Photo Red Light Ticket Defense - San Diego
The Stewart Case
Trial Brief
DISCLAIMER
Use of this information does not constitute
representation by or legal advice from any attorney and there is no guarantee as to its
accuracy or effectiveness. It is intended to give persons who are defending their own
Photo Red Light California Vehicle Code §21453(c) tickets in San Diego traffic court a
couple of options to preclude evidence obtained by a speed trap. This has been successful
in the past when argued in the case of People v. Stewart, April 27, 2000 at San Diego
Superior Court - Traffic Division. There is no guarantee of any kind that use of this
motion will be successful in getting your case dismissed. (But we definitely wish you good
luck!)
You may use this information in two ways:
OPTION A. As a formal motion to be considered as a written motion by
the court.
If you choose this method, you need to file it in advance with the
court and serve it upon the prosecutor's office (in San Diego - file it with the Office of
the City Attorney at 1200 Third Avenue, 7th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101). You may use the
form at the last page of this package. Have an adult friend go to the City Attorney's
office, give them a copy of the motion, and fill out the PROOF OF SERVICE information
under penalty of perjury. Keep the original proof of service form. You can also have it
served upon the City Attorney by a process server or marshall. The motion must be filed
with the court and served at least 15 days before your trial date. If your trial is closer
than 15 days, use Option B.
Instructions to use this as a formal motion:
1) Fill in the information needed, all blanks in the form, and sign
the form. The information should be for the person accused of the violation, and they
should sign it.
2) Make four copies of it, staple them each in the upper left-hand
corner. You have one original and four copies. Using a two-hole punch, punch two holes
centered in the top of the signed original.
3) Take the original and all copies to the Court Clerk and file it
at least 15 days before your trial date. The clerk will take the original and one copy for the court. Tell
the clerk you want to have the motion heard at the trial. Get all copies stamped with the
time and date of filing.
4) Serve a copy of the motion on the prosecutor and keep the
original completed Proof of Service form for trial.
5) This formal motion will be heard as soon as your case is called.
Just tell the judge you wish her/him to consider the written motion. If it is relevant to
the speed trap argument, you can make verbal argument as well, but do not restate things
you already have in the printed motion.
6) The judge may not follow the Stewart ruling and decide to not
grant your motion. If this happens, the speed evidence obtained by the photo enforcement
system will be admitted at your trial. In this case, you should be prepared to make any
other arguments you have and proceed with trial.
OPTION B. At the trial, object to the admission of speed evidence.
If you choose this method, when your case is called, just tell the
judge that you object to the use of speed evidence at your trial. When asked why, simply
read aloud or paraphrase in your own words the argument (Roman numeral I and conclusion
section) of the POINTS AND AUTHORITIES paper. It contains the necessary legal citations
you will need to put on the record in order for the judge to rule on your objection.
DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS
Both the Photo Red Light Ticket Defense and The Stewart
Case Trial Brief are delivered in an executable format for downloading ease. Simply
select your word processing format by clicking one of the choices below.
Photo Red Light Ticket Defense
Microsoft Word 97 format, click
here.
WordPerfect 8.0 format, click
here.
Text format, click
here.
The Stewart Case Trial Brief
Microsoft Word 97 format, click
here.
WordPerfect 8.0 format, click
here.
Text format, click
here.
Once the file is downloaded. Locate the directory
(see diagram below) to which you saved the file (i.e. C:/TEMPORARY)
and double click on the pleading.exe file.
A window will open displaying the WinZip Self
Extracting Utility program (see diagram below).
Please note the unzip to folder area of
the pop up window and write it down so you know where this pleading will be located once
it is "unzipped".
Then click on the Unzip
button.
A pop up box is then displayed showing that 1 file has
been unzipped successfully. Click on OK and then Close the dialog box.
Next, find the directory where the
pleading.exe was unzipped to and double click it. This will
then launch the
pleading in the appropriate word processing format.
NOTE: If you have any difficulties unzipping this
file, please consult with a computer programmer in your area. PLEASE
DO NOT contact the law firm of Judith A. Litzenberger, as she is unable to provide technical support. Thank
you!
