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Royce:
The rules provide that a defendant may challenge in personam jurisdiction but that must be done by special appearance before any other matter is considered. The rules provide that a defendant MAY*accept the ticket/citation as a complaint but also that a defendant must be served with a summons and a copy of the complaint filed. If that service is not done, but only a ticket signed whereby a defendant agrees to appear, then the proper procedure is to file a Plea to the Jurisdiction Special Appearance Motion (which BTW satisfies the signed agreement to "appear" since one may appear by a filing). Once that is done showing the facts and laws applicable, the prosecutor has no defense to the Plea and has a choice. The judge has to dismiss because the law says so and a properly worded Plea will cause it to happen (or if the judge moves forward anyway one can move for mandamus). The prosecutor's choice is to either drop the matter or to file the (in Texas) Information based upon Complaint and then serve both it and a summons signed by the judge or his representative (the clerk) on the defendant. If you don't believe that's in the rules, that's OK by me. I'm just offering suggestions on how to deal with the problem.
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BTW, if you know enough law to create such a motion, it is unlikely that the prosecutor will file his information based upon complaint unless he has nothing to do (hehehehehehe!).
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Next, if the prosecutor SHOULD file and serve the defendant, the next step is our SMJ which a number of us have created and placed in the archives here. Once again, if the judge denies the law, one can immediately appeal and request a stay of the proceedings in the interest of judicial economy (of course!). If one's SMJ has the law and the facts properly sworn in a supporting affidavit, I know of no reason why an appeals court would not overturn the judge's decision with orders to dismiss.
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If one should screw up the MTD or Plea to the jurisdiction, then one is STILL left with trial on the merits where we all know that there is NO evidence that we are the persons intended to be regulated by the legislature (or empowered by the constitution to BE regulated) and NO evidence that our automobiles are the intended and targeted motor vehicles.
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This is my contribution as well as the contribution of other knowledgeable lawyers on this forum. The procedures outlined can be found in your state's rules. Should one run afoul of the feds in some way, these same types of procedures are found in the Federal Rules.
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One other thing I'd add is to study the Rules of Evidence in one's state, and if the need arises, the fed rules of evidence (they are not dramatically different). Knowing the rules will prevent presumptions being used against you because you will know how evidence is to come in.
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