What to do if you get a speeding ticket in Kansas.

So you got busted.  You were going over the posted limit and looked up to see some red and blue flashing lights.  Now what are you going to do?  You don't want the penalty on your license or the increase in your insurance premiums when your insurance company finds out.  But what options do you have? In Kansas, you usually have three different options.

1. Go to court and schedule your case for trial.  Then go back on your trial date and defend yourself.
    * This is the time when you can bring up mistakes in the ticket or argue that you were in fact not speeding
2. You can try to get a diversion
     * This can get your ticket dismissed altogether if you meet the diversion requirements.
3. Try to get the ticket amended to a lesser charge that does not go on your driving record.
     *This will keep your driving record clean and your ticket will not show up to the insurance company

 Here is a video that better explains the process.

Kansas Judge talks about harsh new DUI laws.

Well, our constitutional protections are beat down even more.  The Kansas Legislature is making it a crime to exercise your fifth amendment right.  It is a long held belief that you don't have to do anything that provides evidence to prosecute you in a criminal case, but that looks like it will be changing on July 1, 2012.  The legislature is making it illegal to refuse to blow in a breathalyzer.

This just doesn't make sense to me and I can't see how it will stand up to the fifth amendment when it gets to the Kansas Supreme Court, which is surely will.  I don't understand how anyone can use the legal argument like used in the article below?  Punishing people more harshly for a law that they don't even know exists does nothing to deter criminals.  That and to say that its ok to violate our constitutional protections because it makes the streets safer is moronic!  Why don't we just start going into people's houses and start searching for illegal things, I mean if it keeps the streets more safe it would be justified by this line of thought.  Or better yet we could just suspend the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment altogether.

Here is the article that inspired this post.

Judges hopeful new DUI laws will equal safer streets

By Craid Andres

Wichita, Kansas -- Two of the last five years Kansas had the second largest increase in alcohol-related fatalities in the nation. One Wichita judge says a new law may help change that statistic.  Beginning July first, if you refuse to take a breathalyser test on a suspected DUI traffic stop, it's a crime. A second traffic stop and refusal is a felony.  "I think the new law will certainly help," says Wichita judge Phil Journey.  For Journey, it's personal.

"Well I've been working on the issue and trying to improve the DUI laws in Kansas for almost a decade now," explains Journey. "Since I started in the Kansas Senate years ago. I started running bills when I was in the Kansas Senate and it was always a very difficult and emotional issue."  But Journey says making the second refusal to take a breathalyser test, a big move. A move he hopes will get the attention of those who chose to drink and drive.  "Well, I can't tell you how frustrated I get sometimes when I see an offender that has come before me two or three times in the past and that they just can't seem to make a little better choice in their life," says Journey. "But, I think that we will find eventually that these will be very positive changes in Kansas law that will help make us all a little bit safer."

Some attorneys in Kansas are left wondering if personal freedoms are being infringed upon with the new law.
"Any time anybody comes in and says we need tougher DUI laws that always sounds good initially," says Wichita Attorney Kurt Kerns. "Oh, sure, I'm all for tough law enforcement. But there reaches a point where you're sacrificing essential liberties and essential freedoms."

"It's been long held that nobody accused of a crime should be forced to do anything to... Provide evidence against themselves. Yet here we are passing laws that basically say that's the case. You have to offer evidence that could be used against you. And I think it violated the 5th amendment. I always have."

Judge Journey counters with keeping the streets safer. He also says, as a judge, he tries to use preventive measures to keep DUI offenders from offending again.  "I think it's really important as a judge that I have an array of options in front of me," says Journey. "You can't just jail them and expect them to get better. You need to have as many tools in the toolbox as possible and the statutes do give me more tools. For example, on repeat offenders they can be sent to the Department of Corrections for treatment prison rather than simply just be warehoused in the county jail. And then, after they come back from the treatment program, I can decide whether they stay in jail or get probation."

The new law begins July 1st.

In what city are you most likely to get a speeding ticket?

I ran across this article and thought is was pretty interesting.  It breaks down the cities in the United States you are most likely to get a traffic ticket in.  It compiles the data and ranks the cities by taking statistics from speeding ticket or traffic ticket searches on google.  I'm not sure how accurate or scientific that is but it makes sense to me.  The place where more people are looking for speeding ticket lawyers is probably the place giving out the most traffic tickets.  Looks like the list breaks down like this.

1. Atlanta
2. Los Angeles
3. Dallas-Fort Worth
4. Miami
5. New York
6. Chicago
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Houston
9. Orlando
10. San Diego

Looks like Kansas City is not on the list so that is good.  I wonder if they compiled the entire metro if the ranking would change?  Some of the smaller towns hand out quite a few traffic tickets.  Here is the article text.

Where are you most likely to get a speeding ticket?
By Jayne Clark, USA Today

Your odds of getting a traffic ticket are greatest in Nevada, if the analysis of a motorists' rights group is on the money.  The National Motorists Association has issued its second tally of states in which motorists are most likely to catch the spirit-deflating sight of flashing red lights in their rearview. Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Maryland round out the top five.  The least likely states to get pulled over and ticketed: the wide-open roads of Wyoming, followed by Montana.  New in this year's analysis (the NMA issued a similar tally in 2010) is a ranking of most ticket-happy metro areas. They are:

1. Atlanta
2. Los Angeles
3. Dallas-Fort Worth
4. Miami
5. New York
6. Chicago
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Houston
9. Orlando
10. San Diego

Both rankings are based on analysis of ticket-related Google search queries ("speeding ticket," "traffic ticket" and similar terms) in relation to specific geographic areas.Spokesman John Bowman acknowledges the methodology isn't exactly scientific, but then, most states don't routinely track such information.

"It's unwieldy because states include hundreds, if not thousands, of ticketing jurisdictions," he says.
Another factor: In many states, a portion of some traffic fines are turned over to the state. So in order to keep revenues in local coffers, authorities might reduce a moving violation infraction to a lesser charge, Bowman says. At any rate, there's no aggregate data available for a topic that's of great interest to many motorists.

Likewise, there's no hard data on the location and prevalence of speed traps, but the NMA nevertheless maintains the National Speed Trap Exchange website, which enables motorists to add spots to the list based on personal experience.  The takeaway for motorists over the coming Memorial Day weekend and beyond: Drive in a safe and prudent manner, but take extra care if you're passing through certain states and metro areas, Bowman says.  Is there a state or locale in which you ease off the pedal? Or wish you had?

Every cop in this Small town gets busted for forgery now they have no police force!

If you have been through Macks Creek, you know that it is a huge speed trap.  I grew up just a short ways away and every time you went through there on the way to the lake or to the outlet malls you would always see people pulled over.  I bet that there are hundreds of people that cheered when they heard these cops were facing charges over these missing funds.  But it is even more hilarious that they wiped out the whole department.  Here is the article in the Pitch.



Lawless in Lanagan, The Missouri town without a police force
By: Jonathan Bender


If you don't pay your traffic tickets, your car might get the boot. If a city apparently stiffs the state, it could lose its police force.

The two men who make up the police department in Lanagan, Missouri (three hours south of Kansas City), have been charged with forging traffic ticket documents. Police Chief Larry Marsh and officer Michael Gallhue were arrested last week by the Missouri Highway Patrol.  In November 2011, the office of state auditor Thomas Schweich issued the results of an audit, which discovered "missing funds" and what was termed routine violations of "Macks Creek Law." The town apparently failed to send excess funds (estimated at $36,000) collected on speeding tickets to the state for distribution to local schools. The report asserts that the police department then filed false Missouri Vehicle Stops Annual Reports with the attorney general's office to hide that money.

A grand jury in McDonald County indicted the two officers for felony forgery. Marsh has been charged with five counts of felony forgery and altering a racial profiling report, while Gallhue faces two charges of felony forgery. The Missouri Highway Patrol then arrested the two men, who have been suspended without pay. The McDonald County Sheriff's Office has taken over the law enforcement duties in Lanagan.

Justin Blackmon (OSU COWBOYS/ Jacksonville Jaguars) gets a 2nd DUI charge

Saw this on another criminal defense attorney's blog.  Thought it was interesting.  Hopefully Blackmon will keep himself out of trouble when he's out on bond.  A second DUI has some pretty stiff penalties here in Kansas and since lots of Oklahoma law is based on Kansas law I assume its quite a big deal their as well.

If you find yourself needing a criminal defense lawyer in Overland Park, Olathe, or anywhere else in the metro give us a call.

Justin Blackmon enters not guilty plea for aggravated DUI charge

By Samantha Vincent

Former Oklahoma State Unviersity wide receiver Justin Blackmon appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to an aggravated DUI charge Monday afternoon.  Blackmon, 22, was arrested by Stillwater police officers at 3:14 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of aggravated driving under the influence.  He was released from custody around 12:45 p.m. that day and was charged with misdemeanor aggravated DUI Monday morning.

Officer Charles Murphy, while monitoring traffic on 6th Avenue, pulled over a white Chevrolet Tahoe for driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone and driving left of center, according to an affidavit. The driver, Blackmon, made an improper turn by turning into the outside lane of traffic, Murphy said.

Blackmon stopped in a gas station parking lot near McElroy Road and Perkins Road after failing to yield to the officer for about four blocks, according to a police report. Blackmon, according to Stillwater officer Jeff Dillon, was unsteady on his feet, had slurred speech and had glassy, bloodshot eyes.  He reportedly admitted consuming alcohol prior to driving.  No other occupants were in the vehicle.  While being questioned by officers, Blackmon reportedly was argumentative and stated, "I just flew in, I don't know why you're harassing me", according to the affidavit.  He was then arrested and taken to the Stillwater City Jail, where he agreed to take a breath test.  The results were .24 and .26, the affidavit says. According to the website factsontap.org, a .24 blood alcohol concentration indicates that a 220 pound male would have to consume 12 drinks in a one-hour period.  Blackmon's record shows that he weighs 215 pounds.  Blackmon was then transported to the Payne County Jail and booked on a $1,000 bond, said Payne County Sgt. Brandon Ingham.

"Since he was brought in so late, he was processed and released fairly soon after his arrest," Ingham said. Blackmon, now a receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, will next appear in court at 10:30 a.m. July 24, which is three days before the start of the Jaguars' training camp.  He hired defense attorney Cheryl Ramsey, who also represents OSU basketball player Darrell Williams in his pending felony trial.  Blackmon, a two-time Biletnikoff award winner, was previously arrested in October 2010 on a DUI complaint.  He was pulled over in Carrollton, Texas after driving 92 mph in a 60 mph zone.  Head coach Mike Gundy suspended him for an away game against Kansas State after that arrest.  After a plea deal in Carrollton Municipal Court, Blackmon paid a fine for a reduced charge of minor in possession.

He was also arrested for failing to appear in Logan County (Okla.) court after receiving a ticket for driving 21-25 mph over the speed limit.  The warrant was issued in November 2009 but was not served until May 2010.  Blackmon pleaded no contest to the speeding offense and used his $250 jail bond toward paying fines, court records show.  Dan Edwards, vice president of communications for the Jaguars, said Sunday the Jaguars were aware of the report. "All I can say at this point is that we are gathering information," Edwards said.  "We don't have any further comment at this time."

Edwards said he did not know when a statement would be made about Blackmon's status.  He declined to comment on whether the Jaguars have made contact with Blackmon since his release. As of Tuesday morning, an announcement from the Jaguars about Blackmon's DUI charge has not been released.