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WI: Improper stop, court procedures, evidence? (Traffic Law)

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 01:51:00 GMT

What is the name of your state?
Wisconsin
Sorry this is kind of long. My main questions and some of my main points are in bold. Please know that anything helpful or trying to be helpful (and not insulting...I KNOW I'm ignorant of legal procedures...that's one reason I'm here...no need to be mean as I have often seen needlessly happen on this board) is greatly appreciated.
I was late for an appointment and not paying very much attention to my driving, but I am 99% certain that I completely stopped (only uncertain because it's habit, but I don't specifically remember) at a certain T intersection. It's right by my house and what I normally do is stop near the sign, then edge up to where I have bi-directional visibility and then proceed. I believe he saw me only after I had stopped due to visibility concerns.
Unfortunately I do not know if the officer was behind me or coming from the left, but I think he must have been behind me (I was making a right turn so I did look left, don't remember seeing him). This is important because the stop is topographically formed such that he would not have been able to see me if he was more than a hundred and fifty feet behind me, and would have had a highly obstructed view if he was coming from the left...but it doesn't look good that I wasn't even aware of where the officer came from. He didn't stop me until I drove down the road another half mile after the supposed infraction, when I opened and shut my door since it had something stuck in it.
Since it is the only ticket I've ever gotten since I received my license (nearly 4 years) the DA offered me no points with still the fine in the "Intake Court." Perhaps I should've taken it (I still have the opportunity unless I take it to trial), but I really don't think I am guilty and don't want this on my record, plus the $200-something fine is an extremely heavy burden since I'm trying to put myself through school. So now I have a pretrial hearing...whatever that is...all they said is it was informal and I could explain myself...does that mean they can dismiss it there (based on photographic evidence) or does that mean that's when I get my last chance to take the plea or go to trial?
I've taken pictures with my (digital...does this make them less trustworthy to the court if I bring them a printout?) camera of cars disappearing out of sight/barely viewable at the sign from both the left and behind. From the left there are bushes and mounds fully and partially blocking the view near the stop sign depending on distance, and from the rear the road is flat for a while near the sign but goes down steeply about 150 feet back. Do I need to file these for the pretrial hearing or do they not even look at them until the trial and if so when/how do I enter these?
At the time I was cited I think I just said "ok" after he explained which stop sign he was referring to. I would've argued/explained it except a. my license had fallen out of my pocket and I didn't find it for a few minutes and thus was rather frazzled and b. I was late, adding more to my distraction and c. I really didn't have time to think about it carefully and try to recall exactly.
Also, do I have a decent case? I measured it out and technically the officer could have been within acceptable view if he was on the edge of tailgating distance, but I doubt that since I didn't even notice him until right before being pulled over. And if he was on the left which I very much doubt, I would not have cut him off if he were so close as to be in the area close enough for unobstructed view. Should I just assume that he was behind me so as to avoid them questioning my attention to my actions and the cars around me at the time, and hope I'm either right or the officer won't remember? Should I bring the left-view pictures just in case but not give them unless needed, or will that be a lost cause if they call me on it anyway, or should I present both saying no matter where he was it's unlikely he would've seen me?
Two informational things: can I learn about what he saw (and which direction he was coming from) before the trial or pretrial? I went to the courthouse to ask to see if I could read what was on the back of the ticket but they said it's only open records after the trial. Also, if anyone could point me to any online sources for usual traffic court procedures for WI (Waukesha Cty) I would very much appreciate it...I keep getting ticket-evading book advertising sites through Google...ARGH it's so irritating. Anyway, I had no idea I'd have to go through a pretrial hearing to get the DA to even look at my evidence and even thought the intake court would be the full trial before I went in...help please...I've never been to court before...
Other factors: the county officer was on a motorcycle, it was sunny and hot that day with good visibility due to weather (not including physical obstructions), the T intersection only had a stop for what would be the vertical part of the T so I had to stop to watch for oncoming traffic, and I believe the only reason he gave me the ticket was because I had opened and shut my door (or that's why he pulled me over...if it's actually illegal that'd be way too dang nitpicky even for our police department...) and because I wrongly told him I couldn't find my license and may not have it at first (he scolded me, said shame on you, 10 minutes later I found it between the seats while he was writing the ticket).

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