for the second time to plead not guilty to my speeding ticket. I left home about 6:30 am to make it to the court as it opened. At 8:15 they called us into the court room and we waited for the judge. I had to walk up to a microphone and state that I was pleading not guilty. He then asked me if I wanted my trial within 45 days or after. I said before and he said OK and off I went. Just standing up in front of the judge, I was so nervous. All of this talk about a trial and seeing the police officer who pulled me over was just way to much and this wasn’t even the trial.
So today I took my third drive to Vista to fight my ticket and for the past month or so I have been worried about this upcoming trial. I have had many sleepless nights worrying about what I would say, what the police officer would say and if it was even possible to have the ticket dismissed. I decided that my main defence was going to be that I was driving the speed of commute traffic and I felt that the ticket was issued because the police officer thought I was disrespecting him and not slowing down. It is just surprising because I know that I wasn’t going faster then the traffic. I honestly don’t know how fast I was driving because I was following a motorcycle and paying more attention to him than the odometer.
My dad decided to go with me to court. It was great having his support there and he drove me so it was nice to be able to relax on the drive to Vista. We got there very early so we had lunch. In Subway there were two police officers having lunch and even their presence there had me scared. We arrived at the court at about 12:45, 30 minutes before the trial was to begin. Everywhere on the paperwork it says don’t be late so I was glad we were early. 1:15 came and went and at about 1:45 they finally called us into the court room. Why do police officers feel there are more important then us. I wasn’t allowed to be late, but they were running 30 minutes late and no one seemed to care. There were 12 people scheduled for court at 1:15. As we entered the room we saw on one side of the court room sat the police officers and we were to sit on the other side. By this point I was so nervous I thought I might pass out. The clerk in the front of the room began to take roll. She would call the name of one of the people who got a ticket and then the police officers name that went along with the ticket. When she called the name of the police officer that pulled me over, he did not answer. I had this enormous feeling of relief he wasn’t there. When the clerk then said please stand and the judge came in I started to think that maybe I would still have to talk…oh man. After the judge came in the court room he explained all our rights and went on for about 5 minutes on how to act in court and appropriate ways to address everyone. I was still freaking out and then…he started down the list of anyone whose police officer wasn’t there and said there was insignificant evidence and the cases were dismissed! I won! I won! I won! Now on to the rest of my life…no more tickets please!
