|
|
     
Featured Podcasts |
The American Right to Drive...No Matter WhatIt was just a coincidence that on the day of Nick Adelhart’s memorial service I plunked myself down in Courtroom 4 of the Hargrove District Court to do some court watching. Labeled as “serious traffic court,” Courtroom 4 in the south Baltimore courthouse featured the traffic violations for which people can go to jail: drunk driving, driving without insurance, driving with a suspended or revoked license, hit and run, and fleeing from the police. I wasn’t thinking about Adelhart, the promising young major league pitcher from Maryland whose life, along with two of his friends, was suddenly snuffed out by a drunk driver two weeks ago. But after a few minutes of court observation my mind turned not only to Adelhart but to Geraldine Wu, the teacher, wife and mother whose 1998 death was chronicled in a March 29th Baltimore Sun article. She was accidentally killed by young men who were road racing, including Frederick Hansen. According to the article, Hansen had been a chronic and excessive speeder before the accident. After doing 15 months on a manslaughter conviction for Wu’s death, he has continued to pile up numerous speeding violations with little repercussion. I thought of Wu and all the victims who came after her through the years as I watched Vladimir Koyfman, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol only three months after finishing probation for a previous drunk driving conviction. He was represented by Curt Anderson, a member of the House of Delegates, who was greeted warmly by Judge George M. Lipman: “It’s nice to see you this morning, Mr. Anderson.” I immediately knew Koyfman wasn’t going to jail. Anderson informed the judge that Koyfman, a Russian immigrant, was on medication for wounds sustained as a Russian soldier which contributed to his swerving on the road. His client, said Anderson, “tries hard to obey our American laws” and was “already punished” by spending a day and a half in jail and having his license suspended for six months. “I’m not big on jail in these cases but this is the second time around,” Lipman told Koyfman. Noting that drunk driving was a “bigger threat to public safety” than drug and assault cases, Lipman wanted to know how he could be sure that it wouldn’t happen again. Koyfman gave him his “word.” Lipman then suspended a 60-day jail sentence, imposed a fine, ordered alcohol counseling, and let him go. Like Anderson, defense lawyers often claim that having a license suspended is “punishment.” That’s only for defendants who obey the law and don’t drive when their license is suspended. For those who drive anyway there was little consequence in Courtroom 4. My favorite defendant was Rodney Evans, a confident, unworried defendant who was charged with driving on a suspended license, driving an uninsured vehicle, and having a suspended registration. In other words, Evans drove with nothing but contempt for the motor vehicle laws. And the laws, as enforced, deserve his contempt. The prosecutor, after dropping the last two charges, read off Evans’ driving record. It contained numerous convictions for driving while suspended as well as a charge for fleeing and eluding the police. Evans also had a criminal record for drug dealing and he was currently on probation for drug possession. I wondered what excuse Evans’ high-profile lawyer, A. Dwight Petit, was going to come up with in a case for which the state should have been seeking the maximum punishment. Petit, as cool a customer as Evans, had been listening carefully to Lipman and gave him the hook on which to hang his ruling. Evans, said Petit, had not been suspended from driving for “public safety” reasons but for failing to pay child support. In the next breath, Petit argued with a straight face that jail would be inappropriate because Evans was supporting his three children. “Your lawyer has hit the nail on the head,” Lipman told Evans. Not only did he refuse to incarcerate him he refused to impose a fine, though Evans could afford to drive around in a BMW and hire Petit. Instead Lipman imposed probation, assuring Evans that it was no big deal because he would just report to the same probation agent he already had. Lipman made it abundantly clear that any excuse would do. No one had to verify whether any of the defendants were actually employed, as claimed, actually supporting children, as claimed, actually on medication, as claimed, or actually cleaning up their act, as claimed. Driving in America is not a privilege but a right, more sacred than any in the Bill of Rights, and the courts are loathe to punish anyone exercising that right. We may wring our hands over the manner in which victims like Nick Adelhart and Geraldine Wu die, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Every day, in Hargrove’s Courtroom 4 and traffic courts everywhere, judges dismiss even our “serious” traffic laws as inconsequential. Maybe it hits too close to home, since judges drive, too. But the option of jail is just too tough for many judges to swallow, even when drivers pose a lethal threat to others behind the wheel and refuse to change their behavior. Bookmark/Search this post with: |
SearchUser login
Featured Topics
Newsletter Signup   |
KINGMAN - Authorities issued
KINGMAN - Authorities issued nearly 100 citations during another speed detail on Pierce Ferry Road, this one coinciding with the Chinese New Year.
Mohave County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Don Bischoff said tourist traffic to the popular Grand Canyon West Skywalk attraction increases around the time of the Chinese holiday on Jan. 23.
MCSO deputies and officers with the Department of Public Safety reportedly saturated the area of north Highway 93, Pierce Ferry Road and Diamond Bar Road from Jan. 19-26 in search of speeding and aggressive drivers. The Arizona Department of Public Safety Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Bureau and ADOT Enforcement and Compliance Division officers also participated.
More than 300 drivers were stopped and nearly 100 tickets issued, according to the Sheriff's Office.
"The overwhelming majority of those cited were for speed violations," Bischoff said. "We had just a few passing violations on Pierce Ferry Road in Dolan Springs."
MCSO and DPS also conducted commercial vehicle inspections of tour buses, motor coaches and vans. Officers were able to inspect 160 commercial tour vehicles and 43 other commercial vehicles.
Officers documented 210 violations during the commercial vehicle inspections. Most of the safety violations were said to be minor in nature. A total of 18 tour vehicles were placed out of service for safety violations, and 15 tour drivers were placed out of service.
Grand Canyon West Express, a Las Vegas based transportation company, reported transporting more than 15,000 tourists to and from the Skywalk during the eight-day period and MCSO estimated that well more than 25,000 tourists visited the Skywalk during the time frame of the traffic enforcement detail.
Its all about the money. An this is a form of entrapment. My cousin works for the sheriffs dpt. If you see this road you will understand.
Driving is a rite. But now
Driving is a rite. But now if a official wants to pull you over you don't have to be doing anything wrong. They will find something. My cousin is a sheriff in Arizona so he tells me a lot. I never mention who he is be cause it would put his job in danger. Its all a money game to them. He tells me all the time. I consider it corruption in a big way. I understand if someone is doing something that could put another in danger. But because they don't like the way a vehicle looks.Give me a break. They are breaking the law. (the officials) That do this to people.
Right to Drive fundamental to Liberty
The right to travel is fundamental to liberty. Traveling in a car is the standard conveyance of the day. No one gets on their bike and goes to the grocery store (well, very few).
A privilege is the opposite of a right. It requires permission in order to exercise.
Standing Supreme Court decisions state that it is UNLAWFUL for the State to exchange a right with a privilege and charge a fee for license. They also state that it is UNLAWFUL for the State to make it a crime to exercise a right without a license.
The people in America have been brainwashed and deceived by their corrupt government. The government has enacted over 90 million statutes or private rules for people to obey. Ridiculous.
Common law states that there must be an injured party or threat of injury for there to be a case. In the cases of DWI there could be this element. With most driving infractions there are no elements to justify a valid cause of action and therefor make a case. Most infractions are revenue generators and that's all.
It's a shame also that the courts are so corrupt that justice is not readily available to those who are charged with these infractions. There is only deceit and trickery.
KINGMAN - Authorities issued
KINGMAN - Authorities issued nearly 100 citations during another speed detail on Pierce Ferry Road, this one coinciding with the Chinese New Year.
Mohave County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Don Bischoff said tourist traffic to the popular Grand Canyon West Skywalk attraction increases around the time of the Chinese holiday on Jan. 23.
MCSO deputies and officers with the Department of Public Safety reportedly saturated the area of north Highway 93, Pierce Ferry Road and Diamond Bar Road from Jan. 19-26 in search of speeding and aggressive drivers. The Arizona Department of Public Safety Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Bureau and ADOT Enforcement and Compliance Division officers also participated.
More than 300 drivers were stopped and nearly 100 tickets issued, according to the Sheriff's Office.
"The overwhelming majority of those cited were for speed violations," Bischoff said. "We had just a few passing violations on Pierce Ferry Road in Dolan Springs."
MCSO and DPS also conducted commercial vehicle inspections of tour buses, motor coaches and vans. Officers were able to inspect 160 commercial tour vehicles and 43 other commercial vehicles.
Officers documented 210 violations during the commercial vehicle inspections. Most of the safety violations were said to be minor in nature. A total of 18 tour vehicles were placed out of service for safety violations, and 15 tour drivers were placed out of service.
Grand Canyon West Express, a Las Vegas based transportation company, reported transporting more than 15,000 tourists to and from the Skywalk during the eight-day period and MCSO estimated that well more than 25,000 tourists visited the Skywalk during the time frame of the traffic enforcement detail.
Its all about money.
I think that most of the
I think that most of the drivers today don't deserve their drivers licence. Everyday I almost get hit by a car on the zebra so excuse me if I'm not being objective but they don't deserve their licence.Tim
Overstated
As a practicing attorney that focuses mostly on traffic violations, I have to say I find the reality to be just the opposite of what Ms. Croyder states. Baltimore City, in fact, is probably the harshest of the metro area jurisdictions when it comes to "sweating the small stuff". In fact, if you have managed to have your license cleared up prior to Court, the prosecutors in most counties are willing to either Nol Pros or Stet the case. Not so in Baltimore, where they regularly ask for jail (and the judges at Patapsco are more than willing to accommodate those requests). She sounds like a bitter ex-prosecutor. Suggested solution: run for office against Jessamy, and then implement your own Joe Cassily style system (which would be great for our business!)
Driving IS a right regardless of whether anyone likes it !
I'm not at all against punishing people for "TANGIBLE"
wrongdoing resulting in serious harm to others,..
but I do NOT support any accusations of wrongdoing by
cops, lawyers and judges who are STUPID enough to believe
what the hell the "LAW" is (ie: Driver's Licence law, DUI law, etc.).. without them FIRST and FOREMOST, have some
hard public evidence proving WHO is LIABLE if that LAW is a LIE!!
If they don't have that, and can't cough it up,... nobody's
got a stick of evidence proving who's LIABLE if a DUI (or other) accusation is fraudulent on any one of thousands of accusations on these driver's records either!
How is the secretary of state, the cops and lawyers gonna prove it isn't a state harddrive stuffed full of LIES???
by getting everyone to FOOLISHLY ASSUME their crap is true,..
and not cough up proof who's LIABLE if it aint! ??
bullshit!..
"The State's authority is NOT a license to slap the word law on a LIE"
The courts rarely prove any lawbreaking at all:
NOBODY has to pay money to prove their innocent of any cops accusations of breaking a law,..
ANYONE can PASS OUT INVITATIONS: offer PRIZE MONEY to the first person who produces public evidence for everyone proving "WHO'S LIABLE if the accusation is fraudulent IN WRITING", If the cop can't win,.. then neither can the prosecutor, the jury , the judge or anyone else,.. Where is this jackass judge gonna find a foolish jury that wants to be LIABLE for the cops LIES ??
We are INNOCENT till the court PROVES their bag of claims outa their mouth is true, not till a jury is persuaded to believe the State, the cops and the court's lies.
we expect the court to cough up some public evidence proving who's the SOB liable if it AIN'T true.
www.cairocourtonline.com
where....
"No retarded assumptions are made about cops, layers and judges being honest and telling the truth at ALL!"
ps: "B.A.C. doesn't prove ANY accusations implied"
Driving is our right- but
Driving is our right- but killing others just for getting the fun of speedy driving definitely is a crime. In these days the young generation people trying this street racing things a lot. Moreover there are games like street racing, NFS for encourage them to become ruthless. And above all, there is the court to support them! Surely we are going to face hard time in future.
dog breeders
Depending on the committed
Depending on the committed infraction, a driver should be suspended or not. I never condone drunk driving. Too many people have died because others weren't thinking when they got in the car.
The number one killer of our young is.......
If dangerous driving was treated as any other violent threat to public safety such as homicide, there might be more consequences, In fact the NUMBER ONE KILLER OF OUR YOUNG, AGES 3-33, is the MOTOR VEHICLE* – by far- That's in our state and nationally (however in Baltimore City homicide is not surprisingly just exceeds motor vehicle deaths) . It amazes me that we are so caviler about this number one killer amongst us. We concentrate our wrath instead more sensational events surrounding homicide, I surmise because it’s an activity that ‘they’ did and not one ‘we’ would daily engage in such as driving. It’s well known that risky behavior regularly engaged in doesn’t feel that way….
*National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, 2003 research report. www.nhtsa.dot.gov
Post new comment