Q: Can the judge deny and refuse to argue a motion to dismiss?
I have two charges that were based on thr black box of the car (Event Data Recorder) extractEd 4 months after the accident. The charges are speed and Reckless Driving.
The officer who charged me had no experience dealing with the EDR, and I had an altercation with him which resulted in me submitting a complaint against him. The day after the complaint (80 days after the accident) he got a search warrant and a Detective extracted the EDR.
The officer claimed that the EDR shows me wavering between lanes and speeding which warranted a Reckless Driving and speeding charges.
Fortunately, the Detective (the EDR Expert) wrote an official report stating that only speeding ticket is appropriate and he had no probable cause to believe any other moving violation had happened.
I sent the judge the Detective report and asked her to dismiss the malicious Reckless Driving charge. She denied the motion and said something like "facts are disputed in trial"
A: The judge is correct the time to argue facts are trial. I understand this is not the answer you were hoping to hear, in criminal cases there is not a Motion for Summary Judgment where you are permitted to get a ruling of guilty or not guilty based on undisputed facts prior to trial. You can provide factual information and mitigation to the prosecutor, but if a resolution is not reached prior to trial then the judge will hear the evidence at trial. This is why it is critically important to have a good attorney on your side to best discuss with the prosecutor, gather the evidence, and present the case at trial as necessary.
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