Speeding ticket attorney needed to appear in King City

Was there something else involved? What were the conditions like? I got tagged at 102; the speedo said 117, about a year ago and only had to pay the ticket. I had to listen to her go on and on about safety and speeding blah, blah, blah. I thought I was screwed but ended up just having to pay the ticket.

 

In California, isn't it an option at the arresting officer's discretion to escort you directly to jail for anything over 100?

 

Sorry. My last reply was not helpful, and not what you asked for.

I do know a few people closely involved with law enforcement in that part of Monterey County. Unfortunately I do not know any lawyers to recommend.

 

I may know someone to help you. King City is a big speed trap. PM me.

 

What was the violation number? I have family in Sheriff Department and can ask about that particular violation. This wont help you but I am curious to know what exactly you got sited for.

 

see I drive like ****** most of the time, so it dosen't bother me anymore.

 

And with that, I recall why I dont like you Ben.

You may drive like ****** to make your dick a bit hard, but my sister doesnt give a **** about you, she just wants to get her two kids home safe.

When you grow up, call.




Lets go race again. Until then,..............

 

This is going to cost you plenty. You will probably pay a fine in the order of 500 - 1000, and if you want only 1 point, I strongly suggest you get counsel for this. Given that your speed was only a couple of miles over the 100, you probably have a decent shot at getting the charge reduced to a 1 pointer, but you will most probably pay the fine as if you were over 100. King City is known for being a speed trap, but people make it very easy for them to make money on the freeway. The CHP office there makes a damn good living off people not paying attention to their speed on 101. You need both a CB, Laser Jammer, and a good radar detector to get through there at a decent speed. Without all three, you'd better not go faster than 85 mph (in the 65 limit zones) or 90 (in the 70 limit zones). If you get caught at only 20 over, you'll get traffic school. Over 26 mph over the limit, no school.

Art

 

Acutally the City of King City and the County is what gets the money from the revenue of the ticket. CHP doesn't get a dime directly.

 

From:

King City Home Page
King City is situated on Highway 101 in South Monterey County in the heart of the California's Salinas Valley, King City is approximately 145 miles south of San Francisco, 105 south of San Jose, and 50 miles north of Paso Robles The city's economic base is largely dependent upon agriculture with food processing and packing, speed traps, the primary sources of employment.

 

No they don't, but they sure get extra staffing, cars, equipment, etc., from the volume of tickets they issue. I know a couple of the CHP officers down there, and my only comment is that I haven't seen an assortment of childish behavior from law enforcement that compares. I've had several cases down there, and gotten decent results, but on one instance, I threatened the officer (after the trial) with reporting him for his childish behavior towards my client. (while my client was accepting the plea, he (the officer) was doing a Charlie McCarthy routine in the back of the court). He shut up, walked away.

Art

 

In '03 I got caught on northbound Hwy 5 near Coalinga. 2 of us were caught by plane. My ticket said 108 mph, which was fairly accurate (btw, I was in a brand new Volvo S60R that I literally picked up in Redondo Beach that morning. I flew down to pick it up, and was driving back home to Santa Clara. BUMMER!!!).

I started researching attorneys, and was just about to hire one because I found out max punishment was $1800 + loss of license for 60 days + 2 points on insurance (btw 2 pts on my insurance for 3 yrs equated to another $2,000 / year, or $6,000 for the 3 yrs). However, I ended up representing myself. And boy am I glad I did!!!

When I got to court I did see several local attorneys "representing" their clients for speeding. These guys were total sleezebags -- picture your worst ambulance-chaser type attorney. That's what I saw. These guys spent about 30 seconds in front of the judge, and didn't do a thing to even argue on behalf of their clients.

My advice...Show up well groomed in a nice suit, be extremely polite and represent yourself. I made my own opening statement highlighting 3 areas -- I have a perfect record with 0 points (thus an isolated incident), I was "testing" my new car & was really not too familiar with it, and I felt this was important enough for me to take the day off and drive 5 hrs to court. I then made one request to be able to take an online traffic school so I wouldn't have any points on my record (for me, this was all I cared about).

I ended up having to pay $700, my license was suspended for 30 days, and the judge let me take an online traffic school. All things being equal I felt pretty good.

IMO...If the judge believes you were speeding and you don't show up and have an attorney show up for you, then he/she may think you aren't taking things seriously, and worse may actually presume your guilt because you've hired an attorney for a simple speeding offense.

 

I don't discount what dlopez says, but I would have to side with Art. You really need an attorney to go with you. That will assure that your rights don't get trampled and maybe, with some preparation, he can come up with a defense. Was it radar, lidar, airplane or what? There are procedures they have to follow and if they didn't, you may have a defense. In any event, you were doing 40mph over, right? Everyone (except you) knows that King City is a speed trap. A judge could easily conclude that you were totally disrespecting the CHP, other motorists and the community by going so fast. You will be lucky to get off with a stiff fine and traffic school. I would be looking for a local attorney who is respected in that court to represent me and hopefully work a deal with the least amount of pain. Otherwise, he could really throw the book at you. I'd hate to go unrepresented with so much on the line.

 

The attorney is attempting to get it re-assigned to the county seat. There are substantial requirements about that. If you do, you should also ding (CCP170.6, look it up) Commissioner Roberts. He is totally pro prosecution, has been known to convict without a single fact to prove the violation.

Art

 

Kevin, what will six months with a suspended license cost you? How about answering a question like, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" Take a hint from Art. He's trying to tell you that a knowledgeable attorney may help you navigate through this difficult situation to a better conclusion. You have a lot more to lose than a couple of days out of your life and some legal fees.

 

What ever the cost is for the attorney, it will be well worth it.

 

I don't know this guy, but I do know the "superlawyers" scam. It's essentially an ad for various lawyers, at least in my humble opinion.
Moving the case to Marina is a good idea. You have the right to reject one judge with the code section that I cited. I would not, under any circumstances allow Roberts to hear the case. The only time I've ever lost one of these cases was in front of him, and in my humble opinion, there was absolutely no evidence to convict, yet he did. If you've got the time, get the matter transfered, sit in the court house, watch the various attorneys ply their trade, see who is most effective, and hire that person. If you don't have the time to do that, call a criminal defense attorney in Monterey, tell them that you'll pay for their time, but not hire them for the ticket, but to refer you to who they think is the most effective.

Hope this helps.

Art

 

Dlopez has the right idea about hiring an attorney.

Inless there is more to this story, you don't need to pay someone to do nothing except plead guilty for you. You can do the same thing yourself.

Do some research at your local law library, and read some past case law judicial opinions on vehicle code violations.

Research successful defenses of speeding tickets and/or what they used to mitigate the offense.