A few months ago a cop stopped me at a busy intersection here in Montreal and gave me a ticket for having run a red light. I was turning right at the intersection and I agree, it was close. But I didn't think I ran the red light. So I fought the ticket, partially for the principle, but mostly for the demerit points it would have put on my license. I pled not guilty. The city sent me a second notice, urging me to plead guilty to avoid further expenses. No thanks.
So then I got a notice with my court date, which was today. In the leadup to this, I tried to research ways to plea-bargain - I knew I could lose the case, so I would have been OK paying a fine and avoiding the demerit points. I couldn't find a way to do this very easily, so I went to court today.
I showed up before my time, they opened the room. I talked to the city lawyer there after he showed me his evidence, which consisted of the cop's written testimony that I crossed the line after the light on his side of the street, ninety degrees from mine, had turned green. I asked the city lawyer if I could plea-bargain. He said that given the testimony of the cop, no, the best thing I could do was plead guilty now, and avoid the charges that go with having my case go before the judge. Again, no thanks.
So the judge comes in, my case is first. I raise my right hand, swear I'm me, that I live where I do, that I was born when I was, and that I'll tell the truth. They didn't even give me a Koran to swear on or anything.
The judge asked for my version of events after the city lawyer gave him the deposition from the cop. Let me tell you, I was kinda nervous. Actually, pretty nervous. Very nervous? OK. I mean, I'd never been in court before, here I was by myself, defending myself, with no clue what I was doing. In French.
After trying various ways of saying it, I finally communicated to the judge that the light had turned yellow, that I didn't think I could stop in time, and that the light had turned red after I had crossed the stop line, so I continued my turn. He asked several questions about when the light changed etc. Then he said my version of events seemed plausible, and that it is the right course of action to continue if one can't stop in time, and then he pounded his gavel and acquitted me.
I was sorta dumbfounded. I mean, it's not like I was acquitted of a crime for which I would have to serve time or the death penalty. But hey, I won! No fine for me...
Anyway, I wanted to post this because I was surprised that in some municipal traffic court, on a regular weekday, a judge actually listened and thought about what I said. And believed me. Weird. But inspiring. At least to me. I mean, this might be a boring and inane story. But I had a pretty good day after that.
