No matter how much experience a police officer has gained by observing speeding cars, his opinion in court about how fast you were going is not enough to prove the charge against you.
“We are faced with deciding the issue, previously not addressed in appellate courts of this Commonwealth, of whether a police officer’s opinion testimony is sufficient grounds upon which to base a speeding violation …”
The lower court decided that opinion testimony was OK:
“Citing Officer Taylor’s experience, including the fact that he had issued approximately fifteen to twenty thousand speeding citations … the court maintained “that the opinion testimony of Officer Taylor is, itself, sufficient to uphold the speeding conviction of Mr. Martorano.”
The higher court disagreed.
Although it was not a unanimous decision (three justices dissented), the Supreme Court came down firmly on this issue:
“As a consequence, we also hold that a police officer’s uncorroborated testimony as to speed is insufficient to support a conviction for violating Section 3362 [the statute about maximum speed limits]”
Chalk one up for the citizens of our Commonwealth.
You got a traffic ticket, you’re pissed off, and you want to fight it - but you don’t even know where to begin.
If that opening line describes your current state of mind, then my blog is written with you in mind.
I should state right up front that I am not an attorney, so please do not consider anything that I write to be legal advice in any sense of the term.
I am just a regular citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who got pissed off after my son received an unfair stop sign ticket in September of 2018.
I spent several hours searching the internet for suggestions about how to fight it and then came to the realization that most of what is available out there is essentially useless information.
But there was a silver lining in all of this wasted effort. My frustration at not being able to find any useful resources on the internet inspired me to create the website Stop-Sign-Ticket.com. I can now offer fellow citizens hope for some kind of justice in the courtroom – no matter how much they think the odds are against them.
My son was able to beat his ticket based on the information that I discovered and I am confident that it will be useful to you also.
View all posts by stop-sign-ticket.com
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2 thoughts on “Police Officer’s Opinion About Your Speed – Not Enough to Convict.”
2 thoughts on “Police Officer’s Opinion About Your Speed – Not Enough to Convict.”