[valkyrie]

95% of the time, the judge is going to believe the cop over the defendant. That said, I once watched a defendant represent himself at a bench trial on a speeding ticket and he won. That is very, very rare.

Of course I know nothing about New York law, but I can say that a lot of what happens in court completely depends on the judge and the state's attorney. Before I went to law school, I fought a traffic ticket in Cook County and won. There, the procedure was a lot like what RUgreek described. However, when I used to work in traffic/misdemeanor court in Kane County, it was different because cases actually get set for trial after the first court appearance, and that means that it is much more likely that the cop will show up if he/she knows there is a trial.

In my experience, if it's a minor thing like speeding and the cop doesn't show up for the trial, it gets dismissed. Sometimes the state will get a continuance, but not usually for such a little thing.

In my experience, I have never seen a ticket get thrown out because of anything being spelled wrong, and rushing to make a flight is not a defense to anything. It might be a good idea for him to consider whatever offer he gets at court. In Illinois at least, we have court supervision, and that doesn't affect your insurance rates.