For this assignment I had the privilege to listen to the bench trials for Fernley Municipal Court on November twenty-ninth, two-thousand sixteen. One of the cases was about a woman who was charged with driving fifteen mph over the speed limit, following too closely, and a broken brake light. Originally the police officer who stopped her gave her a break and only wrote her a ticket for five mph over the speed limit, and issued warnings for following too closely as well as the broken brake light.
The judge read the defendant her rights before the defendant put in her ‘not guilty’ plea. The prosecution called their witness to testify who was the police officer who pulled the defendant over. The police officer testified that he had indeed ticketed her for speeding and gave her warnings for following too closely and the broken tail light. Then the defendant was given the chance to ask the witness any questions and she did. She chose to ask him if he remembered what kind of vehicle she was following but he could not recall …show more content…
She also stated that the vehicle that was in front of her was not capable of going over thirty-five mph so there was no way she could have been speeding, and her final statement was that she took a picture of her brake light after the police officer left and it was not broken. The prosecutor was given a chance to question the defendant and asked her for proof that the brake light wasn’t broken but she was not able to submit proof. The defendant and the prosecutor gave their closing statements. The prosecutor asked that the judge charge her with the full speeding, following too closely, and broken brake light violation. However, the judge decided she was guilty of speeding and the broken tail light and not-guilty of following too