The Court Room Traffic Lingo...

Best Evidence
The Best Evidence Rule states that if an original (document) is available, it must be used. If the original does not exist, a photocopy may be used, provided that there is certification that the photocopy is a true copy of the original.
*Note*: If someone tries to introduce a photocopy, ask for the
original and object to a photocopy.


Case Law and Calibration
In every state there is case law regarding radar and the use of pace cars. In every situation, the ruling is that whatever means are used to determine your speed, the device must be accurate and functioning correctly. Calibration is recognized as being essential to proving that the measuring device is accurate.
*Note*: If the calibration of a device is not challenged, it is presumed to be accurate and functioning properly. Calibration must be performed within a reasonable period of the time of an arrest. A calibrated unit if damaged or altered is no longer considered calibrated unless it is recalibrated and found to be functioning correctly. If a device is used to calibrate another device, that device itself must have been calibrated within a reasonable period of time prior to use of calibration. Most courts agree that six months is a reasonable period of time.

Reasonable Time Regarding the Radar
The unit must be tested within a reasonable time before your arrest. That time is no more than the day of the arrest. To show that the device was functioning properly during the arrest, the unit should then be checked again immediately after the arrest.


Reasonable Time Regarding the Testing Device
This is generally accepted as no more than six months. The same applies for the speedometers.

Radar Log
The radar equipment must be accompanied with a log showing repairs and when it was last tested, who performed the test, and what malfunctions, if any, the unit has had in the past. There is also an arrest log that the officer must keep. This log shows the time of your arrest and the time when he tested the radar gun. He has an obligation to present the log if it is material
to the evidence, provided you ask for it.

Maintenance Log
A maintenance log must be kept for the vehicle in the event of being paced. As for it, and ask for the documentation on the speedometer certification.


Paperwork Verification
The police have to do the paperwork. If the prosecution produces certification or related paperwork be sure they match up. If they produce a certification on the tuning forks for a certain radar unit, make them show (by serial number) that this particular tuning fork was used on the specific radar unit to which it belongs, and that the specific radar unit was installed in the
specific car the day it was used to determine your speed. This has to be shown by log book entries; the officer’s word is not good enough unless you accept it. In nearly all cases, the officer does not know the serial number of the unit installed in the car he was assigned that day. There is no time to spend days researching maintenance records to make a paper trail, the trial is
today.
*Note*: The prosecution has already rested its case; it cannot ask for an extension unless you let them. If they ask for an extension, object! The judge will turn them down. If you do not object, the judge may grant the request.


Radar
We all have heard the stories of radar units clocking trees at over 50 MPH and stop signs at over 150 MPH. All courts have taken judicial action that radar readings are admissible provided the following chain of four items remains unbroken:
1. The unit was used properly by a trained and qualified operator.
2. The radar unit is properly maintained.
3. The radar unit was properly tested.
4. The calibration device used to test the radar unit was in proper operating order and was tested accurate within a reasonable period of time, usually 6 months.


Judicial Notice
Judicial notice is the court accepting something as fact which does not have to be proven again. A judicially noted fact is not subject to dispute because it is either known and accepted as true by the court, or it can be accurately tested by an authority in the appropriate field. Courts have taken judicial notice that radar and speedometers are accurate measuring devices provided they are calibrated and used correctly.
Accept it: radar works; officers know how to use it, and the court will accept their testimony unless you find fault with any one of the above four admissible evidence items. Finding fault with any one of the items breaks the chain of evidence. Break one link and the court can no longer assume to a legal degree of certainty that the readings are correct and accurate. This leaves the prosecution without credible evidence for their case.