MIdnightRider

A funny story was my buddy passed me on the way home from court going down the highway. He 2-wayed me to see how it went and I told him I lost, they had to believe what the Cop said. My friend tells me, oh like my speeding ticket a cop gave me 6 months ago while off duty because he was pissed that I flipped him off while he was in his own car, so he mails me a speeding ticket. They go to court, the cop swares he was speeding and driving wrecklessly , so he felt compelled to issue a ticket. So the judge goes with the cops HONEST word. Three months ago , THIS SAME COP GETS BUSTED IN A PROSITUTION STING!!!! This is what were up against. Midnight

Unfortunately for good guys like Troutly these spoiled eggs really stink it up for the bunch.

JimV

iTrader: (1)

MidnightRider

Was your hearing in front of a judge or magistrate? What I have learned is when you go in front of a magestrate, it is usually an informal hearing. The few times I was in that situation the cops lied. I'm not sure but I think being informal they can't be charged with purgery (spelling?). The magistrate and cop may have been drinking buddies, the cop said I was guilty and the magistrate told me the cop was right. Pissed as hell I paid the fine and demanded to go in front of the real judge. The day before the hearing the prosecuting attorney called me and asked me why I though I wasn't responsible, after I told him my side he wanted to make a deal. My opinion is the magistrates job is to weed out the cases before they go to a real hearing, piss you off enough to where you say screw it, and grab your money. In a real hearing the judge may throw out the case and ***** out the P/A for not having a solid case or the P/A may have to work too hard to make a case and decide not to push it. BTW this was over a ticket for avoiding a traffic light.

I did sit through a case over a noise ticket in Grand Haven it never made it passed the P/A. The point is dont give up. Good Luck

PHKNLWYR am I way off in left field?

Intolerant1

Midnight, I was behind your boat in the channel at Grand haven when you were running on only two of your three motors. Remember Im the guy who jokingly tried to hand you a slip in baffle that happened to be sitting in my boat. It was a joke,but, your boat is loud as hell. Idleing behind you all day through a long no wake with my family on a nice Sunday ride would absolutely suck. Im night bashin you or trying to start at flame war, but take some responsibility. There is no question that your boat is too loud for the rest of the general boating public. Now. Im also going to add that I am one of the "Pigs" you so dearly refer to. Comments like that only reduce your cedibility. You say that the cops lied under oath. If you made and claim that your boat is within acceptable noise levels, than your no better. Is O.J. inocent because some of the proper procedures were put into question...no way. You got a big beuiful fast boat my friend, now be a big boy and take your punishment like a man. It all comes down to accoutability and frankly I am sick and tired of people saying thing like yes, my boat is to loud, but the officer didnt do the test correctly. Kind if like the lady who sued McDonalds for the cofee being to hot. Its always someone elses fault in this country.

MIdnightRider

My point is this, I was stopped on one, on one I think I am OK. But the MI law says on a test you must run all motors on a test. Even if you get pulled over while running a Minn Kota to get out of the channel, you must fire all you have?? This is from the Judge, even he thought it was silly, but yet the law. While it seems to me that the system does not found itself on my realities of life, "Do what is right, just, and fair." It founds itself on text book technicalities. These technicalities were used to put me in court forcing me to run under a different condition than what I was doing when pulled over. I am simply using the same technicalities the system used to give me a ticket. If your going to make me run more than you pulled me over on, at least give me a fighting chance by performing the test properly. As I stated before, I have no reference point on my sound readings to even adjust from because the test was not done right. My rants are this, I went to court under oath, in front of a Judge and told the truth. I told the judge on all three motors I am loud, thats why I was on one, I am making arrangements for silencers, I do not have them yet. The Police are required to do their job correctly, and the Judge agreed he should have, and chose to believe he did. I Went in and told the truth, and the cop lied. HE FLAT OUT LIED UNDER OATH, TO A JUDGE. Where does this leave me in my thoughts on our LOCAL law enforcement. I am pissed because I lost in court telling the truth, "And the Truth should have set me free". Midnight

Gary Anderson

My opinion,
MIdnightRider, you blew it. You should have got a lawyer. If the cops always knew what they were doing, Judges were always unbiased, innocent people always went free, and guilty people always went to jail, then you might be OK going to court on your own. Otherwise, get a lawyer you trust, do whatever he says, and pay whatever it takes to make bad things go away.
Gary

mr_velocity

It was the loudest boat in the area, when it ran. Oh wait, you worked on it, that's why it never ran. The owner now runs a 45 Sonic.

aero-offshore

Verns right , most of us could'nt be cops. I know I can't ,I have a Juge Dred attitude.

Waterfoul

Not trying to be critical here Chad.....really, I'm not.....but it's spelled LOUD. Not load. If you gave the Judge (was it a judge or a magistrate??) anything written that had it spelled wrongly, he may have had some bias towards you before you even opened your mouth to defend the poor testing procedures. Sorry, but that's the truth.... ask any manager.... spelling counts.

You done for the season now or are you going to do some more boating?? I'm gonna get out at least once more.

Allan4

Wow, interesting stuff. My quick .02 is that while always a good idea, you do not have to bring an attorney to achieve succes in the courts. He was fighting this out of principle, not greed nor the hopes of avoiding jail time, etc..... I was pulled over a few years ago for ticket (auto) that I felt I was underserving of. I collected evidence, did the research and even called the prosecuter to try to plea out (trying to avoid the points becuase I had 5 vehicles and was worreid about insurance) of the points and just pay the fine. Long story short, it turns out the radar gun had less than acceptable calibration records. Case dismissed. I had an honest judge and prosecutor, which I assume most are. I represented myself. Point is, if you think you are wronged, stand up and fight. Midnight, if what you are saying is true, and i haveno reason to believe that it is not, in my opinion you got screwed. I don't care how loud the boat is, if the test was done wrong, the test was done wrong. Period. Case dismissed. This is an arguement of principle, not assumption. If my statements were invalid, there would be no lawyerly profession.

PLEASE don't take this as cop bashing, becasue I respect the absolute hell out of cops and have several freinds in the profession, but they ( we all for that matter) need to be held to certain procedural duties and standards when inflicting prosecution upon some else. Look, the guy made a mistake, so the evidence should have been repressed. End of story. Without the evidence, the state has no case, and Midnight should have been awarded a victory.

Okay, I'll shut my mouth now, but fight for what you feel is right. There are hundreds of thousands of good cops, but we all can make mistakes. Later.

MIdnightRider

Mike- Its the internet, your bound to have a freudian slip now and then when your bouncing from OSO to the latest Porno site and back Midnight