Statik,
Is this your first ticket in CT?
My experience has been that your first trip is not really a court case. You meet with a prosecuter whose primary goal is to reduce the number of cases that actually make it to trial.

First they offer to reduce the fine immediately if you will just pay and go away (but your points are there and your insurance is adversely affected).
If you resist with a compelling argument they may throw it out and admonish you to not let it happen again or they give you a court date for trial when the cop would be expected to show up. By the time you actually go to court if you have to it will be about 2 to 3 months after event.

My recommendation is that you go to your first meeting without an attorney and there you will get an idea from the prosecutor whether this is a minor offense that they will throw out or if you will actually have to go to a trial. YOu must display your poker face - never let them thnk you are a pushover while remaining polite. It is also a good idea to have a manila folder with some papers/diagrams/notes/ numbers in it as if you did your homework. (Remember, however, they will try to scare you to believing that going to court will be the worst thing in your life and that if you lose you will have to pay court fees - yada,yada, yada).
Good Luck!
BTW, my car is in. I'm trying to pick it up tomorrow (holiday).

 

Adnama-

Hey man...guess what I saw when I was at Harte last night?! That's right!!! I walked into the dealership with my g/f and saw that beautiful TB sitting on the showroom floor! Yummy! You are pretty much going to soil yourself when you see it! One word of advice...pick the car up during the day and use the daylight to your advantage...INSPECT EVERY INCH.

I failed to inspect the car fully when I picked it up, mostly because I was in shock, and secondly because it was nighttime. I found a scratch which Harte had to subsequently buff out for me. No harm no foul...they were great about it, but definitely check out the car ahead of time.

As for the ticket...no...actually I've had probably 5 or 6 since I was 16, and I've been to court numerous times. Most of the time, I'll meet with the prosecutor and it's dealt with quickly. I've also had to go to Hartford Superior and Middletown Superior where I met with a prosecutor AND a judge in the same visit. I've never been asked to come back and I've never walked away with the same fine or more...it's always less. Out of the four times I've been to court, only one has been thrown out, and the others have been reduced.

I'll certainly take my chances on this one only because I don't believe in the validity of the "pacing" method of speed trapping. I'm trying to research some precident to bring with me so I hope it all works out.

At any rate...good luck on the car man! Tell William I said "Hi" and ask him where my "apology letter" from Infiniti is!!!

'04 6MT, Laser Red/Graphite, Prem, Navi, 4-Piece Aero, BSM

 

Statik,
Man, you are so right. I pride myself in my abilty to remain emotionally unattached to most things. However, when I circled the car and felt those lines my heart jumped up to my mouth. I tried to appear unaffected so that the sales people wouldn't know that they could probably rip me off right then and there (like charge me 10% finance or sell me a ton of useless add-ons, etc.) and I wouldn't figure it out until a day later.

Thanks for the advice. I went there armed with my digital camera and took about 45 pics, inside and out, so that I can inspect it at home on the computer before declaring the car ready for delivery.