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Strength Of Witness Statements?
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:04 pm
by owlbill
My wife has been accused of hitting a car in a parking lot. She does not believe she did. There were apparently 2 witnesses (a pair of witnesses in another parked car) that claim she did. They left our vehicle info on the damaged car and a few months later we heard about it from our insurance and the police. Long story short, the police had charged my wife with "failure to report" based on the witness statements. Nobody, not the police, us, witnesses (apparently) or an insurance appraiser has found any damage on our vehicle that would relate to this alleged collision. We have spoken with a lawyer who seems to think that if this goes to court, the decision could go either way. I am looking to see what others think. Would 2 witness statements (from 2 people in the same car), and what so far seems like only these statements, be enough proof or evidence to find my wife guilty of failing to report an accident? For what it's worth, the damage to the other vehicle was approximately $1200 though I don't know yet what type of vehicle it was. We have a 1994 GMC truck with steel bumpers.
Thanks for any insight.
Re: Strength Of Witness Statements?
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:19 am
by Stanton
The strength of the witness statements certainly could be enough to convict in Court. It will really depend on the Justice of the Peace and if he/she finds their evidence to be credible and accurate.
Re: Strength Of Witness Statements?
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:35 am
by owlbill
Crappy. That is not what I was hoping to hear, but I guess it's what I was expecting to hear. Looks like we'll have to take the "less screwed over" option from the prosecutor.
Thanks.
Re: Strength Of Witness Statements?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:51 pm
by moritc
can i ask did you meet with the rosecutor--the same type of thing happened today when my son went to a doctor's appoint came back to his car and the girl and a few co-workers said they witness him hitting her car--he was charged with failing to report an accident--we just dont know what to do -- is the meeting with a prosecutor help and his ticket does not have the ticket marked as witnesses and only his plate number --no make or model of car
Re: Strength Of Witness Statements?
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:06 am
by owlbill
We never met with the prosecutor personally. We paid for legal services through one of the traffic ticket folks and decided it was not worth a 50/50 chance in court. We ended up paying the repair amount of the other car to the other insurance company, and avoided the failure to report charge. We did end up with an "at fault" accident on our insurance though. Such are the stupid rules of insurance.
Good luck. Ask around on this board, but actual legal help might be best.
Re: Strength Of Witness Statements?
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 7:51 pm
by moritc
thanks for the reply --he is 20 and we need to try and get this settled somehow--i dont understand how the can charge him with failure to report when he didnt even leave the parking lot never mind the parking space. wish us luck