I'm dealing with a case in a Municipal Court that seems a bit odd.

The defendant's copy of the citation is missing several blocks of info (registration date on vehicle, call #, and time of offense). The copy of the citation filed with the court DOES contain that information, obviously filled back in.

What are the consequences? It'd seem to me that the officer is at least going to get roasted on the stand by defense counsel.

Also, on this same citation, there's some doubt as to the disposition of the videotape from the stop (stop was December 22nd).

Thanks in advance,
Wes

For what its worth in my opinion:

Let the officer take a roasting on the stand. Not just from the defense counsel, but from the judge and from you too. Filling in information on a citation after the fact is an extremely bush-league and lazy way to operate. Is it any wonder that this officer has apparently managed to lose the videotape?

Maybe a good half-hour sweat session in the witness chair being rigorously crossed (and rigorously directed) is just what the doctor ordered for this officer. If the in-court experience is painful enough, the officer will never do this kind of corner-cutting out on the streets again. Operant conditioning at its finest.

Good luck.

Mark,
No word as to whether the tape is lost or not. Spoke to the PD's court liaison/witness coordinator. She said they don't know how long the tapes are kept if there's "only" traffic stops on the video, rather than a DWI or such.
Thanks again for the advice....

-Wes

Wes,

If your law enforcement agency is operating under a Art. 2.135 exemption they are required to retain the video for at least 90 days.