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The advice offered here is that of attorney Norman G. Fernandez

     Don't ever open up areas or details of an investigation that could hurt your defense. You don't want to ask a police officer why he didn't write you a ticket for a broken tail light and only one for speeding. It would be in the best interest to ask specific questions such as, did you see the oil tanker truck in lane two? You don't want to ask him whether there was any other traffic around because it would be too easy for him to get around that question. If you ask him specifics he has got to remember specifics. It's also good idea to start all of your questions with "Isn't it a fact?" Simply because the officer is under oath and must tell the truth. If he can't remember, he must state, "I can't recall". The more responses like that you get, the stronger your case . If the officer can't recall the details then he certainly does not rule out reasonable doubt. Covering the Prosecution's examination of the officers testimony, note the strong points and the weak points of the officer's testimony. If he states that he has the required 24/16 hour training in radar, leave that alone. If he does not have the required training and was trained by another officer attack that very hard. There are a number of general questions that may be advantageous to be asked during the cross examination. Some of them should include the location of the defendant when the officer first spotted his vehicle. Did the officer always have the defendant's car in site with an unobstructed view from the first contact, until the defendant stopped? What was the distance between the officer's vehicle and the defendant's vehicle at first contact? What was the weather like during the entire pursuit time. What kind of traffic was encountered during the entire pursuit time? In what lane was the defendant's car during the first contact? What was the exact time of day when the offense occurred. How many passengers were there in the defendant's vehicle. What is the specific color of the defendants vehicle. Did the defendants vehicle have any noticeable structural differences? Perhaps custom wheels instead of factory hubcaps. The whole point of these questions is to discredit the officers testimony as much as possible. If he continues to say I don't remember and I can't recall, you are building up a reasonable doubt towards the witness' testimony. The next bright move would be to move for a dismissal. You may request a motion for dismissal for several issues. We are going to try to cover the different motions for dismissal you might want to try to use during your trial. If you're lucky, this is as far as your trial will proceed. 

     Due to the denial of a right to a speedy trial. This should be used at the beginning of your trial if your actual trial date was more than 45 days from the time of your original arraignment. Your date of arraignment is determined by the date you stood up in court and pleaded not guilty. This is a very rare instance and would cause great 
embarrassment on the part of the court and the prosecutor. If you get to invoke this 
motion consider yourself very lucky. 

     Again this would be used in the beginning of the trial if your subpoena was ignored by the prosecution. In most instances the judge will delay the trial and order the prosecution to provide you the information you requested. You don't want to waive your right to a speedy trial, but you may have to decide if it is worth getting your subpoena information. Its a pretty fair guess that the judge will not let the speedy trial clause slip by.

     The time for employing this particular strategy is immediately after the prosecution rests his case. If the prosecution did not prove all of the required elements of the vehicle code you are charged with violating, then you may invoke this motion. That's why we suggest that you keep a check list of all relevant points that the prosecution needs to prove during the trial. It will be a handy reference chart when you explain to the judge that you were never identified as the driver, what road you were on, or any other relevant factors to the vehicle code. 

     An extensive cross examination is necessary in order to prove that the prosecution's witness, mainly the police officer, does not have the recollection necessary to bring back the details of the day in question when you received your citation. If you can get him to state numerously that he does not recall, it is up to the judge in his infinite wisdom to decide whether or not the officer really remembers what happened on the day in 
question. 

      This may be utilized if the officer does not follow proper procedures, such as calibrating the radar unit before and after his shift instead of before and after the issuance of the citation. Use the case law to back up your claim of inadequate procedures.

      This is used in a case where you have two (2) police officers. One is manning the radar and the other is issuing the citation after the chase. Both officers must appear in court since one cannot testify for the other. This would also apply if the single officer not only monitored the radar, but was in pursuit at the same time. If he does not attend the trial or show up you may move to dismiss. You usually won't have to make a motion if a primary officer is missing. The prosecution will generally drop the case because he knows he has no case without the officer present.

      The strategies for beating a speeding ticket basically follows a layered defense. In a layered defense you will want one of the following to occur. The officer or officers do not appear. Your right to a speedy trial was denied, or you employed various motions to dismiss after the prosecution rested their case. After these strategies have been exhausted, it time to move to the defense presentation. 

      The following will serve as an example of how to introduce evidence. Lets say that we are going to utilize the introduction of a diagram of the scene of the crime. The clerk of the court will mark the document with an indicator. Usually exhibit A, B, C etc. It will then be shown to the prosecution so that they have the opportunity to object to the presentation of the materials. You will have to identify the document as a diagram of the intersection of X & Y streets. At this point proceed to explain how this diagram will relate to your case. After you have done this, you must move that Exhibit A be introduced as evidence, otherwise, that document or any other document does not automatically become evidence. Once you have introduced all of your evidence, you have a decision to make. Are you going to testify on your own behalf or not. You do not have to testify and you are under no obligation to do so. If you do not testify, you deny the prosecution their right to interrogate you under oath. You also have to consider what you're going to testify to. If you know you were going 62 miles an hour in a 55 mph zone you certainly cannot testify that you were doing 55 mph in that zone because you would be committing perjury, and that's another crime you don't want to be involved with.  Regardless of what the crime is, you've admitted your guilt and you're now subject to another fine. Your only salvation when you take the stand in your own defense is that your testimony and your witness will outweigh the prosecutions case and cause them to lose. After you have testified and your evidence has been presented, if you elect to take the stand, you are ready to rest your case. Make sure that the exhibits that you wanted to be brought out into the trial as evidence, are taken into account by the court. Once all those items are introduced, you can rest your case. 

      Bring up their mistakes because they have to prove that their case is correct. Stay strong in your presentation because the prosecution will get one more final word after you are done. Try to be brief in your presentation. If you take far too long, the judge and the jury will stop paying attention to you. State your case, sit down and wait for the verdict. If you find at the end of your trial, that you are found guilty anyway, it's time to begin your appeal. First of all, an appeal is a bit more complicated than a self represented client defending themselves in court. Hire an attorney. An attorney is going to want one thing out of you, and that's money. You're going to have to give him money up front, he's going to represent you during your case and when the trial is over, win or lose you're going to have to pay more money. Court transcript will be necessary for the lawyer to go over to review all the facts of the case. When you do go in for your appeal make sure that there is a court reporter present in order to take a transcript of your trial. If there's none there, request one from the judge. He will provide a court reporter for you. If he does not, you already have your grounds for an appeal.