Traffic Arraignment
ARRAIGNMENT: A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted by law. Depending on the jurisdiction, arraignment may also be the proceeding at which the court determines whether to set bail for the defendant or release the defendant on his or her own recognizance.
Although the initial appearance of the arrested person before a magistrate is sometimes referred to as an arraignment, it is not a true arraignment, which only comes after the defendant has been both arrested and formally charged. In all but extremely rare cases, arraignment also takes place before any suppression hearing and the trial itself. The interests at issue in an arraignment are the defendant's right to know of the charges against him or her and the defendant's right to have adequate information from which to prepare a defense. The state also has an interest in having the defendant make a plea so it can prepare accordingly.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that defendants shall "be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against them." But the Sixth Amendment does not guarantee defendants the right to be informed of the charged offense at an arraignment. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that arraignments are a necessary pre-condition to trial under federal law, the Court has also ruled that failure to arraign a defendant is not a reversible error where the failure is inadvertent, the defendant knows that he is the accused, the defendant is apprised of the charged offense, the defendant is able to assist in preparing a defense, and the defendant is not otherwise prejudiced by the lack of an arraignment. Thus the importance and necessity of being arraigned before trial varies from case to case and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The law governing arraignment procedures is spelled out by statutes and court rules at both the state and federal levels. References; The Legal Dictionary, Wikipedia
In order to deny the Court personal jurisdiction, one should never personally appear at arraignment, but if you appear, you have a first amendment right to remain silent and not plead. Of course, the Court has the statutory right to plead not guilty for you.
The plea of guilty can be used against you in future prosecutions.
The plea of no contest cannot be used against you in future prosecutions.
POSSIBLE STATEMENT: My appearance in this Court is special and not general and I do not voluntarily or involuntarily submit myself to the personal jurisdiction of this court. I have not been served with a summons and complaint and there is no record in this Court that shows I was personally served with such process. If the Court has a witness to testify that I was served according to law with a summons and complaint let them now come forward and testify. Otherwise, this Court has no personal jurisdiction over this person because there is nothing in the record of this matter that shows service of a summons and complaint was accomplished. Without a summons and complaint this court has failed to acquire personal jurisdiction over this person and this matter must be dismissed.
TrafR 11(B) Motions before plea and trial. (Based on ORC 2937.01)
REQUEST A DISMISSAL BASED ON NON-SERVICE OF PROCESS pursuant TrafR 11(B)(1)(a) which includes defenses and objections based on defects in the institution (the start) of the prosecution.
Use Rule 11(B)(1)(a) Pre trial motion - motion to dismiss based on defects in the institution of the prosecution. The court lacks personal jurisdiction over the person for insufficiency of service of process upon the person.
Use Rule 11(B)(2)(a) Pre trial motion - motions to suppress evidence including statements and identification testimony on the grounds that it was illegally obtained.
In order to render a valid personal judgment, a court must have personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Personal jurisdiction can be acquired either by service of process upon the defendant, the voluntary appearance and submission of the defendant or his legal representative, or by certain acts of the defendant or his legal representative which constitute an involuntary submission to the jurisdiction of the court. The latter may more accurately be referred to as a waiver of certain affirmative defenses, including jurisdiction over the person under the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.
A special appearance, made solely for the purpose of objecting to the mode, manner, or absence of the acquisition of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, does not mean that a defendant submits to the jurisdiction of the court. Conversely, a general appearance is a voluntary submission of a defendant to the jurisdiction of the court by some act on his part, other than presenting an objection to the jurisdiction of the court over his person.
Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(B) prescribes the manner of presenting affirmative defenses. The rule provides that every defense, in law or fact, to a claim for relief in any pleading shall be asserted in the responsive pleading thereto if one is required, except that the following defenses may at the option of the pleader be made by motion. The excepted defenses are lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, lack of jurisdiction over the person, improper venue, insufficiency of process, insufficiency of service of process, failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, failure to join a party under Ohio R. Civ. P. 19 or Ohio R. Civ. P. 19.1. Therefore, the rule gives the pleader an option to assert the defense of lack of jurisdiction over the person either by way of a motion prior to any pleading or in the responsive pleading to the complaint.
NOTE: If the ticket is not served to you personally there is no personal jurisdiction. If there's no appearance in court, the court may send notice to appear, then appear and challenge personal jurisdiction to which there is no witness to said service except the issuing officer who will likely not be in court. Since no one can testify to the facts of service, there is no evidence in the record that the ticket was personally served to you, a motion to dismiss is warranted.
Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(B) must be read in conjunction with Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(G), (H). Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(G) provides, in part, that a party who makes a motion under Ohio R. Civ. P. 12 must join with it the other motions herein provided for and then available to him. Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(H), in part, provides: (1) A defense of lack of jurisdiction over the person is waived (a) if omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(G), or (b) if it is neither made by motion under this rule nor included in a responsive pleading or an amendment thereto permitted by Ohio R. Civ. P. 15(A) to be made as a matter of course.
Requests for leave to move or otherwise plead do not constitute a responsive pleading. Ohio R. Civ. P. 7(A) sets forth the types of responsive pleadings which are contemplated by the Ohio Civil Rules. Ohio R. Civ. P. 7(B)(1) sets forth the definition of "motions" within the meaning of the Ohio Civil Rules. Such rule states that an application to the court for an order shall be by motion which, unless made during a hearing or a trial, shall be made in writing. If requests to the trial court are not in writing and are not made during a hearing or trial, then the requests are technically not motions under the Ohio Civil Rules. More importantly, however, is the reasoning that such requests do not constitute motions made pursuant to Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(B), as referenced within Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(G) and which would result in a waiver of affirmative defenses under Ohio R. Civ. P. 12(H).
A request by a defendant to the trial court for leave to move or otherwise plead is not a motion or a responsive pleading contemplated by Civ. R. 7, and the obtaining of such order does not constitute waiver under Civ. R. 12(H) of any affirmative defenses, nor does it submit the defendant to the jurisdiction of the court.
STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. CHRISTOPHER S. COOK, Defendant-Appellant 2006 Ohio 1953; 2006 Ohio App. LEXIS 1784
A defendant in a traffic case must raise any defenses or objections based on defects in the institution of the proceedings before the entry of a plea. Ohio Traf. R. 11(B). Accordingly, a defendant waives any objections to the trial court's exercise of personal jurisdiction by failing to assert such objections at the time the defendant appears in the trial court and enters a not guilty plea.
NOTE: Objection based on defects in the institution of the (prosecution) proceedings before entry of plea. TrafR 11 (B)(1)(a)