Site Under ConstructionNational Motorists AssociationSan Jose Police DepartmentSite Under Construction

How I Fought a San Jose, California Speeding Ticket

... and WON!

On April 27, 2000, I was stopped by San Jose Police Officer Curtis Jackson, and issued a RADAR citation for 47 miles per hour in a 25 mile-per-hour zone. This is the story of my six and a half month effort to protect my driving record and secure an acquittal in this charge against me.

Important Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. If the contents of this page were legal advice, you would be paying for it. It is intended for information and education purposes only, not necessarily as a framework for your own case. Every case is different, and there are some things I would have done differently in this case. If you need legal assistance or advice, please consult an attorney.

Site last updated March 18, 2001

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the people of the National Motorists Association. Their Legal Defense Kit was an indispensible part of this victory. Customized for every state, it contains books, tapes, law citations, historical detail, and sample pleadings - in short, everything you could ever want to prepare you for your fight to defend your right to travel. I highly recommend that if you're fighting your first ticket, that you join the NMA and rent the legal defense kit today.

More good stuff is being added! Photos of the scene, motions, pleadings, correspondence, the works! Through the six-month-long process of beating this citation, I accumulated a folder of materials about two inches thick, and I intend to put it all online eventually.

If you have any questions about what's here or what's not, please feel free to e-mail me.

Summary of November 7 trial (Published in January/February 2001 issue of NMA Magazine)

Here's a chronology of the case, with items I sent in italics, and in-person events in boldface:

ODDS AND ENDS Recent updates: I wrote up the framework for the 60 pages worth of RADAR Enforcement Manual that I photocopied on October 11 and have scanned in Units 3, 4, and 5 of the NHTSA Basic Training Program for RADAR Speed Enforcement. I also fleshed out the page for the October 3 response from the prosecutor, and I linked up the Motion to Compel Discovery, and built the page for the 10/26 response from the DA's office.

Due to an eight-month outage in my DSL connection and turmoil in my work and family life, I've only recently started planning further updates to this site as of December, 2001. There's still a bit more to bring in.

If you have any specific questions about my case in the meantime, please drop me a line: <mvpel@yahoo.com> Remember: I am not a lawyer and I cannot give legal advice! Of course, you can always do what I did - join the National Motorists' Association and rent their legal defense kit for your state!

And finally, you may ask, as did Lieutenant Botar of the San Jose Police Department, "why spend all this time and effort fighting a measley $150 speeding ticket?" The following quote sums it up:

As a basic rule, almost all of the evils of government are due to the quantity of government. Let the size and reach of government become great enough, and there is seldom any question about its power or its tyrannical purposes. And that conclusion from experience suggests a policy which all good citizens might wisely follow. It is simply and automatically to oppose every piece of legislation, every official step, and every administrative measure - no matter what their ostensible aims may be - if they increase the size, the quantity, or the reach of government.
-Robert Welch, founder of the John Birch Society