Posted on: Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Forum gives advice on dealing with tickets
| • | Camera support on skids |
| • | Know your rights if you get a traffic-camera ticket |
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A panel of legal experts say people who receive speeding tickets under the new traffic photo program should contest the citation and force the state to prove its case.
Almost 300 people turned out last night at the Blaisdell Center to find out what their rights are if they receive a ticket in the mail. The forum, sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, featured defense attorneys Brook Hart and Earle Partington and Hawai'i ACLU legal director Brent White.
Hart said car owners can contest a ticket either at an informal hearing at traffic court or in a statement through the mail. Hart said people should not misstate the truth in their statement, but should point out that the photograph does not show who is driving and assert that the evidence is untrustworthy because of the financial incentive of the contractor to issue tickets.
The legal panel said if the person loses at the administrative hearing level, he should ask for a trial. At trial, the government would have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The car owner, Hart said, is presumed innocent, does not have to present evidence, and should cite the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and remain silent. He said the state may prove that a vehicle was photographed speeding and the car belonged to a certain person. But Hart said that isn't enough.
"There's nobody there to say you were the person that was the driver of the vehicle, or that you were the person who committed the violation," Hart said.
A judge, he said, should throw out the case.
Even if a photograph clearly shows the driver's face, White said people may contest that piece of evidence because the law allows only pictures of cars, not people.
However, the panel said they cannot predict how judges will rule in such cases.
