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Originally Posted by Baltothewolf
The cop was parked in the emergency Lane on the side of the highway, I have never seen a cop sit there in my 14 years of living up here.
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Where else would you expect to find a radar cop? There's a first time for everything. Apparently his jurisdiction needs the 'revenue enhancement'.
I won't lecture you about not speeding, as others already have. That's condescending and patronizing. Besides, it's too late to change the past, and it's not the advice you are seeking.
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I was in my Corolla just cruising, where he caught me it starts to go on a downslope, it's very easy to gain 5-10mph on that short downhill if your not paying attention, like I wasn't.
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Forget the rationalizations about why you were speeding. Here's the reality.
You can go to court and plea bargain, admitting your guilt. The prosecutor will pursue this and expect you to if you plead not guilty, because it's easier for everyone on the other side of the aisle to get an conviction with no effort involved.
You can hire a lawyer (but you might end up with the same result).
If you really want to fight it you can begin by reading every book about fighting a traffic summons that you can lay your hands on, and act as your own attorney. This takes time and effort and it might work if you have the intestinal fortitude to defend yourself. You will need to follow the
very strict rules of courtroom protocol to the letter, so as not to irritate the judge. However, you might at least gain the satisfaction of mercilessly grilling the cop on the witness stand. If any of his testimony is "canned", you make him squirm if he doesn't have all his facts straight.
I once had the situation of being faced with three traffic violations issued and having two cops as witnesses. I pleaded not guilty and refused to plea bargain before trial.
The intimidation factor by the prosecution when going to court can be overwhelming. One cop recited a 'canned' testimony that was essentially perjury and the other did not testify. I represented myself and made him sweat when questioning him during the trial. When on the stand, the cop looked as if he would have liked to have killed me - but he was in court, not on the street, and he had to deal with my grilling him and answer all my questions. The end result? Two out of three citations were dismissed (because they had no case on those charges) and I was only fined for "disobeying a police officer". Both cops were in plainclothes and I had driven away from the scene, because in only showing a badge, his behavior at the time did not convince me that he actually was a cop. The judge thought the badge was sufficient, even though there are plenty of phony badges out there on the street.
My advice for the future? Buy a radar detector and don't leave home without it. ;-)