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How can I challenge the radar gun result?

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Host: How can I challenge the radar gun result?

Steve Duckett: Well, again if you are charged in the speeding case, there's two ways that the officer can prove it. It's either by pacing your vehicle; pacing your vehicle is establishing a fixed distance between his vehicle and your vehicle and he looks at his speedometer to see what his vehicle is going and he interprets that as your vehicle speed as well. The other most common way is by radar. In either case, the officer is required upon questioning to present calibrations for the accuracy of those instruments, whether be his speedometer or the radar or in some cases both, if it's a moving radar case. You need to know what it was about, what calibrations are acceptable, what the timeframe will be, there's many things to consider and I'll give you Virginia as an example. An officer can present calibrations to the court that are valid within six months. If it's out-of-date, the judge won't look at it and if you think about what a calibration certificate is, it's here say. There are however, statutory exceptions in every state to here's their requirement. Each officer doesn't calibrate his own speedometer or his own radar to have people who do that. That's their job and then they sign these calibration certificates and if they sign them correctly and if their docs are all in a row, they will meet the criteria set forth by the here's the exceptions statute in your state court. So give that a look-over; if you can't understand what it means, talk to an attorney. Most guys like me, will spend a five minutes on the phone when you, before you go to traffic court and just help you kind of get through it. So know what calibration certificates are admissible; what calibration certificates are inadmissible and what the criteria are for a valid calibration certificate by the officer.

Expert: Steve Duckett

www.duckettlaw.com

P: 703-691-2900

Email: sld@duckettlaw.com

Steven L. Duckett, Jr. was born and raised in the DC suburbs of Northern Virginia. He attended Paul VI High School (1990), University of Richmond (1994) and Valparaiso University School of Law (1997). Mr. Duckett has spent the entirety of his legal career practicing in criminal and traffic law. He created the law firm of Steven L. Duckett, Jr., P.C. in April 2001.