mercredi 6 juin 2018

Hearings and Trials: Ticket Trial

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Had the trial on June 4th for a ticket that I was contesting because it was issued in my wife's name and identification. During the trial, the officer admitted that he sent me a new ticket from the information that he obtained from a complaint that I filed with the civilian oversight board. The judge said hold up! You are saying you obtained identifying information about the driver from a complaint that was filed with an oversight board, and that you were not supposed to access without identifying information having been removed or stripped? The officer said yes. The judge said have you heard of the concept of chilling effect? The cop said no. The ticket also claimed to have been given to me in person. That was not true. It was mailed.

The officer also could not provide any proof to show he was qualified to operate the laser device other than one dating to 2014 that I obtained through discovery. Neither did they provide the required information on range limitations, failure rates and operating conditions of the device. The officer said he used his eyes and judgment to determine I was speeding. I reminded the court that this was the same officer who wrote a ticket that said I was a female, 5'7" instead of 6'3", 125lbs instead of 275lbs, blue eyed blonde instead of the black man that I was. I said how could we trust in your judgement?

The judge called three recesses and ordered the city of Saint Paul to provide information that I had requested in discovery that was not turned over. After 4 hours, the judge said we must end this trial as she had expected it to last 30 minutes. She said to expect a written judgment. I thought the city did not prove it's case. I would like to know if traffic ticket cases normally take so long, and if I have grounds against the city for allowing the officer to see confidential complaint filed against him.

Coincidentally, the city has not released the decision on my complaint despite their own three-week turn around timeline. It has been 4 months since they were supposed to have made a determination. The last I heard from them was that the officer's union was challenging the outcome through arbitration. But how could that be when I have not been informed of the ruling? :confused:

Thanks.

Henry


Hearings and Trials: Ticket Trial

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire