Expert: Jason Grabill - 11/16/2006

Question
Well i lost the case on the grounds that the officers 6 year experience of the area was sufficient evidence that he knew where the line was and would not have used his laser gun across the state line. He actually lied in court b/c he said that he operated the laser gun even though this was not the case as a fellow officer was operating the laser gun. I however came away with a valuable piece of evidence i was not privy to at any point. the officers reading from the laser gun of distance was 1100 feet or 366.6 yards. I went to the exact spot he testified today that he was at and parked my car along side the road at the county line sign which he says he uses to discern state from state. the yardage came out to be 358 yards (with a bushnell laser yardage finder) from the exact spot to the the front of my car parked even with the county line marker sign. because this was a hill that bottoms out to where the trooper was operating the laser gun i even used a fixed object between those two points and that came out to be 350 yards total, which also exactly coincides with the amount of yardage strides (350) i took from point "trooper" to point "state line". I am going to appeal this case to a higher court as it is my right to do so. with this new amount of evidence what do you think my odds are of winning? B/c the distances are all below his amount, suggesting i was not over or so close to the state line that it cannot be admissible into court. what do you think the odds are of that?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
hello, I hope that you can help me in this matter. I recently got a speeding ticket in MD while i was crossing the Pa to MD state border. I was lasered on the Pa side of the posted signs and halfway between both "welcome to" signs for Pa and MD the officer proceeded to step out onto the road and issue me a citation for $70. It is not the cost of the citation but I am challenging the jurisdictional powers of the officer by attempting to prove that he has no exact knowledge of where the Pa/MD line is so he cannot laser people in between posted state line signs.  the signs are approximately half a mile or more apart and can be seen from one another.  What do you believe my options are? The citing officer had a fellow officer operating the laser gun for him as I crossed the state border. Are there any policies the State police should follow with regards to state borders?
best regards,
Robert
-----Answer-----
Robert:

  While on the face of it, you would appear to have a valid challenge, I don't think you'll win the case;  simply because the trooper is going to be able to say exactly where the line is, and is not.  The "Welcome to Maryland" sign is usually several hundred yards beyond the actual state line.  While the trooper may have had you on the laser on the PA side, and could not have cited you for speeding there, as soon as you crossed the Maryland line (not where the 'Welcome' sign is, but where the actual line is), you were 'fair game' so to speak.  If the signs are 1/2 mile apart, (the welcome sign and the official 'state line' sign) that is plenty of time for the laser to get an accurate speed reading.  The laser unit is almost infallible, and courts recognize that fact.

The policies MSP follows basically are like any other jurisdiction;  as soon as you come inside 'their' jurisdiction (which in this case, is the state line..not where the 'Welcome' sign is) they have authority.

 Based on what you've told me, it's an interesting arguement, and certainly worth trying, because you may in fact convince the judge the trooper "got" you on the Pa side, which would invalidate the citation.  I'd say your odds of winning are about 40 percent, 'maybe'.  So, it's certainly worth a try.

 Of course, I have to add...don't speed.  :)

Good luck regardless.

Jason

Answer
Robert:

 First, apologies for my tardiness in the reply, having computer issues..sorry.

 I think with the information you now have, you can certainly take it to the appeals level.  I would caution you, however, not to use the words "the trooper lied" etc;  rather, try something along the lines of "I believe the trooper is mistaken" or some such.  

Best of luck!