Not guilty! So now what?

[cyberdoo78]

Okay, I live in Alaska and will be moving to New Hampshire next winter. Now, I belive like some do that the road laws are unconstitutional because they infringe on the right of free travel which is part of the right to liberty. Why have liberty if you can't go anywhere?

So I got a ticket for 'failing to register' my vehicle. This vehicle was given to me by my mother before she left state for good. Its tags expire in July this year so I thought I'd spend my valuable time wisely by changing the title, registeration, and such at that time as well. Guess what, you have to register your vehicle within 30 days of change of ownership.

So I'm on my way to do my paper route at 3 in the morning when a cop pulls me over. Thankfully I have papers piled up in front of my glove box so I can't get at either my proof of insurence nor my registration, not that it really mattered because he was able to have my licence and was able to cross check that I didn't have that vehicle registered to me. Of course he really wanted to see my insurence, which I don't have on that car because I can't afford insuring two cars, but he didn't demand(asked twice but decided it wasn't worth the trouble) it so I left it alone.

So he wrote me a ticket for failing to register, $90 fine, plus $10 admin fee. Now today I went in to do my arriangment with the intention to plead no contest and ask for a reduced fine or suspend the fine. However I found that there were 4 other people who were also pleading not guilty. After asking a few questions, the magistrate said I could plead not guilty and then either do nothing at the trial or present my defense or whatever, so the bug bit me and I said, 'not guilty'.

It will take upto a month from now before I have my trial. So between now and then I will write my opening statement and closing statement. And figure some questions to ask. Anything else I should cover or something?

[Lex]

File a motion for continuance. Say that you need more time to prepare since you have a lot of things going on and you are learning about the law and about how to represent yourself, etc. That is basically what I said in my motion and the judge granted it.

File a motion for discovery. Ask for as much information as you can, everything from the cops disciplinary records to proof of jurisdiction, etc. I don't know what kinds of things you could ask for in your situation, when i was fighting my ticket it was for speeding and there is are a lot more variables in a speeding ticket and a lot more things to ask for.

You can try making the motion for discovery at the last minute (but make sure it's not too late or they won't accept it). Most likely the PD will not give you everything in your motion for discovery or they will not reply in time. Then when you appear in court they will either ask for a motion for continuance or you can ask for the continuance. (This would be the second continuance.)

Depending your court system this could give you a years worth of time till you actually have to do anything and with any luck you may have even avoided appear in court and handled everything through mail by filing and responding to motions.

It's very important to understand all the different motions you can file in your particular case and come up with a strategy to both draw out your trial and hopefuly make them get tired of you and let you off easy. This is essentially what happened with my speeding ticket. Most prosecutors like the really easy cases and most cases are really easy so when they get a hardass that's going to make them respond to motions and stuff they would rather make a plea bargain that you can't refuse to get you off their back. The plea bargain that they made with me was basically: As long as you don't get another speeding ticket in the next 6 months nothing will go on your record and you will not have to pay any fine. It's been almost six months, i haven't gotten a speeding ticket, so my previous ticket will be thrown out soon if it hasn't already.

[Dreepa]

except in his case they may just say.. no ticket if he goes and registers the car.

[hook]

How did the cop determine you "failed to register" your vehicle?

What did the cop stop you for?

[lordmetroid]

It might be worth to check out thinkfree.ca and adventuresinlegalland.com to see a little bit of possibilities you could employ regarding questioning.

[KBCraig]

How did the cop determine you "failed to register" your vehicle?

When the cop ran the license plate number, it showed the registered owner. At that time, I'm sure he queried cyberdoo as to who owned the vehicle. The best thing for cyberdoo to have done was to say, "This is my mother's car. I'm borrowing it to run my paper route." Instead, he probably gave the natural (honest) response: "I bought it from my mother when she moved out of state."

Kevin

[cyberdoo78]

How did the cop determine you "failed to register" your vehicle?

What did the cop stop you for?

Actually, I don't know what he actually stopped me for. I'm new to this whole concept of demanding things from cops. Needless to say, it was a unmarked cop car, and he was acting odd, and on top of that, it is one of the questions I want answered. I actually tried to not directly answer his questions, understanding that I didn't have to, but I never said I bought it(which might be an out, because you have to pay at least a $1 for a car to have sold it). I also tried to avoid his questions by giving answers that wouldn't cause him to look at me any closer and not admit anything. He asked me if I was 'X' and I said I was, this is odd because he didn't have my ID at this point.

But my mother before she left state, bonded 3rd party for my uncle after an assult charge. She then decided to leave state, notified his lawyer to revoke the bond. My uncle was arrested again for assult and she wasn't here. So they issued a warrent for her arrest, which of course flagged the car. Realize I had been pulled over in this car at least 3 times before(broken tail light exposing too much white light, and I'm a paper carrier, our activities look suspious) and no word was ever mentioned to me about it, both the registration or the warrant.

It would seem that I have brought myself into a possibly sticky situtation by doing this so close to my move date. I honestly want to get it over with, but I don't want to allow the government to violate my rights either.

Thanks for the website info. I believe I can honestly bring 'resonable doubt' to the unconstitutional nature of the law, which as I understand it, most courts will throw it out, or at least order the jury to consider the law and not if the law is just. I don't know how I can wiggle out with LEO though, but I can cast doubt on to his character quickly and make the jury think he is the bad guy. Shouldn't be too hard, most people don't like cops on the grounds they are law enforcers.

Keep you apprised.

[Quantrill]

might wanna check out http://www.motorists.org   they may have some info.

[LiveFree]

Wow, you get a jury for a ticket in Alaska?  Here in NH, they wont give you a jury unless you're facing a year or more in jail (Class A misdemeanors and up).

[cyberdoo78]

You know, now that you mention it, I haven't looked at it....I will do so now.

[cyberdoo78]

Damn, its trial by magistrate.

[penguins4me]

You cannot demand (or request, depending on your demeanor) your natural, God-given, inherent rights as codified in the Sixth Amendment?

[cyberdoo78]

You cannot demand (or request, depending on your demeanor) your natural, God-given, inherent rights as codified in the Sixth Amendment?

News flash, the Federal Constitution only applies to the States when it specifically mentions them. I've read a few cases on this and found that Federal laws apply only to the Federal Government, the people when specifically mentioned, or the State's are specifically mentioned. Further more, the people can't bring a case into a Federal court, only the States or the Federal Government can.

The same applies to the States' Constitutions, they only apply to the State and to the people of that State, and almost never the Federal Government. The State of Alaska says the right to trial by jury shall only apply to cases who's fines equal $250 or more. Mines, $90(plus a $10 surcharge, which isn't counted). Further more there are limits on what charges the people can bring against others in State courts.

The people have to start with the local court if they want to bring a case against someone and have to wait till some decision is made for or against in that case before they can move to the local appeals court who then decides for or against and that either means boot back to the local court or punt up to the State court. Then they get a decision for or against and that boots it back down to the local court or into an actual State court. Then you get a decision for or against then you can move to the State Appeals court who boots or punts to the State Supreme court, who decides to boot it back down or hear it. Then you can appeal that case to the Federal court system, who will boot it up or down the field to the Federal Appeals court, who then decides....anyhow its a rinse and repeat cycle over and over again.

Thats why people don't do anything, because to do anything means years out of their life for a simple traffic ticket.

[lordmetroid]

Not anymore... The 14th amendment made sure that the Federal constitution applies to every state as well as the federal government.

[KBCraig]

Not anymore... The 14th amendment made sure that the Federal constitution applies to every state as well as the federal government.

Ah, but SCOTUS ruled that the 14th doesn't mean what it says, so only some of the BoR applies to the states. Otherwise, "Negroes, coolies, and indians" would have full civil rights, as one politician complained at the time.