MOLINE ACRES • The Missouri Supreme Court has agreed to look at the legality of the use of speed cameras, taking up a case that started with a $124 ticket written by police in Moline Acres to KMOX radio host .
Lawyers on both sides of the case said Wednesday that it would be the first “camera case†to reach the high court, meaning it could affect the use of both speed and red-light cameras.
But they disagreed over the potential impact.
Kenneth , one of the lawyers representing , said that the court could consider any of the issues that have been used to challenge the use of the cameras.
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But Brennan’s lawyer, Bevis Schock, said the court would be considering only the issue that triggered the trial court’s dismissal of Brennan’s ticket last year.
The Supreme Court decision Tuesday to take the case will pit Schock, who has handled a number of camera cases, against Heinz and his firm, which has handled several appeals and represents at least six local municipalities on the camera issue.
Brennan’s case centers around whether municipal ordinances can turn a moving violation into a civil matter that doesn’t result in points against a drivers license.
Brennan’s car was caught in 2012 by a camera on Highway 367 in Moline Acres doing 56 mph in a 45 zone.
In March of 2013, Associate Circuit Judge Mary Bruntrager Schroeder dismissed the case, saying that the city’s camera ordinance conflicts with state law and thus cannot stand.
Citing a 2011 appeals court decision in a case involving a red-light camera in Creve Coeur, Schroeder said that one of the requirements an “automated traffic ordinance must meet to be considered a civil ordinance†is that the sanctioned behavior cannot already be a crime.
State law requires any ordinance occurring while a vehicle is in motion to be assessed two points.
The Creve Coeur ordinance, like that of Moline Acres, was not considered a moving violation and points were not assessed to the driver.
Schroeder wrote, “It would seem impossible and a violation of the laws of physics to have speed without motion.â€
Moline Acres appealed, but a three-judge panel of the Eastern District Court of Appeals in January agreed with Schroeder.
Lawyers for Moline Acres then asked for the transfer of the case to the Supreme Court.
It’s not clear why the court selected Brennan’s case after rejecting similar cases.