Hurray for a new adventure

[ExGeeEye]

I am falsely accused of Texting While Driving.  I have contacted my phone provider and will be getting documentation that will show I wasn't using my phone (it wasn't even within my arms' reach).  I will be making first contact with the court Friday morning.

My defense goes like this:

1.  I didn't do it; take my word for it.
2.  A person in a sedan looking in the windshield of my van can't see me below my shoulders.  Even if I did it-- and I didn't-- no one could have seen me do it, as the officer claimed.
3.  My cell phone provider will send/or/has sent documentation showing that the phone was not in use that day at all, let alone at the time of the alleged activity.

I am innocent, and confident in my eventual exoneration.  I crave prayer anyway, mostly that I can keep my mouth shut when I should.   I have the right to remain silent, but sometimes lack the ability.

[freedumb2003b]

>>3.  My cell phone provider will send/or/has sent documentation showing that the phone was not in use that day at all, let alone at the time of the alleged activity.
<<

Lead with that and don't even bother with the other 2.  The more arguments you advance, the more opportunities to know holes in them.  If you waste your time arguing that the cop could not have known (they can) then if you lose that argument and win #3 you could lose the case.

[Purple Sage]

Less is more.  Write down your statement and dummy up.  It's up to the cop to prove that you were using a different cellphone at that point.

[ExGeeEye]

I am found "not responsible"-- traffic ticket language for "not guilty"-- of last November 6's "Texting While Driving" charge.

I was able to show documentation that my cell phone was not in use for the entire day.

Additionally, the judge told the police that even if I was holding the phone like they said I did, I could have been dialing a voice call, which in this state is still legal.

The police told two lies under oath. One of them I could have refuted photographically; the other one, I just had to sit there and hear it. Fortunately it was unnecessary for me to extend my defense so far; the judge basically took my cell records as proof enough.

Lessons:

1. If you did it, admit it; pay the fine and move on.

2. If you didn't do it, try to figure out how to fight it. In Michigan, holding your phone and pushing buttons is NOT an offense-- you have to be composing a text message. And they have to prove you were doing it. With the right judge, you should be able just to assert that you were entering a phone number.

3. Documentation never hurts. If you have it, lead with it. Then shut up. If any more is needed, the judge will ask for it.

4. The police are not above perjury if they think they can get away with it. These guys did-- today. It got them nowhere, and if they make a habit of it, it will catch up to them.

[Bad Dog]

I'm surprised the cops even showed up in court.

[ExGeeEye]

There were at least two cases scheduled on that day in that courtroom for which they were the -- whatever the term is -- responding officers.  Mine was the first case called, and I left right after; the lady whose case followed mine said the policeman pulled her over for "following too close" right after she let someone merge in front of her in order to line up with an upcoming exit.  I don't know how her case turned out.

That's the sort of thing which has me planning to get one of these.

[Eupher]

I am found "not responsible"-- traffic ticket language for "not guilty"-- of last November 6's "Texting While Driving" charge.

I was able to show documentation that my cell phone was not in use for the entire day.

Additionally, the judge told the police that even if I was holding the phone like they said I did, I could have been dialing a voice call, which in this state is still legal.

The police told two lies under oath. One of them I could have refuted photographically; the other one, I just had to sit there and hear it. Fortunately it was unnecessary for me to extend my defense so far; the judge basically took my cell records as proof enough.

Lessons:

1. If you did it, admit it; pay the fine and move on.

2. If you didn't do it, try to figure out how to fight it. In Michigan, holding your phone and pushing buttons is NOT an offense-- you have to be composing a text message. And they have to prove you were doing it. With the right judge, you should be able just to assert that you were entering a phone number.

3. Documentation never hurts. If you have it, lead with it. Then shut up. If any more is needed, the judge will ask for it.

4. The police are not above perjury if they think they can get away with it. These guys did-- today. It got them nowhere, and if they make a habit of it, it will catch up to them.

If the burden of proof is on the prosecution, why did YOU have to come up with your cell phone records? Why couldn't the cops have subpoenaed your records, read them, find out they didn't have a case, and move on?

Yeah, I know the ancillary argument.  "He was using somebody else's phone!"

To which, the answer is, "Prove it, ****er."

[DumbAss Tanker]

Less is more.  Write down your statement and dummy up.  It's up to the cop to prove that you were using a different cellphone at that point.

Written statements aren't admissible as evidence.  To put out that story, he needs to testify to it under oath and produce the written records from his provider.  However, it would make a lot more sense to contact the prosecuting attorney's office with those records in hand, explain the situation to the prosecutor, and try to get the whole thing tanked before trial.

ExGeeEye, if you do testify on it, be prepared to answer up about any other phone you might have access to and if you do have one (provided by an employer for instance) have the provider records for the day on that one, too.  Ditto for any spouse/fiance/significant-other with whom you may keep house.  I would also recommend you think back to anything you might have been doing, like looking down at a noise or item in the car, that could have looked like you were messing with a cell phone, and be prepared to provide that non-texting explanation.

[ExGeeEye]

Euph, the way I figure it, I didn't have to come up with jack squat.  Having the paperwork and putting it out there from the start just short-cut the whole procedure.

Oh, and the police tried the "we don't need to see the paperwork, we don't know if that's the phone he was using" bit.

The judge looked at me and said, "this paperwork refers to your phone, the one you use all the time?  That's your sworn testimony?"  I sad "yes sir" and he moved on.  Shortly after that he did the bit about how even if I was holding the phone exactly the way they perjuriously said I was, it could have been legal and they would have had to prove I was composing a text.  He  even held up his hands, thumptyping an imaginary phone while he said it.

[ExGeeEye]

DAT, the date was today, I talked and  walked.  It wasn't necessary for me to talk about any other phones-- there ain't none, and the judge accepted my word that there ain't none.  No question about spouse or other members of the harem.  See above where the judge said I could have been doing everything they claimed they saw me doing, and yet not in violation of law.

[Bad Dog]

All of my grandkids drive around using the GPS function on their phones.  Stupid laws are going to drive LE and the courts nuts.

[Eupher]

Well, it sounds like you did good, ExGeeEye.

Reminds me of my last time in a courtroom. I'd been dutifully paying my child support all along, but stupidly had not arranged that through what Michigan calls the "Friend of the Court." Went probably 15 or more years like that. (Yeah, I know --  )

Until the day came when IRS snagged my tax return.

I couldn't go to court right away as I was in Germany but when I returned, I gathered up all my LES' - a stack probably a couple inches thick - ran down a spreadsheet and calculated that I not only had paid what I was supposed to have paid, but more. The ex wasn't interested in providing the facts to IRS before the court date happened, so when I walked into the courtroom I had my documents in hand.

Judge eyed me and my documents and asked me if that stack was proof that I had paid my child support, and I said, "Yes, Your Honor." He scribbled something on the page in front of him, declared that my arrearage was "satisfied" and I walked out of there without that $35,000 guillotine hanging over my head.

[Purple Sage]

Written statements aren't admissible as evidence.  To put out that story, he needs to testify to it under oath and produce the written records from his provider.  However, it would make a lot more sense to contact the prosecuting attorney's office with those records in hand, explain the situation to the prosecutor, and try to get the whole thing tanked before trial.

ExGeeEye, if you do testify on it, be prepared to answer up about any other phone you might have access to and if you do have one (provided by an employer for instance) have the provider records for the day on that one, too.  Ditto for any spouse/fiance/significant-other with whom you may keep house.  I would also recommend you think back to anything you might have been doing, like looking down at a noise or item in the car, that could have looked like you were messing with a cell phone, and be prepared to provide that non-texting explanation.

I meant write it down and read it to the judge.  Keep it short, sweet, and to the point.

[DumbAss Tanker]

DAT, the date was today, I talked and  walked.  It wasn't necessary for me to talk about any other phones-- there ain't none, and the judge accepted my word that there ain't none.  No question about spouse or other members of the harem.  See above where the judge said I could have been doing everything they claimed they saw me doing, and yet not in violation of law.

Good work...I didn't mean you'd necessarily be faced with that line of questions, but (Speaking as a guy who prosecuted traffic court for several years) it IS the kind of question you'd need to be prepared to answer IF they decided to dig in your shit and bring up that possibility.  Of course it's not a possibility you'd want to bring up yourself.