Pasco (Florida) judge challenges constitutionality of red light cameras

 

This is a bit late in being posted but I thought it was worthwhile anyway:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article1221002.ece

PORT RICHEY — Thomas Filippone said he doesn't think people should run red lights.

But when he received a citation in the mail from the city of Port Richey saying he was caught on camera running one, the former New Jersey insurance attorney decided not to pay the $158 ticket without a fight. He filed his own 11-page motion to dismiss the ticket, arguing Florida law unconstitutionally places the burden of proof on defendants.

"If they are going to prove I was driving the car, it's their duty under the law to prove the identity of the driver," said Filippone, 45, who maintains his 2002 Nissan Altima crossed the intersection a split second before the light turned red on April 15. "It unjustly shifts burden to me and makes me shoulder the burden of having to prove their case."

Pasco County Judge Anne Wansboro agreed. On Feb. 17, she dismissed the charge, saying in her order that the law "impermissibly shifts the burden of proof to the Defendant and therefore does not afford due process, and is unconstitutional to the extent due process is not provided."

LeapFroggie wrote: This is a

LeapFroggie wrote:

This is a bit late in being posted but I thought it was worthwhile anyway:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article1221002.ece

PORT RICHEY — Thomas Filippone said he doesn't think people should run red lights.

But when he received a citation in the mail from the city of Port Richey saying he was caught on camera running one, the former New Jersey insurance attorney decided not to pay the $158 ticket without a fight. He filed his own 11-page motion to dismiss the ticket, arguing Florida law unconstitutionally places the burden of proof on defendants.

"If they are going to prove I was driving the car, it's their duty under the law to prove the identity of the driver," said Filippone, 45, who maintains his 2002 Nissan Altima crossed the intersection a split second before the light turned red on April 15. "It unjustly shifts burden to me and makes me shoulder the burden of having to prove their case."

Pasco County Judge Anne Wansboro agreed. On Feb. 17, she dismissed the charge, saying in her order that the law "impermissibly shifts the burden of proof to the Defendant and therefore does not afford due process, and is unconstitutional to the extent due process is not provided."

Excellent,.......it's a shame that most people are railroaded into having to accept the illegal penalties given them since most are not as knowledgeable re: the law as this individual was.It almost makes me want to go to law school JUST so I can stand up for the rights of those unable to do so in their own defense.

I'll wait for the appeal

I'll wait for the appeal court decision, in about 10 years.

It won't take that long

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/pasco-judge-sets-a...

NEW PORT RICHEY — A county judge who ruled red-light cameras unconstitutional has taken a step back to let a higher court step in.

Pasco County Judge Anne Wansboro had tossed out a citation Feb. 17 against Thomas Filippone. He had argued that the state red-light camera law was unconstitutional because it put the burden of proof on defendants to identify the driver who ran the light in their car.

But after the charge was dropped, attorneys for Port Richey and New Port Richey, which both have red-light cameras along U.S. 19, said they were not notified of the challenge or given the chance to argue in favor of the law. Neither was the Florida Attorney General's Office, which is required to be contacted when a state law's constitutionality faces a court challenge.

The Attorney General's Office filed a motion to intervene and asked the judge to set aside dismissing Filippone's ticket, which he received after a camera snapped a picture of his Nissan Altima running a red light on U.S. 19 in Port Richey.

Wansboro granted the request on April 20.