Boston Traffic Attorney?

i've been to traffic court a few times, but have never needed an attorney. before you hire a lawyer, first dispute the ticket and you'll get a hearing in front of the clerk magistrate. plead your case: "i'd been in town for less than a week; i'm still figuring the cow-path nightmare roads out; when i stopped at the light i stopped short which is what caught the officer's attention." so on and so forth. apologize for appearing to have been driving sub-optimally, though don't admit to anything wrong. "c'mon - i'd been in town for four days! my record in [state X] is totally clean" etc. etc.

the officer won't be at that hearing (unless you're insanely unlucky - the odds are miniscule). if the clerk magistrate doesn't buy it you still can get your time in front of the judge. then you may want a lawyer.

i've gotten off of two offenses at the clerk magistrate and one in front of the judge (the officer didnt' show).

fwiw. g/l.

doody

 

i know the feeling all TOO well. Hopefully all goes well.

Me? At this point i do NOTHING here in New England without a lawyer. Sorry to not be helpful, yet it seems no matter how innocent you are...

 

I would agree with Doody that until you get to phase 2 in front of a judge, you don't need a lawyer. Appearing with a lawyer in front of the magistrate would be weird and look funny I think. Just my $.02.

I completely understand why Steven feels the way he does though and he certainly has a point!

Birdman

 

Agreed, as this is basic stuff and not 'real' court so no real need for an atty.

You know it. Problem is the police around there think they OWN you, the road, the town, and control everything they can. Worse still, they WILL misconstrue your words, whatever you may say, to their own advantage.

Land of the free? BULLSH*T!!! Freedumb!

The right to purse a life of liberty and happiness? BULLSH*T!!!

PS: GET DISCLOSURE FIRST BEOFRE YOU DO ANYTHING!!!! Download and alter the document attached. You MUST see whatever the officer has written and you have the right to do so. Send your disclosure request via CERTIFIED mail.

 

fwiw, some folks argue that full disclosure requests can cut both ways.

if you submit such a request, you send up a flare that you're going to fight this hard, and it could make the officer more likely to show up and be ultra-prepared.

some folks argue that if you can push the officer on the stand and he doesn't have all his data (eg: calibration records of the radar, etc. etc.) then the judge is more likely to dismiss if the officer is unprepared.

also, a lot of people get off 'cuz the officer simply doesn't show up to court - and sending up a flare might encourage them to show up.

i am NOT per se making this argument - just sharing what i've heard and read.

doody.

 

Doody makes a very good point. Of course you need not ask for advanced disclosure and wait for the court date and ask for it then. If the officer does not have it all, he is SOL.

Good call Doody!

 

jdb,
Doody has an excellent point with regards to disclosure. By requesting disclosure you are letting the court know that you are fighting the ticket pretty hard. Every time that I asked for disclosure, the officer was in court. I found though, that the full disclosure request was only beneficial for the first few tickets that I fought as it gave me a comfort level going into court of knowing what I was up against. It also gave me time to formulate my questions/arguments ahead of time that I could use to refute the evidence the officer/court had. After going to court a few times, I found that the Q&A between the prosecutor and the officer on the stand was pretty much the same regardless of the ticket. After fighting three tickets where I requested disclosure I decided to see try it without disclosure. I have fought six tickets that way, and the officer did not show up on three of those occasions. 100% attendance with disclosure, 50% without (at least for one alleged traffic violator in Connecticut).

So, having said all that, my recommendation would be this:
If you are going to hire an attorney, I agree with Doody and Steve. Don't do it unless the magistrate doesn't let you off.

Second, with respect to disclosure, I don't think I would hire an attorney that didn't think she/he could get the charges dropped without the disclosure. An attorney will never promise that they can get them dropped, but if when interviewing perspective attorneys they can't present a reasonable strategy for fighting the ticket, find another one.

It should be noted that all of my experience fighting tickets was in vehicles other than the Ferrari. As confident as I am that I can get out of almost any ticket I get in my daily driver, a ticket in a Ferrari adds a variable that I have not yet (and hopefully won't) had to deal with. Not sure how the prosecution would deal with a Ferrari being the vehicle that was involved in the infraction, but I bet it would work against you in a big way. What were you driving at the time of the alleged infraction?

TWS

 

From my experience with MA traffic, if you weren't written up for speeding, you have a fair shot before the clerk-magistrate. I beat a "weaving" charge (three lane changes in five miles) only because the cop didn't add "speeding" (according to the Framingham C-M).

Once you've been in MA for a while, you'll probably notice that speeding is the only offense that most drivers worry about. Nobody pays any attention to marked lanes, to stop signs, to left turn lanes, to "no turn on red" signs ... and I think it's actually illegal for a commercial vehicle to go through a traffic light while it's still green.

I've been cut off by a car leaving a stop sign, with a cop sitting right there -- but the driver wasn't speeding. Just pulling out in front of oncoming traffic. No worries -- unless the car you pull in front of is a cop.

Failure to keep right and passing on the right aren't actually illegal in MA, I'm told.

Speeding is the only "real" offense. Everything else is just "catching the cop in a bad mood".

 

fwiw, i have never ever heard of someone doing "traffic school" in this state to get off on a violation. maybe it's happened, but it'd be news to me. as far as i know, we don't have traffic school like CA et. al. do.

we also don't have "fix-it" tickets, which is moronic.

doody.

 

Excellent info guys -- I've been reading and absorbing this thread because even though I'd lived in Cambridge/Brookline for 6 years and gotten out of countless tickets, I just got one in Cambridge that actually has me stumped.

Sorry to derail the thread from the original poster's request, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it:

Very simple situation -- I was just outside of Harvard Square a month or so ago, following a line of cars making left turns at some intersection. At the next block , there were two Cambridge cops just waiting there waiving over nearly every car that passed -- seems that supposedly there was a no-left-turn sign at the intersection. They were clearly pulling EVERYONE over (I watched about 20 cars get tickets over the next 20 minutes), and we all got $50 fines.

Obviously the fine is no big deal, but it's a moving violation which would ruin my wonderful Step 9 and end up costing me $hundreds in insurance premiums over the next 3 years.

Any ideas how one could go about fighting a ticket like that? I care only about the points.

nlh

 

If you could show that the sign was obscured, you should be able to beat it. Unfortunately, if you didn't go back immediately and get a picture of the big honkin' truck illegally parked in front of the sign, you may be out of luck. (I always carry a camera in the car, these days.)

If you can show that there's a legal parking spot in front of the sign, you'll have to chance whether the C-M will take your word for it having been obscured. Of course, if there's a tree limb in the way, you're set.

But (ironically in a state where driving something different is virtually a crime in itself) "everyone does it" isn't likely going to work as a defense.

 

Bringing up an older thread here --

I had my day before the clerk magistrate re: my "no left turn" ticket, and he didn't buy my excuse (was following a bus throigh the intersection, the bus blocked the sign, and the sign read "no left turn except busses" -- oops).

Anyway, I appealed and have a hearing date before a judge. Definitrely need a good traffic lawyer at this point.

Any ideas/leads?

nlh