Shreveport, LA Auto Accidents: Is a Traffic Violation Citation/Ticket Admissible in My Case?12/25/2023
Typically, the answer is "no," but there are some possible exceptions. How and whether a Louisiana traffic citation or "ticket" can be used as evidence in your Louisiana auto accident claim is a bit complicated. We begin by distinguishing your insurance accident claim and what might happen if the car accident case must go to trial in a Louisiana civil court. In Louisiana courts, there are rules of evidence that limit the use of certain types of documents and testimony. A traffic violation ticket is one such piece of evidence – a document. This means that the jury or judge hearing your car accident case may not hear about the traffic citation/ticket. See the case of Shephard ex rel. Shephard v. Scheeler, 701 So.2d 1308 (La. Supreme Court 1997). By contrast, such is not the case when making an insurance claim. The insurance adjuster assigned to your claim may hear about all the evidence, even evidence that might not be allowed at trial. Practically speaking, then, if a traffic ticket is issued by the Louisiana police to the other driver, the insurance company will know about it. So, if the other driver was given a traffic violation ticket, it will support your insurance claim. But, the insurance company employees know the Louisiana rules of evidence, too. So, the fact that the police issued a traffic violation ticket might not help you too much. That being said, experienced Shreveport auto accident attorneys – like the ones at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams – know that there are options and other methods of excluding or getting certain types of evidence into court. For this discussion, it will help to look at an example. Assume you were injured in a car accident here in Shreveport, Louisiana. Further, assume that the other driver was going 10 to 20 miles over the speed limit and that the cause of the accident was the fact that the other driver was speeding. Speeding is, of course, a violation of Louisiana's traffic laws. The fact that the other driver was speeding will "help" your case since violating traffic laws generally means that the other driver is at fault. An at-fault driver is legally liable to pay compensation for any injuries or property damage caused by the accident. However, in Louisiana, it is necessary to offer evidence that proves each fact, such as the fact that the other driver was speeding. So, some might argue that a speeding citation/ticket can be used as evidence to prove that the other driver was speeding. That might be true for an insurance adjuster, but, as noted, the Louisiana rules of evidence prohibit the use of the traffic ticket as proof that the other driver was speeding. What are the other options? Remember that, in our hypothetical, the goal is to prove the other driver was speeding. The traffic ticket is only one possible method of proving that. Another option is to provide evidence that the other driver pleaded guilty to the speeding ticket. That guilty plea is allowable as evidence to help prove fault. It is also allowable to introduce evidence that the other driver was held guilty of speeding by a judge in a bench trial. In addition, there are still other methods, such as eye-witness testimony from the officer who issued the ticket, testimony from other witnesses, data from the car's "black box" data recorder, and more. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams; if you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog and visiting our website. Generally, the answer is "no" to you being successful for such an appeal. But there are some exceptions. Keep in mind that, very broadly speaking, there are two types of appeals: appeals related to your conviction and appeals related to sentencing. If you plead guilty or accept a plea bargain whereby you plead guilty, it is difficult to successfully appeal your conviction. However, it is less difficult to appeal your sentence. Imagine you plead guilty to a relatively minor offense like simple battery/assault, and the judge sentences you to life in prison. Such a sentence would far exceed what the court is allowed to impose. An appeal should be filed in such a hypothetical. For the remainder of this article, we will focus on circumstances where the guilty plea or the plea bargain might be appealed.
As noted, it is generally difficult to appeal a guilty plea or a plea bargain. With respect to plea bargains, generally, the accused must sign a waiver of appeal as part of the plea bargain. In such circumstances, waivers are valid and enforceable. One possible avenue of appeal after a guilty plea or plea bargain is a claim of procedural violation. For a guilty plea or plea bargain to be valid in Louisiana, the guilty plea/plea bargain must be voluntary, made with an understanding of the nature of the charges and possible sentencing, and with an understanding of rights being given up. To ensure this, Louisiana criminal court judges must follow certain procedures, including:
Finally, the Louisiana criminal court judge will ask you -- the accused -- personally, in an open court, if your plea is voluntary and not the result of force, threats, or promises apart from a plea agreement. If the criminal court judge fails to follow these procedures, then a possible appeal is available on the grounds that the guilty plea/plea bargain was not truly informed and voluntary. For example, if the judge fails to advise the accused of the mandatory minimum sentence before accepting a guilty plea, that failure can be raised on appeal to set aside the guilty plea. An appeal could also be based on failure to understand other consequences of pleading guilty, such as:
Another possible basis for appealing is ineffective assistance of counsel (if the accused had a lawyer). Generally, Louisiana criminal defense lawyers have an obligation to provide the above information to their clients prior to a guilty plea/plea bargain. This can be a difficult type of appeal since, in theory, the judge explained everything that a criminal defense attorney should have explained. But, under some circumstances, ineffective counsel can be used for an appeal. An appeal also might be based on claims of mental impairment and/or lack of mental capacity of a defendant making a plea. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. It is unlikely that a prior Louisiana auto accident will impact your claim or personal injury lawsuit related to a current Louisiana car accident. It is very important to distinguish evidence of a prior accident from evidence of a prior injury. However, evidence of a prior injury might affect your case if the current injuries are the same as or similar to the injuries suffered in the prior accident. Under such a scenario, you still may have a Louisiana personal injury claim, but the claim may be for aggravation of a pre-existing injury. If you have been injured in a Louisiana auto accident and have questions about a past accident or a previous injury, seek a consultation with an experienced Shreveport auto accident attorney like the ones at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. To schedule a consultation, use our Contact Page.
Assuming no commonality of injuries between both accidents, the reason that a prior Louisiana auto accident will likely have little or no impact on your current claim or personal injury lawsuit is that there are several Louisiana evidentiary rules that limit the use of prior acts and/or prior events at trial. Generally, rules of evidence determine what kind of evidence can be used at any civil or criminal trial. As an example, there is a rule of evidence that limits evidence to things that are relevant to a given case. If the case involves a Louisiana auto accident, for obvious reasons, it would almost always NOT be relevant to introduce evidence about the divorce proceedings of the victim or the driver accused of causing the accident. Matters related to a divorce are generally not relevant to the proof necessary in a car accident case. Likewise, evidence related to prior accidents is generally excluded because relevance is often lacking. A prior accident involving sliding on slippery, wet roads is not likely to be relevant to a current accident involving an allegation of running a red light unless there is an argument about aggravation of pre-existing injuries. Evidence of other car accidents is generally inadmissible because there is a substantial risk of grave prejudice because the jury might hold a person legally liable, not for the current accident, but for the past accident. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams; if you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our “Contact Us” page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog post and visiting our website. One of the rights guaranteed by the U.S. and Louisiana Constitutions is the right to counsel. That is the right to consult with and retain a Louisiana criminal defense attorney. The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed this right in the case of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
As a criminal defendant, you have the right to a lawyer AT THE START of the criminal proceedings, not just at the time of trial. That is, you have a right to have your lawyer present at the very beginning when, for example, law enforcement officials are asking you questions. When the police ask you questions, this is legally considered an INTERROGATION. You probably want your lawyer present when the police are interrogating you. To exercise your right to a lawyer, all you have to do is say something like, "I want my lawyer." You can be more formal and say "I exercise my right to a lawyer and refuse to speak until my lawyer is present." But, the phrasing is not important. Any unambiguous statement that indicates you want a lawyer is an exercise of your Constitutional right to an attorney and/or your right to remain silent. After that, the interrogation by the police must end. If the police continue to question you, they are violating your rights, and anything you might say will likely be excluded from use at your trial. However, there is a large exception to this rule where you can be deemed to have WAIVED your right to counsel. This can happen if, AFTER demanding your attorney, YOU begin a conversation with the police. This can also happen if, after demanding your attorney, the police provide you with information -- not questioning you, just providing information -- and then YOU just start giving information to the police. Under either circumstance, the judge will likely say that you WAIVED your right to an attorney being present during a police interrogation. This is what happened in the Louisiana criminal case of State v. Scott, 360 So. 3d 92 (La: Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit 2023). In that case, Osiris L. Scott was arrested for armed robbery and felon-in-possession of a gun-related to a carjacking. When Scott was in the police interrogation room, the police lieutenant Renaudin read Scott his rights. Thereafter, Scott said that he "wanted a lawyer." The lieutenant asked Scott if he wanted a lawyer right then or wanted to sit and listen to what the lieutenant had to say. According to the video of the interrogation, Scott responded, "Yeah, I want a lawyer, but I want to hear what you have to say." The lieutenant then explained the investigation, the evidence the police had collected showing the defendant's involvement in the carjacking, encouraged Scott to tell his side of the story, talked about closure and rebuilding his life, and allowed Scott to write an apology letter to the victim and her kids. At various points, Scott made statements like "I didn't want to hurt nobody" and explained that the gun was not real, that he just wanted the car, and he wanted a fix. Scott also told the lieutenant that the gun involved (and other items) were thrown away in New Orleans. Later in the case, Scott's attorney argued that all of Scott's statements made in the interrogation room should be excluded from use at trial because Scott made all the statements after asking for his lawyer. However, the trial just denied Scott's motion to suppress. The judge held that, despite Scott's request for counsel, Scott voluntarily, and on his own initiative, subsequently made the statements and admissions regarding his involvement in the carjacking. On appeal, the Louisiana Court of Appeals agreed. The Scott case is a good example of what NOT to do if you are in a police interrogation room. If you ask for a lawyer, then say nothing until your experienced Louisiana criminal defense lawyer arrives. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. |