Google Is Worthless

[Atrocities]

Well I won.

I had originally asked to have todays trial date posponed but the court never issued me another date so I went ahead and drove the 150 miles to the Dalles. The clerk was surprised to see me and mentioned that my citation plea had been changed because I failed to appear for court today. I found that funny given the fact that the time I was too appear for court wasn't for another 30 minutes. (They lied to me. That flat out lied to me. They said that my case would be postponed but in fact it had not been. Instead they simply changed my plea expecting that I would not show.)

My case was called before the judge and the office was present. The judge did his thing and then the Trooper made his statement. The judge asked me if I had any thing to say and I asked him if I could ask the trooper some questions. He indicated I could so I asked the trooper how fast I was going. I said that he did not indicate my speed on the ticket so how fast was I going? The officer said he didn't recall. I then said, "Was I traveling at 65, 64, 63 miles per hour?" Trooper - "I don't recall."

I then asked him "Isn't it a true fact that I asked how it could be possible if I was traveling at 65mph with my cruise control on to be considered a slow driver? You stated that, and I quote you 'The left lane is for passing only.'"
Trooper - "I recall saying that yes."
ME - "Let me get this right. It is your interruption of ORS 811.315 that the left hand lane is for passing only?"
Trooper - "Correct, that is the law."
Me - "I see." I then turned my attention to the judge and said, "Your Honor I have here a copy of ORS 811.315 and with your permission I would like to read it to the court." The judge stuck out his hand and asked to see the document. I handed it too him. He read it for a moment and then told me to show it to the officer. I did. The officer just glanced at it and handed it back to me.

Me - "Now Trooper-" The Judge cut in. "Mr. Christopher, how fast were you going?" Me - "65mph with my cruise contro-"
The judge puts his finger to his temple and kinda started to rub his head. At this point I felt like I was about to loose my lunch. The then says "Trooper M****** please tell me that you didn't cite Mr. Christopher for driving 65 in a 65 mile per hour speed zone?"
Trooper - "No your honor, I cited him for slow drive failin-"
Judge - "I've heard enough." He had put up his hand palm out at the officer when he said that. Then he looked to me and said "Citation dismissed. Your free to go Mr. Christopher."
He then turned back to the trooper and said. "In the future Trooper M****** please leave the interpreting of the law to the court and stick with simply enforcing it.

The trooper acknowledged with a real pitiful "yes your honor."

I didn't know what to do... I had won. It cost me $60.00 in fuel to drive up there just to save $180.00 x 2 in fines. So I guess I can count this one in the win column for now.