Posted on 05/28/2011 3:04:24 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
George Springer is at his wit's end. He has to prove that two tickets written 24 years ago are not his.
"The county is making me prove that this was not me," Springer said.
Springer got a letter from the Department of Safety telling him his driver's license was being suspended. The state recently discovered some old traffic charges - one was for speeding - had never shown up on his record.
Springer told Channel 4 the tickets aren't his. He said he's never owned either of the cars listed on the citations and has never lived at the addresses listed.
The Hickman County Circuit Court Clerk said she can't find copies of the 24-year-old tickets. However, a hand-written docket book from 1987 lists Springer's name. It shows the charges were retired to the state, meaning Springer didn't show up in court.
The clerk said she doesn't have the authority to dismiss the old charge. To do that, Springer has to go to court to plead his case before a judge. "Now I have to go before a judge in two weeks to prove I'm not this person, which is almost impossible," Springer said.
To put the date in perspective, 1987 was the year two new television shows premiered: "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
The court clerk said a lot of people make the same claim as Springer -- that they're innocent.
"I'm sure they hear that a million times a day, but it's not me," Springer said.
Springer said it would be funny, but it's not. He said trying to prove his innocence on a charge nearly a quarter of a century old has been expensive, time-consuming, and stressful.
"It's not funny; it's crazy," Springer said.
“because HOW does one prove something like that?”
How do you prove your innocent? Seems I read something about people being innocent until proven guilty. I guess thats been tossed.
Crooked stuff going on with regards to revenue based fines an such.... All over the nation.
Stay Safe !
Thanks - there's something 'fair' about the above... that's nice.
You took the red pill, became self-aware and now are miserable. If you had taken the blue pill, you would have remained a happy idiot. Bummer!
To make a long story short, I ended up going to court there 3 times, the last time with a lawyer, and I ended up splitting $1200 in fines with the owner of the car which the tickets were issued to. Apparently, somebody there ended up with my license--I had never been there before this--and they got a pile of tickets in this lady's car.
She claimed that it must have been somebody who was joyriding in her car. I thought I was off the hook the first time I went to court and met with the prosecutor when the sheriff said that I wasn't the person he gave the tickets to. I had my Passport for ID. But the small town prosecutor and judge didn't care and said I was fully responsible for any use of the document since I didn't report it missing. Basically, the lawyer told me that they didn't care who they got the money from, but they were going to get it before they let me off the hook. The lawyer was able to convince the judge to split it between us. I paid the court $600, the lawyer $250, and ate the three days I had to take off of work so that I could drive 6 hours there and 6 back each time I had to appear.
I was probably the happiest person in the world when NY finally went to photo driver licenses.
You Sirfishalot, were dealing with a criminal enterprise in a black robe. How long before enough people will believe that this empire is not worth saving?
Raybbr, the other guy got it too. He just didn’t want to get it. I stripped away the insulation from the wire and instead of the gleaming copper he thought was there he saw a steaming pile of poo.
Nobody likes that the first time.
thanks for that site.
It might not be quite that simple. In some jurisdictions the Defendant’s failure to appear to answer the charges against him is considered to “toll” the statute of limitations. That means the running of the statute is suspended until the defendant appears. So, if the statute of limitations is one year, and the hearing at which the defendant failed to appear was three months after the alleged violation, there would still be nine months remaining on the statute once the defendant re-appeared.
The “Problem” is that the tickets were NOT HIS!
He never owned the cars, or lived at the address cited!
Not sure of laws in Tennessee but just a few questions.....
Is that not just for felonies ?
Can’t be upgraded to a felony if a bench warrant was never issued for failure to appear can it ??
This is certainly not a felony. It is at worst a misdemeanor, and more likely it is a civil fine. Nevertheless, most of these things have either a statute of limitations or a statute of repose. The difference between the two is that limitations bars the remedy (the right to bring the action), while repose bars the action itself. As a general proposition, limitations will be subject to tolling and repose won’t. It all depends on how the statutes are written, which is why I can only talk in generalities.
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