Cvc 21650

[carnivore7]

Greetings all:

My wife was involved recently in a single car accident in which our vehicle was totalled. My wife ran the car off the road and into a ditch. An officer was dispatched to the scene to write up an accident report. We did not even know she had been cited until the courtesy notice arrived in the mail 15 days later. She was cited for violating CVC 21650, driving on the wrong side of the road.
We fought the ticket by mail, using a Trial By Declaration; she was found guilty. Our defense was that she was not in fact, driving on the wrong side of the road, because the officer's report even states that she was not! We are now preparing to go to court to contest the decision.
My question is: Could the judge have interpreted the code to mean that she is guilty of running off the side of the road? The code section is very specific, in my opinion. The officer wrote on the traffic ticket, "...driving on the wrong half of the roadway."

I'd be grateful for an opinion. I still think we have a case.

Thank you,
Carnivore7

 

[freebird]

Greetings all:

My wife was involved recently in a single car accident in which our vehicle was totalled. My wife ran the car off the road and into a ditch. An officer was dispatched to the scene to write up an accident report. We did not even know she had been cited until the courtesy notice arrived in the mail 15 days later. She was cited for violating CVC 21650, driving on the wrong side of the road.
We fought the ticket by mail, using a Trial By Declaration; she was found guilty. Our defense was that she was not in fact, driving on the wrong side of the road, because the officer's report even states that she was not! We are now preparing to go to court to contest the decision.
My question is: Could the judge have interpreted the code to mean that she is guilty of running off the side of the road? The code section is very specific, in my opinion. The officer wrote on the traffic ticket, "...driving on the wrong half of the roadway."

I'd be grateful for an opinion. I still think we have a case.

Thank you,
Carnivore7

I have no idea what the judge was thinking but it's not his place to stretch the law. If your wife was cited with the wrong section, too bad so sad on the state. Go for it and good luck!!!