Hey, we got Freedom of Choice! (includes choosing to read this thread - or not :) )

Now wait a minute - you said you never saw the accident.......maybe you didn't. Maybe it wasn't you. You are assuming that you are guilty. There are a lot of white 911s, and there is a good possibility that some of them might be driven in a spirited manner. It may not have been you that they saw - 15 minutes is a long time to catch up - even in a Ford.

Miranda warnings are required only if the person has been arrested and is being interrogated.

Scott

And... they only apply to criminal acts/prosecutions. Most traffic laws have been made into 'infractions' - tho they can still cause as much harm as some minor misdemeanors once you figure in your insurance - but the witticism is that the the state is not 'causing' that.

PS - I am not a lawyer in your state, don't do traffic or any other state law, and this is not legal advice!

There is _no_ need for you, or your friend, to create a complex defense. These cases are decided by justices--local "judges."

The justice will ask you how you plead, you say "not guilty." The justice will then ask the officer for his report and he will say, "A white Porsche passed us at an accident scene, and 15 minutes later we found the car at a restaurant and ticketed it." (Or something to that effect.) If the justice is a jerk and a friend of the cop's, he'll declare you guilty and no amount of arguing on your part will change that. Don't even bother.

If the justice is any good, and many of them have no more regard for cops than most of us do, he'll ask the cop how he could possibly know it was the same Porsche. Got his license number? Even though the car zipped right past and has an eight-digit plate number??? And you may just get off.

Either way, there's no need for you to defend yourself, and becoming argumentative can only hurt.

If you never saw an accident scene how do you know for sure you were the White Porsche they were looking for??

Sometimes I go a week without seeing another older 911 then in one day I will see 3 of them that could be my cars twin.

Did your friend at least ask for vaseline?

PA Judges.
 

I am not an attorney but I have experience w/ this type of situation in PA. This is I believe a 3 point ticket. As a "spirited" Porsche driver a 3 point ticket needs to be fought. While the above stated reasons of insurance are valid, 3 points coupled with another spirited event possibly takes your license. At that point the judges are much more difficult as it is not a first time offense type of thing. With that being said, judges in PA that I have dealt with have been very reasonable. IMO it is important to bring an attorney. This allows the prosecutor and attorney make the deal to keep your head from the noose. You do not want to have to argue your own case because tends to create an adversarial environment. Take this to the bank they will negotiate this to a no point ticket.

On the subject of technical; that was just a very technical response to keeping a Porsche on the road. It isn't always mechanical downtime that impedes performance!;)

Whooo hooooo free legal advice , gotta love it , bah ha ha.

Todd SmileWavy

What kind of idiot admits anything to the police. I'd have politely told them to go pound sand.

+100

In VA, I would have refused to even show id if I weren't behind the wheel. You do not have to stop and identify yourself to police here unless you are behind the wheel. Does your friend randomly mail checks to insurance companies when he feels like he has too much money in his account?

Agree totally. This one stinks and how many white 911's are in the state or traveling through?

This one needs to be fought, especially as they did not have any license plate number. 15 minutes is pure BS as if they would have really seen YOUR car drive by they could have been parked on your bumper in 2 minutes.

Edit. A question. Any decals or identifying things that would make your 911 stand out? If yes then your case just went down a notch but if its a plain jane 911 with nothing special that the cops could use to identify then your case just got stronger.

You obviously haven’t tried that in the Commonwealth! Just asking for a beatdown!

In the Commonwealth of PA or VA? VA does not have a stop and identify law specifically because it can lead to self-incrimination. Dunno about PA. All the tickets I've gotten there I was driving and for last week's, I was on the motorcycle. In fact, I had a run-in with the VA Beach police last Friday, but was on foot and would have refused to hand over id, except that they didn't ask for any, just b!tched me out and said they'd be watching me.

I must be immoral for believing that you are "innocent until proven guilty", but in this case, they simply can't unless perjury is OK :)

I'm guessing the thread is completely fictional but I'll add for fun.


The down side to contesting it is that if they have you on camera you will have to pay court fees as well. It sounds like he knew it was him. Pay the ticket, take this online class and chalk it up to being young and stupid.

http://www.idrivesafely.com/Florida/price/index.html

I assumed VA - All I am saying is that is "the man" asks to see your ID - why not show it?? Your just asking for trouble if you start off that way - I dont care what the law says. Pizz em off and they will find a reason. Why were they watching you?

RL, we may need some more on that story... ;)

Normally I would agree with you on this. But here is a case where a likely mistaken identity lead to an immediate confession and now huge fines and insurance hikes. Producing ID when they don't know who they're looking for helps them and hurts you. Sure, they would probably block your car in, run your tags, etc. But they cannot indefinitely detain you without a very good reason and in a lot of places, the clock starts ticking when the subject asks "Am I free to go?" and clock runs out about 30 min. later. It's very unlikely that the cop could have gotten a witness there to identify the car and driver within 30 min. So I'd have stalled and repeatedly asked if I was free to go. Cop cannot keep saying no without a reason.

Brief hijack. Went to see Rush in VA Beach Friday night. We brought a 12 pack and some plastic cups and took a taxi to the show. Within 5 min. John Law was on us, made us pour them out (we had filled them with some other cans not part of the 12 pack) and would have arrested us but, since we hadn't touched the 12 pack yet, it wasn't considered an open container. WTF? Cop said he would be watching us. We were reduced to crouching behind a truck, trying to ripcord some beer, when we finally gave up because of the ubiquitous bicycle Gestapo and didn't want to miss the show while getting booked. There was zero tailgating there. I only saw people drinking bottled water and Pepsi. At the Rush show Sat. night at Nissan, we were bbq'ing, making margaritas, pounding beer and all the cops who came by just waved hello and said "enjoy the show".

Well, my buddy has decided to take it to court and plead that he may have been driving fast but not recklessly. He's aiming for a lessened charge and not a complete acquittal as he believes he is deserving of some penalty. I'm thinking there's a chance it may get dropped entirely once the whole story gets hashed out before the judge. I'd play it differently, but it's his choice.

Yea, you don't want people drinking four beers at a concert and taking a taxi home. I think they call that reckless endangerment.

WAYYYY OFFFF TOPIC!!!!

The cops in my area have a habit of searching kids in the parks after dark looking for alcohol. No reason is given they, they just browbeat the kids. It's unconstitutional, and I've told my daughter not to comply, only to say that her pack contains 'lawful personal property' but I know she will relent before they haul off to jail.

Andy,

How about his saying that it WAS NOT HIM!! Does he "fess up" and say that he saw the police or wreck? If not then why plead anything but not guilty to ANYTHING?

I just do not get it. If you cannot confirm that you, the car or your friend was there and was the one that they were after, then why admit to anything???

Joe

I don't think any of us can fully understand the sensitivities of others.

He claims he does remember people standing on the side of the road, though he didn't recall for sure that it was an accident. I was completely oblivious to any accident.

Are you going to go as a witness for him, Andy? Might help if you say you were also in the car and didn't see any kind of accident scene. In my opinion a bunch of people milling around at the side of the road doesn't equate to marked accident scene. Did the police have their flashing lights on? If not, your friend should have a very good chance. To me it's like being charged with felony evasion for not stopping for a police car, yet they forgot to turn their lights and siren on

my advice is to go on a shooting spree. That will make the ticket look insignificant by comparison. And you can plead insanity.

It's all about relativity...