I got a ticket for doing 38MPH in a 20MPH school zone. The police that gave me the ticket were out of their geographical jurisdiction. Can I fight this ticket?
by 
Phooey
ANSWERS: 3
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Certainly, you can fight any speeding ticket. The first thing to do is to check the court listed on the ticket and then you have to find out what area this court covers. If the court does not cover the location of the violation you can make a motion for dismissal based on lack of venue. It is highly unlikely the officers were set up outside of their area but it does happen. In Texas you do have the right to a jury trial and most courts do not want to hold jury trials. If you plead not guilty and ask for a trial they are much more likely to either offer a reduction or get mad and throw the book at you. Just depends on the judge.
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If the speeding violation took place in their jurisdiction and they followed you to another jurisdiction, the citation would be valid. any violation of the law, committed in one jurisdiction, can be satisfied in another jurisdiction. a good example is the hot pursuit law. if a criminal act is committed in one jurisdiction, the police may pursue the defendent to another jurisdiction, including one state to another, for apprehension. the police are granted broad powers in these circumstances. Ever watch the movie, smokey and the bandit? pay the ticket.
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John P. is correct. They may have tracked you from their jurisdiction and stopped you in another. They can also stop any crime or infraction in progress that may cause imminent harm, so long as they contact the agency with proper jursidiction over the location. The bigger issue is that you were doing 38 in a 20 school zone. These zones are set up for a reason and hundreds of injured children a year can tell you exactly why; the dead ones can't. How would you react if your child was struck by a car going nearly twice as fast as the legal limit? The judge is likely to have very little compassion for this kind of infraction.
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