Beating a ticket: just the facts

Re “Railroaded in traffic court?” Current, Feb. 25

Traffic court in Los Angeles County is a farce. Many times I’ve witnessed (as an observer, not a defendant) what T. Alex Blum writes about. No matter how convincing a case he might present, a defendant in front of one of these so-called judges has absolutely no chance if the traffic cop appears in court. The defendant can have half a dozen witnesses backing up his or her story, but the judge will take the cop’s word against the accused 95% of the time. After all, cops never lie, do they?

MICHAEL B. DRUXMAN

Los Angeles

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Blum never really said whether he was guilty of the ticketed offense. What does it matter that the cop was “overzealous”? If you committed the crime, you pay your dime.

MARC SCHLENKER

Rosamond

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I just read Blum’s account of his experience in traffic court in Santa Monica. Although I was not there and do not have all the facts, in most of the cases I would probably have had to agree with the judge. Blum did not give a single example of a defendant actually arguing the law in a case. It is possible to win a case in traffic court, but you have to prepare a defense based on the law and the facts.

GEORGE MCCALIP

Sunset Beach