🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Brt6L1.Jo8@twwells.com> bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) writes:
=Uh, people, there's some confusion here. In _criminal_ matters,
=proof beyond a reasonable doubt is required. However, in _civil_
=matters, all that is required is a preponderance of evidence.

Good point.

=I'll bet that you'll find that most tickets are classified as
=civil matters, not criminal, and that the judge was doing exactly
=what he should have: he considered the evidence, and decided that
=the preponderance of evidence was in favor of the cop telling the
=truth and the guy with the ticket not.

I suppose that, statistically, that's a correct statement. But it
doesn't prevent the cop from having a hidden agenda. Obligatory example
follows.

My son was ticketed some years back for having NJ and FL registrations
and FL tags on a car he was driving. (I had inherited it from may
recently deceased father and had not yet changed the tags. He [my son,
not my deceased father!] was shaken enought show the cop both
registrations.) I went to court with him and the prosecutor saw us
outside the courtroom and asked us was the story was. It was clear that
he was reluctant to prosecute. I explained what had happened and that
the car now had appropriate tags, so the prosecutor said he would ask
the NJ State Trooper to drop the charges. The trooper walked into the
anteroom at the moment, and his response to the prosecutor's request was
a growled, "He goes to court!"

So we went to court. On the stand, the cop stated the charge
incorrectly! I asked to testify and the judge permitted me to. But he
wouldn't let me enter the two registrations as evidence, and of course
he found the boy guilty!

The system is certainly far less than perfect.