John stood up to the man, the man backed down

[Kat Kanning]

John was pulled over for speeding when he wasn't speeding.  He fought the ticket today.  Before the trial he told the cop he hadn't done anything wrong and there was no way he'd pay - that he'd go to jail before he paid the ticket.  The cop came back to him later and said 'we've decided to just place this on file for 6 months.'  So no fine

[CJS]

Well congrats to him for standing up .

[cathleeninnh]

WTG, John!!!

[doobie]

Woohoo!

[firecracker joe]

  nice job john , way to go ,you set an example for the rest of us especially when you did nothing wrong. although you were still made to take your own time to go to their court and face their bogus charges. to all leo's reading this take head John is not alone.

[cathleeninnh]

Threw me there. Leo? I'm a Leo; birthday in a few days.

[Russell Kanning]

wish i could have been there ... i was enjoying trials in keene

[Jared]

nice

[TackleTheWorld]

Thanks for standing up to the machine, John!   

[Fluff and Stuff]

Good work John!

[David]

   Great outcome John. 

[UOGSammich]

A part of me wants to say you have all seen this, but maybe a few have not:

[Kat Kanning]

Oh I forgot to post the profound wisdom I gleaned from sitting in court today:
Lawyers are like bad lovers--they rarely ever get you off.

[MTPorcupine3]

My take on what happened:

According to John, he was traveling 65 mph with the car on cruise control, yet the cop insisted that he was going over 80 mph.

John dressed comfortably and took very little with him. I asked if those were pajamas he was wearing. Yoga pants, it turned out, but the point is he was dressed comfortably and he was prepared to spend a few days in jail if push came to shove.

In the courtroom, the bailiff asked each defendant for a plea. John said he was innocent. His accuser the cop was there.

He invited John to a private session in a little room by the courtroom, but did not object to Kat and me joining in to observe. He asked if John still planned to plead not guilty, and reminded him of his other two choices: guilty or nolo contendere and explained the difference. John insisted that he was innocent.

The cop then asked what possible defence he could have. He showed John his paperwork supposedly verifying the validity of this radar reading, etc.

John responded (I paraphrase): Look, say what you will. I know I wasn't speeding. You're certification means nothing to me. I don't have my glasses and I can't read that. If I could read it, I probably wouldn't understand it. I came without my reading glasses and with no money. I will not pay any fine. I came here prepared to go to jail. I will not kowtow to the State by paying for a crime which I did not commit.

We were then invited to go to the courtroom, where the judge was now in full swing, doing his thing (ka ching!) Within a few minutes, the cop reappeared.

"Mr. Connell, can I talk to you again for a moment?" We four returned to the little chamber. The cop then explained that he'd just talked with the prosecutor and they'd decided that under the circumstances they thought it'd be best to request to the judge that the case be filed, meaning no penalty unless another crime be committed within six months, in which case John would have both charges to deal with. With no additional charges, the speeding charge will disappear after six months. Before agreeing to this, John made sure that this would not involve his signature on any contract.

Back in the courtroom, John's case came up quickly, and lasted about 30 seconds. Once we were back outside, one woman had a chat with John about his case. "What did you do to that cop?" she asked, in apparent awe of what had just happened.

This is as accurate an account as I can remember.

[Pat K]