In which I act as my own attorney

Case dismissed!

OK, wasn't quite as awesome as I had hoped.  The deputy sheriff who wrote the ticket didn't bother to show up for his subpoena.

Aside: If you or I don't show up for a subpoena don't they issue a bench warrant?  If the officer doesn't show up they dismiss the case.  No personal cost to him for failure to respond to a legal obligation.  Hmm.  Seems inequitable.

Anyway, my argument was going to be as follows:

1. Washington state requires that you wear a helmet that meets the standards of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218.
2. FMVSS 218 requires that the manufacturer of the helmet test the helmet and certify that it meets the standard in order to legally sell the helmet, indicating said compliance with a variety of labels and stickers (aka the DOT sticker and a few other labels).
3. Three court cases in California (Buhl v Hannigan, Bianco v Hannigan, and Easyriders v Hannigan) established that the legal obligation of the motorcycle rider ended when he purchased a helmet that was properly labeled and had not been subjected to a recall.  All three court cases further concluded that it was not, and could not be up to the officer to determine whether a helmet met the requirements.  The Buhl court went so far as to label as "absurd" the assertion that the officer could decide whether or not a helmet is properly fabricated.
4. The Washington State Supreme Court (City of Bremerton v Spears) cited the California court cases and concluded that Washington's helmet law was "not impermissibly vague" since all the consumer had to do was purchase a helmet that had been properly labeled and they would be complying with the law.

So there I am, in court, having been cited for wearing a helmet that had all the proper labels, and having been told on the side of the road by the Deputy that my helmet was clearly illegal because (insert list of things that officers can not decide on the side of the road according to the four court decisions), and the Deputy doesn't show up so I don't get to make my argument.

Well, the good news is that my citation was dismissed; the further good news is that it turns out the traffic commissioner couldn't have done anything other than dismiss my citation anyway.

The bad news is that now I have to write a letter petitioning the WSSC to enforce their ruling (or at least put the various LE agencies around the state on notice that there is a ruling and that they are to enforce it correctly).

I am sort of wondering what happens when I get pulled over again by the same deputy and issued the same citation.  He patrols in an area that I have to ride through to get to work.  At what point can the court actually order the deputy to stop issuing these tickets, or do I have to take a day off work every time to get it dismissed over and over.  I suppose at some point in this hypothetical I could file a lawsuit claiming harassment but the recently resolved ticket won't help that case since it wasn't dismissed for cause.  Sigh.  Makes me not particularly want to ride my motorcycle to work, even though the weather is perfect.