I’ve written before about fighting calibration certificates in reckless driving by speed cases. The other day in Stafford General District Court, I had a great opportunity to put that into action.
Required notice from the Virginia State Bar:
NOTE THAT CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS THAT ARE UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. PREVIOUS RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN A FUTURE CASE THAT I UNDERTAKE.
My client was charged with reckless driving by speed. I got to court early like usual and talked to the trooper to find out what evidence he had against my client.
The trooper could prove that he clocked my client with his radar gun and that the radar read the alleged speed. However, things looked up when I asked to see his tuning fork calibration certificates.
The officers use tuning forks to check their radar for accuracy each day. Under Virginia Code 46.2-882, they must have a valid certificate dated within the past six months.
In this case, the trooper’s certificate looked proper on its face and was dated within the correct time period. However, it was a xerox copy that was blank on the back.
Why does that matter?
The statute requires the Commonwealth to have “a certificate, or a true copy thereof.” Thus, if the certificate is not an original, it has to be a “true copy.”
That term is defined in Virginia Code 8.01-391(B). That statute requires “… that such copy is authenticated as a true copy either by the custodian of said record or by the person to whom said custodian reports, if they are different, and is accompanied by a certificate that such person does in fact have the custody.”
In other words, the copy itself needs some language on it to verify that it’s actually a copy of the original. Simple, right?
This certificate was just a xerox. It didn’t have any language on it from anyone to indicate that the xerox was a duplicate of the original, where the original was kept, etc.
Without that piece of evidence, the Commonwealth couldn’t prove that the trooper’s radar gun was accurate. The judge dismissed the reckless driving charge.
Definitely a great result, and it’s one that most likely wouldn’t happen without having an experienced traffic attorney in your corner.
Photo by U.S. Pacific Fleet