From: rstewart@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Robert Stewart)
Newsgroups: austin.general
Subject: Re: need help with speeding ticket
Date: 24 Jul 92 21:18:59 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX


	Having served on a jury in Austin Municipal Court for a speeding
case about a year ago, I wouldn't necessarily pay up.

	For about half of the cases, the city attorney said something to the
effect of "the city is not ready to present its case." Most likely, the
cop didn't show up for the case. All of these defendants had their
charges dropped.

	One defendant showed up for court, and when the attorney said the
city WAS ready, he decided to go ahead and pay. They let him do it.
Basically, he rolled his speeding ticket dice and lost, so he just paid up.
This is a worthwhile gamble.

	Sidenote: Tip for those called for jury duty who don't want to
serve. Show up late. They request more jurors than they need, sort
of like airline overbooking. The late ones just get sent home. I saw
about twenty potential jurors waved away the day I was there. I
enjoyed the experience, though. I even got $15 and an orange certificate
with a gold star out of the deal.

	Part of the reason that so many cases get dismissed is that the
Austin Municipal Court has an enormous backlog. The backlog when I
served was over a year. My brother, who is an attorney here in
Austin, told me that a law firm based out of Amarillo (I believe) has
been taking advantage of a loophole in State law that says that
the posted speed limit can sometimes be more of a guideline
than an exact rule. The judge wouldn't say exactly what these
situations were (we sent here a message during deliberation),
but she suggested that medical emergencies were a good example. Lawyers
from the aforementioned firm try to argue that their client was speeding,
but for a good reason.

	Furthermore, speeding is a criminal offense in Texas. I believe it
is a misdemeanor, but I'll need to check with my brother (did I mention that
he is an attorney?) on that one. As with all criminal offenses, you are
granted the right to a jury trial. Although this contributes to the backlog
of cases and probably costs more taxpayer money, you are probably better
offer with a jury than with just a judge who is tired of speeding cases.
The case I served on lasted about three hours. There were six jurors, some of
whom had received speeding tickets and were particularly sympathetic
toward the accused.

	In the case I served on, the defendant argued that he was speeding
on I-35 to get around a large truck in front of him that was swerving
due to a strong crosswind. However, he said that he wasn't in a hurry
and that the trucker was driving 55. Since it seemed to most of the jury
to be safer to drop back from a swerving 18-wheeler than to speed around it,
we found him guilty, but only gave him a $15 fine. His insurance company
probably nailed him, though.

Summary: 

	-- Show up for speeding court. If the city isn't ready, you go free.

	-- If the city is ready, but you don't think you have a chance,
	offer to pay up on the spot. Note, this option existed in Austin
	a year ago. No guarantees offered now in Austin or anywhere else.
	Check with an attorney.

	-- If you think that you weren't speeding or that you had a very
	good reason for speeding, consider going to court and rollin'
	dem dice. You never know, though, you might get an impassionate
	hanging jury.

Robert Stewart
rstewart@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu