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I remember being on a juror for a credit card fraud case and during deliberations and although the defendant was guilty as sin, there was one hold out becasue he said he felt everyone deserves a second chance!
I was on a jury (Foreman actually) for some guy that claimed the police pulled him over and beat him for no reason. The police arrested him for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer after they pulled him over because he and the 2 minors in the car were parked in a school parking lot late at night. We bounced back and forth on the charges and ended up with a guilty of Resisting and a not guilty on assaulting a police officer (he said she said...no proof that he ever actually hit the officer except in defense) and when we were ready to deliver our verdict, we couldn't because the guy got picked up for DUI the night before. Some people never learn.
I was on a jury (Foreman actually) for some guy that claimed the police pulled him over and beat him for no reason. The police arrested him for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer after they pulled him over because he and the 2 minors in the car were parked in a school parking lot late at night. We bounced back and forth on the charges and ended up with a guilty of Resisting and a not guilty on assaulting a police officer (he said she said...no proof that he ever actually hit the officer except in defense) and when we were ready to deliver our verdict, we couldn't because the guy got picked up for DUI the night before. Some people never learn.
My case gets even better. The username that the defendent used online to commit the fraud was the same exact name that he had tattooed on his forearm.
Anything that takes your eyes off the road and/or distracts you from driving should be prohibited for the safety of everyone on the road.
Which again is a slippery slope of gauges, radios, food, even rearview mirrors take your attention off the road in front of you. Where do we draw the line of what is "looking away from the road?" Good drivers know how to do those things when there is minimal chance of anything happening while they are looking at those things. Which is why the law for distracted driving is primarily enforced after something happens, rather than just the act of doing any of those things.
But I've known people who have hit things or nearly so while looking in their rearview mirror, when changing radio stations, even when changing the fan speed on the HVAC controls or when looking at things on the side of the road (like my picture showed). I was rear ended at a stoplight by a girl who was looking at the items for sale in a store display window. What are we going to prohibit when we have no more smartphones to ban?
My phone is also my playlist for music, either as a replacement for my iPod or using Pandora and iHeart radio streaming through the car stereo. It is the nav feature (especially when driving in unfamilar areas and I use Waze for traffic and police locations). And yes, I'll still use it to answer the occasional incoming call using the BT setup (I never make outgoing calls while driving).
The LAW (read it!) Doesn't state you can't have your phone in your hand. It says you can't manually enter text. You really don't get it? Really?
what you are forgetting though is that there are many ancillary laws the help define the main law that you likely have not read yet. and the prosecutor and the judge will point them out to you when they are ready, and blow your case out of the water.
what you are forgetting though is that there are many ancillary laws the help define the main law that you likely have not read yet. and the prosecutor and the judge will point them out to you when they are ready, and blow your case out of the water.
Before this thread is closed (for whatever reason), i'd like to thank everyone for posting replies, even those village idiots who replied negatively without bothering to read the LAW!
The law defines texting as "Manually entering multiple letters or text in the device as a means of communicating with another person; or reading any email or text message transmitted to the device or stored within the device."
i am not a lawyer, and i dont profess to know virginia law, but i do know that the law makers dont always write laws that make sense where the ancillary laws are put. and since you have professed to not be a lawyer also, you also do not know virginia law very well, and you are only looking at part of the law.
you are going to go up against an experienced prosecutor who has been doing this for a few years at least and dealt with people like you already, and they in fact DO know the law. you also have to convince a judge who again DOES know the law far better than YOU do, and you are going against a police officer that also knows the law better than you, and is also a professional witness. in the end your only chance is to try this in front of a jury of individuals who think just like you do, and that wont happen.
chances are good that unless you request it, the trier of fact will be the judge, so yo need to convince one person, and if you come into court with the attitude you have portrayed in this forum, you will lose.
and by the way i HAVE read many of hte posts in this thread, how about YOU go back and read some of my posts in this thread, and drop the attitude.
First off, no need for name-calling....but it's ok. I'm sure a moderator will give you an infraction or two. so it's ok.
Oh, but it was okay for you to call two other people bozos, right?
I see now what the problem is here...
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