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Posted on 08/19/2015 9:33:20 AM PDT by george76
Defense attorneys challenging red light cameras win three cases before the Missouri Supreme Court.
The highest court in Missouri on Monday struck down red light camera and speed camera programs. In three separate cases, the high court judges found that the cameras unconstitutionally shifted the burden of proof by forcing ticket recipients to prove their own innocence. The judges also found that the creation of "civil" citations and administrative hearings for moving traffic violations violated state law.
The decisions were a major blow to American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the Arizona-based vendor .. Earlier this year, the firm settled a class action lawsuit over the lack of authority for the programs, but Monday's state Supreme Court rulings raised deeper legal issues.
...
"Ordinance 66868 requires that a summons and violation notice be sent to the owner of the motor vehicle without any attempt to determine if the owner was the driver," the court ruled. "The presumption relieves the prosecution from proving an element of the violation charged beyond a reasonable doubt and is impermissible... Therefore, this court finds ordinance 66868 is unconstitutional because it creates a mandatory rebuttable presumption that shifts the burden of persuasion onto the defendant.
...
The ordinance creates a system by which vehicle owners are accused of violating the ordinance, not in court where their rights are well established and can be protected, but in a letter from the police .. The owners are told to make payments, not as fines owed upon conviction, but as ransom that will prevent charges from being filed in the first place... the unauthorized system created by the ordinance and implemented by the notice is a shortcut around the judicial system and its protection for the rights of the accused."
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewspaper.com ...
Can I get an “AMEN!”
Can we get our money back?
You can bet that the same court has no issue with civil forfeiture law.
they have a nice little camera recording you as you come into town, and you guessed it, we got tagged....wanted big bucks...nothing more than a speed trap...
we did find a number to call and thru some sort of grace got the ticket erased....but honestly, they're out to get you...
there’s that pesky Constitution again
I can’t argue with any part of the courts’ decision. Very logical... which means that it will be over-ruled by Darth Bader-Ginsburg and the gang.
All about tax revenue. Not safety.
Or they just put up signs about "construction" and "double fines" with a few cones, then sit there waiting for the out of towers to zip by.
It’s expensive.
My buddy here in Indiana got one for > 10 mph over and doubled for const zone
$420
A big AMEN and yes the Constitution strikes again. It is amazing how well things go if the Constitution is honored.
Probably not.
Exactly. The politicians who approve of these cameras will tell you that it is about “safety”. But every damned one of them lies through their teeth.
I got one of these in the mail from a W.TN town while there on business.
Real scary NOTICE OF VIOLATION!
Into file 13 it went.
I agree on Sioux City Iowa. I fell victim to their trap. I was in a clearly rural area outside Sioux City with no construction but supposedly violated a work zone speed limit.
Police chiefs and other politicians will testify [ lie ] at legislative hearings to increase their budgets.
Some get caught getting kickbacks.
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