Ten Things That Are NOT Defenses

No matter how annoying your wife or girlfriend may be, the fact that she hurt your feelings is not a defense to whacking her.

2. "Everyone else in the car was a lot drunker than I was."

So? The law is against drunk DRIVING, not drunk RIDING.

3. "Everyone on the highway was driving a lot faster than I was."

Best response to this I ever heard was from a Highway Patrolman. "Yeah, they were, but when I turned the blue lights on, you were the one that stopped."

4. "The arresting officer was rude to me."

I'm not saying it's right for them to be rude, I'm saying it's not going to get you off the hook even slightly.

5. "The officer that gave me the speeding ticket refused to show me the radar."

There is no law that requires them to do this. And if your implication is that the officer is therefore lying about your speed, who do you think the judge is going to believe: Officer Jones who appears in the judge's court often, or someone he's never seen before?

6. "The arresting officer didn't read me my rights."

This is grounds for excluding statements given during interrogation. If your statements are the ONLY evidence, you may just walk. But this is NOT the "get out of jail free card."

7. "I haven't paid child support because I'm not getting my visitation."

This is grounds for holding your ex in contempt of court...NOT for denying your children support.

8. "I'm not letting him/her see the child because he/she's not paying child support."

Ditto.

9. "I haven't paid child support because I don't think he/she's spending the money on the child."

The court doesn't have either time or the inclination to comb through your ex's checkbook and decide what's appropriate and what isn't.

10. "I didn't read the contract before I signed it. "

The law does not protect your right to be inattentive. This even applies where you try to read the contract and don't understand it. If you have any doubts, consult a lawyer as to meanings, because you WILL, if you are a competent adult, be held to the contract.