Ticket Slayer Win.....sort of

[ThomPaine]

Some of you may remember that quite a while back, I received an invitation from the city of Alpharetta to come and question them about running red light cameras at certain intersections in Fulton County. After conducting loads and loads of research with a good bit of help and some people on this board (Codee, DM and others) I devised a game plan. I wanted to understand what I was going up against and as Sun Tsu said, know your enemy. During this time I also decided to order some forms from Greg and file them. Though I havent spoken with him recently, his customer service during my preparation period was great. I call him on his cell phone several times, even the day before going to court to go over things one last time.

I had some notes with me, rebuttals to things the robe might say, the order that I wanted to say things in, etc. I had not received mailed receipts for the last set of docs that I filed, so I was concerned about that. The city where I got the ticket was about an hour away so I filed everything by certified mail and requested a return receipt. Driving to the other side of Atlanta 5 or 6 times to file things would have sucked really bad.

When I got to 'court' I was surprised to see that there was a huge room full of people even before the time that court was supposed to start and many more came in. The robe was about 20 mins late, typical for a govt employee servant. Before that the PA came in and made several announcements one of which was that due to the large volume of cases that day there would be two judges in the same court and that she would be handling plea bargain deals with people who had attorneys or people who requested meetings with her instead of the robe....weird....so I sat for a while and later one of the judges announced that if you had a red light citation and wanted to pay it and go home they would reduce the fine by x amount and you could pay it and be on your way. A bunch of people got up...He also noted that if you wanted to fight it that you would be down the calendar a ways.. I had put a lot of work into this so I decided to stay and fight it out..

My name was called pretty soon after that and I went up to the main judge. The second judge was off to my right and the DA to my left. Because of this the typical open court standing at a podium, etc was gone. I went directly to the judges bench. There was an officer there with a laptop and when the judge called my name I approached the officer and the judge and stated that I was there by special appearance to contest the jurisdiction of the court. He lied by saying that he had never heard of it or didnt know what it was and asked me what it meant. So i explained it for his entertainment where he proceeded with the 'case' The officer looked dumbfounded the whole time that I was there and could have just fallen off of a turnip truck. No one took and oath and the PA was not present. I did not ask about the oath or the PA bc I planned to use them later if needed.

The judge proceeds to say things like you are charged with running a red light and officer bob here will show you on his laptop where you did that. He proceeds to show video of my vehicle clearly running a red light. Backs it up a few times, plays in slow motion, etc. Judge says, is that you...I say nope...Was someone else driving your car that day....nope. Then who was it?? Not my problem judge, the state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I was the operator of that car and the vehicle in question belongs to me. The tag pictures are horribly blury, the person driving the car is not the person name in this case and this court has no jurisdication over Thomas Paine, a state national of Georgia.

During all of that he is flipping through the TS docs acting as if he doesnt understand them at all, asks a few stupid questions, etc. I responded that I had filed a series of documents with the PAs office and they were crucial to my case. She did not respond to them and that the case should be dismissed. He stated that some docs were missing (Motion to Dismiss and Writ of Mandamus) and that he would not dismiss the case. He then asked what law required the PA to respond to my docs. Easy judge, common law, thousands of years old and has nothing to do with this court or my red light case. I presented docs to her, she ignored them and by default I win. He says I am not dismissing this case, you ran that light and you know it, pay the cashier to your right...next....So I reply, I will see you in Fulton County Superior court where the PA will be present, people will takes oaths and a court reporter will be there to record the entire case. Have a nice day...

Paid the cashier an appeal bond and filled out some forms. You have 10 days to pay the appeal bond and 20 days after that to appeal your case.

[ThomPaine]

So I filed an appeal with City of Alpharetta Municipal Court with the following text:

NOTICE IS GIVEN that Thomas Alex Paine hereby Appeals the result of the aforementioned case, entered on the 13th day of December, 2006 by the City of Alpharetta Municipal Court.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS:

Beginning in November of 2006, aggrieved Defendant filed with Alpharetta Municipal Court Clerk the following documents:

Affidavit of Truth on or about the 6th day of November, 2006

Notice of Default and Three Day Notice to Cure on or about the 28th day of November, 2006

Final Default on or about the 7th of December, 2006

Writ of Praecipe on or about the 7th of December, 2006

And Finally, a Motion to Dismiss on or about the 10th day of December, 2006

All of these documents were filed by United States Postal Service Certified Mail and a return receipt was requested and received. Original documents stamped by the clerk’s office were only returned for some of the documents filed, not all, despite the fact that a self addressed stamped envelope was included with each document for its return to the Appellant.

These documents were crucial to the Appellant’s case and were improperly handled by the clerk, the prosecutor and the presiding judge.

Unusually, there were actually two judges present at the Special Proceding on December 13th, 2006 in Alpharetta Municipal Court. None of the interested parties (Appellant, Judge or Police Officer) took an oath. The Prosecuting Attorney was not present for these proceedings.

Upon approaching the judge’s bench for the first time, I introduced myself and informed the judge that I was present under a special restricted appearance to challenge the jurisdiction of the court. The judge replied that he did not know what special appearance was.

The Defendant stated the he had filed several documents with the Clerk of the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office and the parties had not responded to them in any manner. The judge stated that they were not required to respond to the documents that had been filed unless I could show him the law that required them to do so.

The testifying officer was asked by the Appellant if he witnessed me committing this infraction. He answered, No, but the camera did and pointed to a laptop computer that was sitting on the judge’s desk.

An objection was tendered by the Appellant. The officer was not an eye witness to the alleged infraction and is therefore disqualified as a witness. A camera or a computer cannot be a witness and cannot take an oath to testify. The judge ignored my objection and stated that the camera showed what happened.

During these special proceedings there was a Prosecuting Attorney present but she was involved in other matters and was not attending to individual cases as they came before the two judges. There were very few cases, in fact where she was at the bench with the defendant and the judge(s).

Several times throughout this hearing, the judge acting as the prosecutor with such action as introducing evidence, questioning the defendant regarding the events or facts surrounding the case and even defending the improper actions of the ‘testifying’ officer.
When questioned if he was acting as a prosecutor on behalf of the state, he ignore the contention and stated, “A prosecutor does not need to be present to prosecute traffic cases.”

I asked the judge if this was a civil infraction or a criminal offense and what type of court or hearing this was. Already annoyed, he simply redirected and began discussing the camera and how the defendant (now appellant) had run the red light, documents that were filed for the case were not valid, etc.

The Appellant has the right to face his or her accuser. When the Judge was questioned regarding this issue, he simply stated that the camera was my accuser. I countered with the statement that there must be a damaged party present in a civil case, knowing that this was a special proceeding and not a criminal trial. A camera cannot be a damaged party, neither can an officer who did not witness the alleged infraction taking place.

The judge was questioned several times about granting the motion to dismiss and a myriad of reasons were given. He replied that he would not grant the motion and did not really provide a reason. This violates the defendant’s right to discovery.

The Defendant explained to the judge that certain documents had been filed with the clerk and the prosecutor and that those documents were not only crucial to the case, but were instrumental in the challenge of jurisdiction and improper conduct by the clerk, the prosecutor and now the judge. He stated that he was missing documents and that the documents filed did not make any sense. The defendant provided copies for him to review and he basically skimmed through them, ignoring their content and basis.

The Defendant asked the judge to read through them thoroughly, and stated again that they were critical to my case. The judge responded by saying that hat he was not granting my motion to dismiss so basically there was no point in reading them.

In all cases, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. When I pointed this out to the judge, as a reminder to the duties and responsibilities of the state in this case, it was simply ignored, as the other statements and motions had been. The state did not prove with any degree of certainty that the defendant was operating a particular vehicle on a particular day at a particular time and location.

Finally, the Defendant questioned the Judge regarding the Writ of Mandamus that had been filed. It was asked if this court was going to act on that Writ or if that action would be left to a higher court. Again it was ignored, and the judge simply stated that the documents were not valid and that he was not granting any of my motions or acting on any of the docs that had been filed.

I stated that I would file an Interlocutory Appeal and the judge ignored that saying I am not granting any of your motions and you are ordered to pay the $70 fine to the cashier through the door to your right. He informed me that I had 10 days to pay the fine and 30 days to appeal this case.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED ON THIS 12TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2007.

[ThomPaine]

So I have been waiting for over two months now, thinking every once in a while when is Fulton County (a complete CF for a city government who is horribly behind on everything) going to get my case to Superior Court. I am out of town for part of the weekend and come home to find a notice from the City of Alpharetta saying that my case has been dismissed and that I should find a check enclosed to refund my $70 appeal bond..

I would have preferred to do all of this in open court, specifically a court of record making an honest concerted effort to embarras the hell out of the judge and the PA and their croonies in Superior Court. I guess that was the city's way of just saying here you win take the check and please go quietly along your way..

Too bad really, but a win is a win and I will take it, along with my $70 back..

Thanks to everyone on this board who helped with research and questions and thanks to Greg at TS for helping with my case. TS is a great investment when you drive like I do...

Thom

[Sandman]

Great Job ThomPaine.....

Yes, a win is a win. I'm sure the pretender in the robe just didn't want to be schooled in open court. Being such a small fry in the legal world what does he care that his decision is wrong?

[rottweiler]

Good job dude. I lost one last year for $85 but I made mistakes and am wiser for it.

[Livefire]

Talk about judicial incompetence!!!!

[mrg]

That's a good win!!

It is not a little win.

Its a really good one.

Thank you for doing all that.

That is a big job you did.

It takes a lot to do that.

And you won!!

Thanks again for doing it and for giving such a good accounting of all of it.

[Codee]

Good Job Thom.

I am glad the default won for you.

[charlesa6]

Yep!! Good job indeed.

[Codee]

Good Job Thom.

I am glad the default won for you.