In what has to be one of the biggest violations of common sense and burden of proof in motoring news this year, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that officers can “visually estimate” how fast a person is driving… and give them a ticket for it.
Thanks Ohio Supreme Court for giving cops the green light to make up speeding tickets.
Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor said “Rational triers of fact could find a police officer’s testimony regarding his unaided visual estimation of a vehicle’s speed, when supported by evidence that the officer is trained, certified by (the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy) or a similar organization, and experienced in making such estimations, sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant’s speed. Independent verification of the vehicle’s speed is not necessary to support a conviction for speeding.”
Hey “Supreme Court Justices” why don’t you guys get this part of what laws are supposed to do through your thick skulls. It’s safe to say that officers might be trained to identify speeds, and they might even be great at it – but it blasts the notion of burden of proof being on the state out of the water. You didn’t just blast it out, you nuked that fish to dry land. There is no factual evidence when officers have the ability to do this, “I think you were going 120 mph.”
Where is the public recourse for police officers who abuse their abilities? We have to take an officer’s (the state) word that we committed a crime? Did you guys even go to law school?
Source: Columbus Dispatch
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June 7th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
These days are scary. Everyday news like this comes out. World is turning into a crazy place, or crazier i should say
June 8th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Sounds like the biggest piece of bias I have ever heard of.. I would like to know the percentage of women, men, white, african-american, chinese, mexican, and other to see if it actually a bunch of racist assholes in the service or if it is evenly distributed. Hmm, maybe I will conduct a case study on the fact and submit it to every newspaper and law office in the state. Then we’ll see the look on the dumbass supreme court justice’s face.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:59 am
Don’t you guys get it?
It’s another form of taxation without representation. The money from those speeding tickets is recirculated and cannibalized to provide more ticket issuing resources. Of COURSE the state doesn’t want the burden of proof to be on the state. It’s the same reason they created the ‘infraction’ legal classification – so you’re not entitled to a jury of your peers either; just a judge who kisses ass to officer unions in order to stay elected. Most of these courts are funded and built upon the troll money cops generate from randomly selecting citizens to ‘tax’ since virtually anyone can be cited for speeding based on the law.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE EASY MONEY! As it stands now over 90% of cited motorists simply pay the fine without contesting the citation. If you don’t like it then start an internet refuse to pay movement for citation/dmv fees until they change the law. The whole system is based on the idea that they can pick you off one by one and not impact GDP (which depends on commuters/transport/trucking). Just get enough people together and they won’t be able to collectively punish because it’ll cost the economy too much to kick everyone off the road.
Freedom isn’t free – you have to be vigilant in any society
June 8th, 2010 at 8:41 am
It won’t be long now until the United States becomes a spitting resemblance of “Big Brother”. Take a look back in history before the Civil War. The government was there to watch over economic situations. We, as the people, found the notion that we needed to have the government protect us at the cost of our own privacy. Sure, at times it isn’t bad when it is supported by hard core evidence. Something like being able to ‘guess’ a persons speed while driving leaves far too much room for human error. Human error is what depletes so many scientific experiments, makes medications less affective, heck- even dandruff shampoo won’t work correctly if you make human error. My ten year old little sister found herself making pancakes and read the 2/3cup water as 2-3 cups water. She may only be ten years old but I have seen mistakes made by older folks on much larger scales. Not just something that will make the batter watery. Allowing men and women who have earned the title to be cops through training and study deserve our respect and are here to help us. But have you ever noticed the large number of these cops out on the streets near the end of the month? They are trying to fill their quota no doubt. I have watched cops turn on their lights and sirens just to get through the same red light each day- no emergency at all. Once they are through, they turn them off and turn towards one of the business establishments near by for some refreshments. Needless to say this does not mean that ALL of those who have gained the title of being a cop abuse their rights and privileges. There are the few that I meet that are genuine and have no desire to abuse their gifts. These are the few I would trust not to wait for one lonely car going around the old turtles on the road making it APPEAR that they are speeding, when in face going the speed limit. All these cops have to do is “guess”. People are People, and the more power given, the greater the human error can cost you (or in this case, us).
June 8th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Three words for you if receiving such a ticket……Jury by peers
June 9th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Under the infraction classification of criminal law you’re not entitled to a jury trail. See above.
The judge that hears the case is most likely elected and backed by officer unions, which will not support the candidacy of a judge who acts ‘harshly’ towards officers in the courtroom (read will not give a free pass to violate jurisprudence). What this means for all practical purposes is that the officer’s word/evidence against yours counts as double. Also, the incestuous relationship between citation revenue and construction of new court facilities/resources sets up a conflict of interest in the incumbent lawyer who’s deciding your guilt or innocence.
You have next to zero chances of changing the system from within or defending yourself without. The only answer is a wholesale boycott as an act of civil disobedience. That way they’re forced to escalate the matter to misdemeanor and try everyone by a jury of peers – who in theory are also participating in the boycott.
Obviously it would never get this far because of the disruption of commerce and limited district attorney resources. They’d simply revert the law a bit and hope everyone gets back onboard. (Kinda like what Facebook does every time people pile on a privacy issue.)
June 8th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
What’s the big deal? SC’s been doing this for a lot longer than that!
June 8th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
That’s just great. What this means is that an officer can pull a person over and announce after the fact that they were speeding. Meanwhile anything and everything can be done, from searches to provocation to arrest for disorderly conduct if the “suspect” is acting perturbed enough. This gives officers carte blanche to pull over anyone and everyone they feel like with impunity.
Officers deal with the dregs of society every day and it’s no secret that many of them become embittered towards whoever they think of as “the problem”. They’re only human, after all. Officers are the last people who should have their checks and balances taken away.
This is one of the most unconstitutional and short sighted laws I’ve ever heard of. Only truly sheltered and ignorant people could possibly think it is a good idea.
June 10th, 2010 at 4:11 am
Between the cop’s quota system and this kind of crap it makes me glad that my state is cutting cops by the dozen. All they do is tax the crap out of the middle class with chump fines and other BS anyways. I say fine, you go ahead with this kind of junk, but I’ll be damned if me or my generation are going to vote for any more tax increases to fund more police.
June 12th, 2010 at 3:34 am
the cops probably were not meeting quota, lool
June 10th, 2010 at 9:33 am
I think eets no fair for policia to ticket without proof. BUT THEY NEVER CATCH ME!!!! YIPPA YIPPA “¡ÁNDALE! ¡ÁNDALE! ¡ARRIBA! ¡ARRIBA!”
July 14th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
We dont bother chasing mexicans if you are running South across the border!
June 18th, 2010 at 8:43 am
This is normal in Wyoming. They clock whatever they want and pull you over for it. lol
June 29th, 2010 at 3:54 am
And THATS WHY we dont live int he US
boo hoo hoo lol
July 13th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
There are simple consumer solutions to fight this. GPS data accurately records vehicle speed. The Smart Black Box Drive recorder captures vehicle speed along with video, time, date, and location for $249. Solutions like this will keep corrupt cops in check.