Jury duty! Again!

[PegLeg45]

You are right on that, Bill, it is a big business in my area........especially with illegals.
90% of the arrests in our local paper everyday are illegals that were caught DUI, suspended license or no license, no tag, and no insurance. If that were me, they would throw me under the jail. But the immigrants get a heavy fine (which they eagerly pay) and then get turned loose to change their name and do it again next week. The system isn't worried about sending them away because they make the county/city a surplus of money.
I went to municipal/traffic court once just to watch the dog and pony show. I watched as the 'judge' fined one guy $5000 for a third offense DUI/License/Insurance offense.....and the guy pulled it out of his pocket and paid the clerk. The judge then suspended the jail sentence, since the guy paid the fine.....I left, shaking my head.

[tombogan03884]

Pay the right Lawyer enough money and you are Golden.
I used to work for a guy who was up for "Habitual Offender DUI" for the 4th time. No jail time.
His lawyer had a reputation of being able to get sodomy reduced to tailgating.

[billt]

You are right on that, Bill, it is a big business in my area. I went to municipal/traffic court once just to watch the dog and pony show. I watched as the 'judge' fined one guy $5000 for a third offense DUI/License/Insurance offense.....and the guy pulled it out of his pocket and paid the clerk. The judge then suspended the jail sentence, since the guy paid the fine.....I left, shaking my head.

It all about the dollars, always the dollars. Always has been. Law enforcement and the courts work the same way today as when Al Capone ran Chicago. It is just more out in the open today as you proved with your open courtroom observance. Remember, this is all cash money at 100% pure profit. It goes right into the city and municipal coffers, and most likely into someones pocket. Has there ever been a case involving accounting fraud in the traffic court system? If there has I've never heard about it. It's up to the judge who pays what for whatever offense. It's not like there is a bar code to scan.

 It's no different with all of these state sponsored lotteries. These things have been raking in cash by the BILLIONS of dollars for over 30 years in this country. They pay back squat simply because most of the time they purchase the winners a cut rate annuity for a small fraction of what they collect. Even if the winner demands a one time cash payout, it is nothing compared to what they've hauled in on that particular ticket. Where has all that money gone? When the lottery's were instituted in this country they were sold to the people on the basis the money collected would be used for education and infrastructure. Today kids graduating are dumber than ever, and our highways and bridges are all falling apart with no money to fix any of them. What do all of the teachers and school systems cry about? They need more money! When it comes to making money disappear, city and state government has got David Copperfield and Chris Angel beat 11 ways to Sunday!  Bill T.

[fightingquaker13]

The secret to that is to NOT take the breathalyser or field sobriety tests, and keep your damn mouth shut in back of the squad car (doing stupid human tricks or asking if the officer is, perchance, a jew, does not look good in court ). at that point it is a matter of money, your word against the officers, and if you've got the cash to pay a lawyer to make it a PITA for the prosecuters? Well, they'll generally take your money, suspend your license and call it a day.
FQ13

[jaybet]

I've got a cousing who is going in the slammer for a couple of months for NOT taking the brethalyzer under suspicion of his third DUI. (Yeah.... I know...) Evidently under those circumstances it's a felony to refuse the test.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

The secret to that is to NOT take the breathalyser or field sobriety tests, and keep your damn mouth shut in back of the squad car.

The problem with that is a little thing they learned a long time ago called Implied Consent. You are basically GUILY until you prove yourself INNOCENT. They've got this whole thing down to a science. A very profitable science. No matter how you look at it, it's all about collecting the cash, and masking it all over with actually caring about the public's "safety". No one has told them a wealthy drunk isn't any "safer" than one who is broke.  Bill T.

[fightingquaker13]

Here in Fl. its only a six month suspension if you refuse. In the event of a crash, they can force you to take the blood test. For a regular DUI the general consensus is that if you know you're guilty, its best to refuse as you'll lose the license for at least 6 months anyway. Why hand them evidence on a platter? 
FQ13

[billt]

For a regular DUI the general consensus is that if you know you're guilty, its best to refuse as you'll lose the license for at least 6 months anyway. Why hand them evidence on a platter? 
FQ13

Here I could not agree more. Well said.  Bill T.

[billt]

Another thing is to politely ask in a clear tone of voice to be cuffed and placed into the back of the squad car after refusing any and all field sobriety tests. If you notice, they like to parade you around in front of the car so the dash cam picks up as much as possible. I had a co worker make such an issue of this they shut off the dash cam and did what he asked. I'm not an attorney but there is something about not wanting to incriminate yourself they have to respond to.    Bill T.

[fightingquaker13]

Another thing is to politely ask in a clear tone of voice to be cuffed and placed into the back of the squad car after refusing any and all field sobriety tests. If you notice, they like to parade you around in front of the car so the dash cam picks up as much as possible. I had a co worker make such an issue of this they shut off the dash cam and did what he asked. I'm not an attorney but there is something about not wanting to incriminate yourself they have to respond to.    Bill T.

Its a very stupid (or very scary) cop that will turn off that camera. It there for their protection (unless of course they want to kick your ass ).
FQ13