Legal Question in Traffic Law in New Jersey
I received a ticket for talking on my cell phone while driving, when in fact, I was NOT on, or touching any phone. There was not even a phone near me, it was on the floor in my purse. The officer was sitting next to me at a red light when she saw me scratch my eye. I guess she thought I had a phone in my hand, which was not the case. She proceeded to give me a ticket and I am now going to trial to fight this. I have a copy of my phone records, which does in fact support that I hadn't made any phone calls, text messages, and no data was transferred from my phone. I also have a work phone with records that also support the non-usage of the phone. What are the chances I am going to win this case without a lawyer? Is there anything in particular I should do or say to prove I am not guilty?
3 Answers from Attorneys
You should retain a lawyer for a very fact specific case like this. A lawyer will be able to bring out your testimony on direct. Feel free to call our offices to discuss.
You could just get a copy of the phone records for both of your cell phones and take them to court with you and show them to the prosecutor. Your case is too small to justify hiring an attorney because the legal fee will be more than the fine which you are facing.
Good for you. I hate that 90% of the time in muni court, that I feel people must prove themselves innocent, as opposed to the prosecutor proving they are guilty. They try to make it easy on the muni courts, because litigating is so costly, but that pre-supposes that all cops are right and are well intended - most are, but not all. I'd take in your records, talk with the prosecutor, show him the records, and tell him you want it dropped, and is he does not, you want to re-schedule so you can retain an attorney to go fight it. I think if he knows it is not over if he just refuses to drop the ticket, will put additional pressure on him to drop it now, as opposed to fighting with an atty later to drop it. Good luck!
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