bags

Only the SELOC folks know me, I am posting this here to spread the word....

Disclaimer... I know Police and Judges do a job. I know there are good ones, this is about 1 bad one





OK, so I got a speeding ticket for 90 in a 65. I was paced in medium traffic @ midnight. I was rushing to get home from a late night of work and I was on the interstate, which I don't get on, this night I did.

So, the fine is $175 if you plead quilty. I pleaded Not Guilty. Well I go to court and set a trail date. I go to my trial today and the prosecutor tells me the judge may fine me ~$1k and sentence me to jail time if I am found guilty. She does not like repeat offenders. I have 3 speeding tickets in 3 years.. all 20+ over. But, I think I have a good case and think she is bluffing so I proceed to plead Not Guilty.

Officer is called and makes his statement I ask questions about traffic and his speedometer being calibrated and other thing. Judge finds my guilty. The prosecutor then ASKS for an $800 fine + court costs and defensive driving school. I was floored. This **** told me the judge was gonna &%$% me, not her ($%^& *$&. At this point I am floored and reailze I just got *****ed. Judge reduces it to $600 fine and court costs which is $200.. for a total of $800. I ask about why the fine is different than if I would have just paid the fine. The judge goes on and tells me this BS story about how the smaller fine is for people who don't speed and the state "presumes" that they have good driving records and that they give them the benefit of the doubt.

Well I ask if I can do jail time instead of the fine, I'm serious, the judge looks at me and says no. She then starts talking about probation and I'm like ***** that, I'll pay the $800 now. They move me to the side while the court reporter gets all the paper work and the judge starts lecturing me.. Oh hell no.. fine or lecture ***&^ you can't do both.

So, she starts telling me about how speeding is worse than DUI's are.. traffic accident wise and this and that. Well I fire back that I don't have a DUI. ANd that I don't have a ticket for 90 mph except this one. She tells me I have an attitude, which at this point I do, I tell her I don't really care to hear the lecture and she's right and I'm wrong, just as it was with the cop. I'm prepared to do a night in jail at this point. I take a shot at the prosecutor, I tell her that if she would have told me that SHE was gonna ask for that fine, I would have pleaded guilty and she assigned blame to the judge and called the judge a "stickler" for speeders. I was willing to do 2 days in jail at this point. The judge says I'll see you back in here with that attitude, I say not likely and bite my tounge before it writes a bigger check than I can cash.

So $800 less in my acct here I sit mad as hell that I did not just pay the $175 fine and move on.

Lesson learned, never go to court without a lawyer. I wish I could have kicked both of these **** *****es *^&*. BTW, COBB county for you ATL folks. City of marietta. I come to find out that this female judge does not like male speeders. It seems she has a track record with some of my coworkers and fellow maxima owners.

And I feel like a *****tard for passing on the prosecutor's offer, but again if SHE would have said SHE was shooting for that fine I would have paid.

End rant.

Just a friendly heads up.

Mods if this is OT or to much BS sorry

mjanocko

That sucks! I do not know if they have Ticket Busters or some sort of legal representation like that in Atlanta, but they guarantee no points or your money back. Or you can just do what they do for you, keep rescheduling the court date. The cop finally gives up and does not show up for the one you keep and bam you get let off.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Wow bags that sucks big time. It sounds to me like you're lucky not to get hauled off for contempt though... count your blessings on that.

bags

Your 100% correct sir. I was very polite to everyone in the court room until I got shafted. At that point, I let my smart @%% mouth take over. I wanted to say much more, but fear and common sense took over. I am glad I said a few things. Made the fine feel better, I looked at it as for every smart comment I made was ~$200. Stupid, but it made me feel better at the time.

And looking back on it, spending a night or 2 in jail would not have solved anything, it would have made things worse. I just got bent over and reamed. And there is/was nothing I could do. So, I loaded my mouth up and tossed smart remarks around.

Dumb, but I felt better


mjanocko- I should have gotten a lawyer, but being 29, I thought I could get out of there with a lesser charge. I was WAY WRONG on that.. I 'm not sure on the ticketbusters

mjanocko

Check out Ticket Clinic; these type of lawyers are common in FL
http://www.ticketclinic.com/view.cfm?id=328&county=501

bags

Thank you

LexFather

Bags man I wish we had spoken. Cobb County=the HELL for speeders. If you go to court, they will pretty muxh maximize the fine. Funny, they just fired their police chief and 20+ years of service. I think they are being sued for pulling over a large majority of Hispanics (since that population has really grown in Cobb).

Yeah the prosecuter though, she lied. They are in cahoots dude. After a long day, they all go to the same place to eat, then to the same bar to drink. They all cover each others backs (judges, cops, prosecuters etc).

Sorry to hear your story. I wonder if this is the same lady judge that hit my friend up for $1,800 for doing a 95 in a 55.

I'll be honest, I NEVER speed in Cobb man.

bags

24 hrs later I am not as pi**ed, but I am still mad. Yeah I found out talking with firend and folks on the net, Cobb seems to push MAXIMUM fines on repeat speeder when you show up to court.

The judge got her point accross though, I'll be watching my speed much more now. And if I do get a ticket, LAWYER.

Thanks for the words mike