Speeding Ticket – The Legal Basics You Need To Know

If you have chosen to fight your speeding ticket in court, then you’ll need to know the basics of how to act while you’re in court. With this in mind, I’ve prepared for you some basics of how to behave in court. Here they are: Make sure you are well dressed. If you are dressed inappropriately, it will be seen as an insult to the court…and this is NOT going to help your case. ALWAYS be polite and courteous to everyone there. This includes the judge, the prosecutor, and the police officer. Also, remember that these people know each other very well. Always be nice to these people. The idea of innocent until proven guilty is for the movies. It doesn’t work like this in real life. Remember the only thing separating you and a conviction is evidence. If you admit to anything in the court room, the charge against you can be changed at a moments notice. You can be found guilty if it comes from your own mouth. If anyone in the court room (judge, magistrate or prosecutor) asks you anything whatsoever about the ticket, be courteous…and say you would prefer not to testify against yourself. Remember that the proof required in criminal cases is beyond reasonable count. The key word in all of this is reasonable. If you don’t challenge the evidence, it will be presumed reasonable by everyone in the court room. Remember that you are being charged for a specific speed. Not just for driving fast. The prosecution will try to show evidence that you were driving a specific amount over the limit, not that you were simply driving “fast”. You do not need to try and prove your innocence. You simply need to prove that the prosecutions evidence is either unreliable, or is inadmissible. This is an important distinction which you need to keep in mind.

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