Wrist watch calibration required?

[Mralejandro]

Might sound like a dumb questions, but I recently received a citation turning left during a time I shouldn't have.

I will try to fight it in court and the only defense I can come up with is the calibrations. For lasers/radar they have to be recently calibrated in order to be used as evidence. What about a wrist watch?

The LEO that issued me a citation only used his wristwatch to determine the time. If I can get the time dismissed from evidence, I think I can win the case.

My wife says either I'm a genius or will go to jail for contempt of court.

I would like some thoughts from LEOs here and see what they think or if they ever heard of this type of strategy.

Thanks

[Rule .308]

any idea what kind of watch you are up against? My Casio sinks up with the atomic clock in Ft. Colins CO every night and is within 1/100th of a second everyday.

[Mralejandro]

any idea what kind of watch you are up against? My Casio sinks up with the atomic clock in Ft. Colins CO every night and is within 1/100th of a second everyday.

Is that your personal watch or department issue watch?

[keenkeen]

I strongly disagree with your wife.

[ElvenSoul]

If it has COSC cert good luck

[SoCalDep]

Might sound like a dumb questions, but I recently received a citation turning left during a time I shouldn't have.

I will try to fight it in court and the only defense I can come up with is the calibrations. For lasers/radar they have to be recently calibrated in order to be used as evidence. What about a wrist watch?

The LEO that issued me a citation only used his wristwatch to determine the time. If I can get the time dismissed from evidence, I think I can win the case.

My wife says either I'm a genius or will go to jail for contempt of court.

I would like some thoughts from LEOs here and see what they think or if they ever heard of this type of strategy.

Thanks

You will loose but at least the officer may make some overtime and you might be able to beg the judge to still let you do traffic school. The officers present always enjoy that part.

[Spyder]

Ha. In.

[ElvenSoul]

Tires on your car stock?

Oversize or undersized?

[M1NM]

I recently received a citation turning left during a time I shouldn't have.

I will try to fight it

You lose - you admitted guilt in your first sentence. Your arguement no left turn 4-7pm and it was 4:01 when you turned. His argument it was 3:55 then he pulls out the transcript from when he ran your plate/license at 3:58. You only need to subpeona his computer/radio records to see when he did what. If you want to try the watch idea just spring it on him in court - if it's 5 minutes late you could win. If it's on time you lose. If you were going to take this aapproach you would have needed to sieze his watch as evidence when he wrote the ticket. There is no way now to prove it hasn't been tampered with or reset.

[RickD427]

You lose - you admitted guilt in your first sentence. Your arguement no left turn 4-7pm and it was 4:01 when you turned. His argument it was 3:55 then he pulls out the transcript from when he ran your plate/license at 3:58. You only need to subpeona his computer/radio records to see when he did what. If you want to try the watch idea just spring it on him in court - if it's 5 minutes late you could win. If it's on time you lose. If you were going to take this aapproach you would have needed to sieze his watch as evidence when he wrote the ticket. There is no way now to prove it hasn't been tampered with or reset.

^^^THIS^^^^

Judges are trained to make their decisions based on evidence. If the officer testifies that the violation occurred within the prohibited time period, you're going to have to impeach that evidence and/or provide stronger evidence that the "violation" occurred outside the time period.

Raising the possibility that the officer's watch was in error doesn't really get you to that threshold.

You do have the availability of collateral records that may more definitively establish when the "violation" occurred. Most officers run a license plate check before stopping a vehicle. That event would be recorded and available for subpoena.

Your wife is half-right on this one.

[Ron-Solo]

Stop breaking the law? Pay attention to your driving? Take responsibility for your actions?

All novel concepts.

[IrishJoe3]

Stop breaking the law? Pay attention to your driving? Take responsibility for your actions?

All novel concepts.

Simple. To the point. I like it.

[hermosabeach]

Have you served subpoenas for-
Dash cam video
Body cam video
Audio recordings

Post them on you tube and start a poll if you deserved the ticket?

[Spyder]

I can't wait for someone to try and "seize" my watch while I ask them to sign here...

[P5Ret]

I'm sure the guy who thought he could beat the ticket, because I didn't know the height of the sign or if it was installed per CalTrans guidelines thought he was a genius also. Of course it may have done him some good to research who installed the sign on a state highway before he attempted to use that as a defense. It didn't work out too well for him.