ORIGINAL: CBR76

If that's all you have to offer in way of a defense I suggest taking a driver's improvement course before your court date. Depending on the judge he could give it consideration or simply shrug and ask if you have anything else to add before he renders his decision. I know that right now you're clinging to any shred of hope of getting out of this ticket and rightly so..I would be too After having suffered through countless court dates and having written over 3,000 citations in the last two years I was on the road I made plenty of mistakes. I'monly human.What actually matters is that I caught them before I testified and gave the correction to the judge.As far asthe officer writing 55 in a 71mph zone..it could go either way. Some judges are like Mr. Robinson and give you a warm & fuzzy and will lean your way. Others are the fire & brimstone type and would lock you up for doing 10 over if they could. I had one extremely liberal judge who would dismiss a ticket for the most minor of mistakes (wrong year of the vehicle) and another that could care less if the citation was written on a napkin...in crayon.

Whatever it ends up being I have two suggestions..

1. Get a lawyer. Yes, we all make our jokes about lawyers but please believe me when I say that a lawyer, specifically a good one, is worth their weight in gold. If I had an extra $10K laying around the first thing I'd do is put one on retainer. Even if your case is hopeless you have a chance of getting the speed reduced or even thrown out. Strangely enough quite a few defense attorneys and police officers are good friends, maybe not drinking buddies, but there is mutual respect. There were one or two lawyers I knew that I thought very highly of and they had a reputation for being straight up and ethical. They would occasionally come to me, let me know who they were representing, and ask if I could give their client any consideration.Personally, I'd never reduce a speed, but if I checked my notes and there were no notations about them being an idiot or belligerent I was willing to ask the judge for leniency on their behalf. 9/10 times thejudge would agree. If you hire a well-known weasel no officer will give him or her the time of day.Talk to any officers you know and anyone you know that got a citation and hired a lawyer. Get references and do your homework. Don't waste your time reading the how-to-beat-a-ticket sites where they tell you to drop a ball in court and ask the officer how fast it was traveling. You will only **** off the judge and get laughed at by everyone in the courtroom. Trust me, I've seen it enough times to where its not even funny anymore.

2. DO NOT get another citation between now and your court date. People were this close [] to getting a break until the judge's clerk pulled up out of the system thatthey received another citation two weeks after they recieved the one that they were appearing for that day. Two words to describe the situation at that point: not good.

EDITED TO ADD: If you happen to have an identical twin..bring him to court and have him at the defense table with you and have your lawyer ask the officer if he can positively identify which of you was operating the vehicle on the date of the violation. Game over. Happened to me once and I had to laugh.

ORIGINAL: Va600F4I

As a State Trooper, I'll tell you the best way to beat this ticket. Simply bring a friend of the same or about the same height, weight and age and ask the officer if he can identify which one of you was the driver. Chances are he writes so many tickets a month he wont ever remember you, however an attorney wont hurt.