Good afternoon George. I listen to you on the Regular Guys, and I've got a question about going to court without legal representation. My court date is in January in Loganville, GA. In court proceedings the defense has the right of discovery about the evidence that the State is going to show before the judge. This may include any radio transmissions, video taping etc. Do I have a right to get this evidence that they are going to use against me prior to the court date? And if I do, what are the steps that I need to take to get this evidence to support my claims that the officer's claim of running a stop sign and speeding are embellished and false. The reason that I ask is that the officer first said I ran a stop sign. He ran my license and saw that I've had one speeding ticket in the past 3 years. In Loganville, this doubles the fine. He then said that I was speeding and wrote a ticket for unlawful speeding 50 in a 35. I have proof from road tests that prove my vehicle (2005 Honda minivan)cannot get upto 50mph in the span between the two stop signs ( 1/11 of a mile) that the violation allegedly occurred. I believe that any recorded evidence that the officer has will show that I did stop at the stop sign and I was not speeding. Thank you and thanks for being the major sponsor of The Regular Guys.

First of all, all traffic citations in the state of Georgia, whether it is running a stop sign, or DUI are considered misdemeanors. Therefore, you are entitled to discovery from the state. To receive discovery from the state, you must file what are called "discovery motions" within 1 0 days of being arraigned on your charges. In this discovery motion you must lay out what types of information you are seeking from the State. Now, the State is required to produce some discovery when requested by a Defendant, but these requirements can be limited depending on what you are seeking. They must always provide you a list of witnesses who may testify against you as well as police reports, citations, video or audio, witness statements and any evidence which could be "exculpatory", which simply means evidence which could show your innocence. As you can see, sometimes this can get a little complicated which is why hiring a lawyer can really be in your best interest in most cases. That being said, a lot of what you may be seeking in a simpler criminal case may be public record which you would be entitled to received through the Georgia Open Records Act without filing discovery motions. These requests can be made through the police agency that arrested or cited you. In your case, you are in a municipal court in Loganville. When you go to your first court hearing, you can ask the prosecutor, who will be called "the Solicitor" , if he will provide you with any report or video in your case. Most of the time, they will be willing to help you out. Municipal Courts want to keep their cases from being moved to a State Court so they can keep fine money within their own municipality. With a speeding ticket, you can also ask for the officer to show you his radar logs and such to prove his devices was in working order. So that being said, I believe the best advice I can give you is try and work with the Solicitor in Loganville. If needed, attempt to get the reports and video/audio from the officers through the Open Records Act as it is easier then filing formal discovery which truly is a much more formal legal process.

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