No way - a cop falsifying things for traffic convictions?
Noooo?? Really?
I’m sure all those people who got ticketed were innocent.
/s
I once had to sit through a traffic court all day. I had been subpoenaed to testify which was totally unnecessary as the guy simply plead guilty and was fined $15.
I got to noticing when a cop testified in a speeding case he would always say something about his radar being tested before and after something. I guess it wasn’t all that important but I wondered if they really did do all that testing.
Ya know, I was a Prosecutor for 25 years and while most cops are honest hard workers, early on I was stunned at how often evidence was falsified or at least shaded. Not a majority of the time by any means, but more than rare.
My favorite “traffic cop” moment was a VA State Trooper testifying in traffic court (General District Court in VA). Now know that Traffic Court is BORING as can be. So the trooper is testifying in a speeding case that some good citizen has decided to try. It was a pace (not radar) case.
So the judge is fighting boredom, I’m fighting boredom as I am sitting there training a brand new Prosecutor . . . you get the picture. Also, for some odd reason, this judge had decided to take the tried cases first. Usually they take the guilty pleas to get everyone out of there. And Troopers have a LOT of cases.
Anyway . . .
There we sit. And on Direct testimony the Trooper says something like, “I was following the vehicle and I determined it was going about 80 MPH. At first I wasn’t going to pull him over as I thought it was an off duty Trooper in n unmarked vehicle.”
Well the judge WOKE UP! “Are you telling me that you would NOT have pulled over a speeding Trooper who was NOT on duty??
We all knew what was coming. The Judge tore apart the Trooper on the stand and then said . .
“All defendants in this Trooper’s case please rise”
About 80% of the Courtroom stood. (And this was Fairfax County and it was PACKED)
“Your cases are dismissed.”
We were ... highly amused.
The picture was me and my car so I paid it.
Now I wonder....