How to Call a Witness at a Traffic Trial

Video Transcript

"You have received still another traffic citation, and this time you decided you're going to fight it, you're not going to hire a lawyer, and you're going to go to traffic court and represent yourself. And you have some witnesses, and you want to be sure that they get to trial to testify on your behalf. Hello, I'm Robert Todd and I'm here to answer the question how to call witnesses at a traffic trial. Well first of all remember that you can't get by with affidavits and witnesses or written statements from witnesses, that the traffic court is going to require that a witness be present at the trial to testify and be subject to cross examination. So, you want to be sure that you follow the court's procedure to make sure those witnesses attend the trial. And that means you're going to ask the court in advance preferably several days before the hearing for traffic court to issue what are called subpoenas that command the witnesses to be at the trial court on a specific date at a specific time. If you find out that your witnesses can't attend the hearing as it is scheduled, ask the court to continue the hearing, but again, you have to do that in advance. I'm Robert Todd, and thank you for watching."