Ohio Judge Rules Speed Cameras Are a Scam

[Moonbeam]

Traffic court has been found to be exempt from the requirement to have a jury of your peers - this is due to the low fine amounts involved.

http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/secrets.html


How to Defend Yourself in Traffic Court in a Jury Trial

By an eHow Contributor:

A jury trial requires that you be very well-prepared, practiced and poised. However, you're more likely to beat your traffic ticket before a jury than before a judge.

Things You'll Need

Seating charts

Post-Its

Instructions

1 Try to settle the case. Be prepared for an offer from the prosecutor or suggest a compromise yourself at any time before trial. Make sure any settlement is beneficial to you.

2 Make no decisions on the day of the trial until you are certain the officer who issued you the ticket is in the courtroom (in jurisdictions where his absence can lead to dismissal of the case).

3 Use a seating chart and Post-Its to keep track of potential jurors during the selection process.

4 Challenge a potential juror "for cause" if he or any of his close associates were seriously injured by a driver who broke a traffic law similar to the one you have been charged with; if he asserts that he would believe a police officer before he believes you; if he is friends with the prosecutor or the officer; or if he had previously heard about your case and expressed an opinion about it.

5 Use up to your allotted number of preemptory or automatic challenges if you just feel uncomfortable with a potential juror; if he, members of his family, or friends are police officers, security guards, prosecutor-office employees, close with anyone injured in a traffic accident caused by a driver charged with the offense you're charged with; if he doesn't drive much or has never received a traffic ticket; if he resents jury duty; or if he appears to live a lifestyle very different from yours.

6 Give your opening statement immediately following the prosecutor's opening statement. You don't want the jurors to make up their minds prematurely before hearing what you have to say. Stay in one spot and turn slightly toward the jury.

7 Treat the officer and prosecution witnesses with politeness and respect when you cross-examine them. Your goal is to convince the jury that these people made an error in interpretation and not give the impression that you believe they are liars.

8 Ask that you be allowed to present your testimony in narrative style. Include a bit of positive, personal, humanizing information about yourself so that the jurors can identify with you.

9 Answer the prosecutor's cross-examination questions honestly. Explain your answer when a mere "yes" or "no" would be misleading. Admit that you don't know when that is the case, but avoid appearing evasive. Look at the jurors occasionally.

10 Try not to show any emotion during the prosecutor's closing arguments. Take notes.

11 Present your closing argument. Go over the legal points of your case and rebut damaging statements made by the prosecution. Jurors are attentive to closing arguments. Here is your chance to capitalize on all your hard work and pull all your facts together.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Motorists from outside the village should vote with their wallets and refuse to spend money in the village's businesses while avoiding driving in the village. If the city's residents and businesses don't like it, they can recall their City Council, the Mayor, and elect a new Mayor and City Council that will run the police chief out of town.

I think it would be funny if protestors set up shop at the major entrances to the village with protest signs inviting people to boycott the village's businesses.

A Google search for "boycott Elmwood" produced some interesting results.

 

[shortylickens]

And to have a 40% contract smacks of featherbedding.
Did they not learn anything from the Chicago parking meter fiasco?

ALL traffic law is a money scam. None of it ever has to do with safety, it has to do with profit margins and probably politicians skimming.

That they are now getting private companies involved in the nonsense is no surprise to me.

 

[1prophet]

Cameras can be considered entrapment. How is it any different from a sobriety checkpoint?

No there not,

In criminal law, entrapment is conduct by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.

 

[trenchfoot]

Here's a lesson in how privatizing for profit works against the best interests of the "victims" it was, by decree, meant to help. You know, just like privatizing Social Security and Medicare.

 

[Linux23]

Sad, but this is coming to a city near you shortly. And we let our elected officials get away with BS like this cause we gotta stay home and watch Honey Boo Boo.

 

[sm625]

Number of guns in america: 300+ million.

Number of traffic cams shot or otherwise pulverized: 0? Seriously not a one? What is wrong with this picture?