Dear ashiland-ga;
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. As
you?ve probably already noted from our disclaimer at the bottom of
this page, our policy prohibits us from offering legal advice.
However, being a 20+ year member of law enforcement myself I?d be
happy to offer you my initial observations, which I believe to be
relevant to your case.
My first reaction to your question was that the charge the officer
indicated on his citation might not fit the offense. Florida State
Statute ?316.1925 Careless driving? clearly states:
?316.1925 Careless driving.--
(1) Any person operating a vehicle upon the streets or highways within
the state shall drive the same in a careful and prudent manner, having
regard for the width, grade, curves, corners, traffic, and all other
attendant circumstances, so as not to endanger the life, limb, or
property of any person. Failure to drive in such manner shall
constitute careless driving and a violation of this section.?
FLORIDA STATUTES
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0316/ch0316.htm
The fact remains that IF your actions did not actually ?endanger the
life, limb, or property of any person? as set forth in the statute
then the offense you allegedly committed does not (in my opinion)
appear fit the charge. For example, if no one swerved to avoid you, or
was in any way directly endangered because of your actions, the charge
itself comes into question becaue your actions are not contrary to
this statute. If you merely changed lanes or even used the lanes
improperly, then a minor offesne of improper lane usage (316.085)
should have been the charge and not the significantly more serious
offense, careless driving (316.1925).
Typically when law enforcement officers make errors and charge someone
incorrectly it creates valid grounds for dismissal in court. Courts
often dismiss cases in which a defendant is incorrectly charged in an
effort to persuade officers to give more thought when enforcing the
law (though they not universally required to do so). In other words,
courts often throw out cases as a punitive measure ? the end result of
course is that the officer who incorrectly charges someone wastes both
his and the courts valuable time and resources. Some states take this
practice to such an extreme as to dismiss cases where defendant?s
names or addres are spelled wrong or his date of birth was
inadvertently transposed on the citation. The bottom line here is that
an officer making an error while pointing out a citizen's error makes
the entire judicial system look very bad indeed, an which explains why
some courts have very little tolerance for these oversights and
omissions. The bonus here is that the defendant often goes free
because of it, and rightly so. Otherwise officers would be making
these mistakes all the time with no checks and balances in place to
prevent them.
Having said that, if this is a case of error on the officer?s part
then your case may be dismissed. In fact, you should not even be found
guilty of a lesser offense; rather the case should be dismissed
entirely. Since your question seems to solicit an educated opinion
rather than legal advice, my opinion is that, on this basis alone, you
certainly ?appear? to have a substantial defense worthy of pursuing in
court. Your recollection of the event relative to the limited distance
in which you could have made a lane choice coupled with the fact that
you believe you were incorrectly charged may very well result in a
dismissal, but then again nothing (in any case) is ever guaranteed.
I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
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