So I think the general consensus is to fight the ticket in court. Don't be quite so cynical, while the cops can pretty much get you for anything they don't really care. They just have to write their quota of traffic tickets so they don't get in trouble with their boss, chances are he thought it wasn't your lawn and went to give out what he thought was an easy mark.
While they can get away with almost anything for a time, most cops in america live in fear of bad press, which can bring hell on them from higher ups with political aspirations. That police chief with mayoral aspirations doesn't want to be the fall guy for some cop who was harassing a guy about parking in his own front lawn.
To fit with the theme of this thread, in the US usually you can get out of a ticket (if it's a ticket the cop is willing to dismiss) by apologizing up and down and generally sucking up to the officer. As one person explained it, bribing a cop is a symbol of respect in some countries. It makes the cop feel like they're in power, like they have real authority. In western societies, the same thing is done through respect and supplication. It's cheaper, but more delicate - it's more likely to backfire on you if you suck up wrong than bribery is.
Oh, and IndonesiaWarMinister, I know the feeling. College student in a college town, it's like open season. Everybody knows it's the teenagers fault, half the time if there's an accident between two students we don't call the cops or even report it because they always throw the book at you if you're under 25 or so. There's a lot of officially pristine cars around here with broken headlights.