JEFFERSON CITY • ºüÀêÊÓƵ and two other cities will defend their use of cameras to ticket speeders and red-light runners today before the Missouri Supreme Court.
In addition to ºüÀêÊÓƵ, the suburban municipalities of Moline Acres and St. Peters will argue the legality of their photo enforcement laws against challenges that the citations conflict with state law.
The widely watched legal showdown pits municipalities, who insist the cameras are an important safety tool, against motorists, who see the cameras as Orwellian devices that are more about generating revenue than making roads safer.
This year, in a case brought by two motorists whose vehicles were photographed running red lights. Both vehicle owners said someone else was driving at the time.
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Ohmer placed his order on hold to allow proponents of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ ordinance to mount an appeal. Meantime, the city is still issuing tickets but placing fines it collects in an escrow account pending the outcome of the case.
Bevis Schock, attorney for motorists Sarah Tupper and Sandra Thurmond, said Monday that the case raises important legal and procedural points. For instance, the ºüÀêÊÓƵ ordinance presumes a vehicle’s registered owner is driving unless rebutted.
Drivers can shift blame to the actual driver “by filing an affidavit ‘ratting out’ the true perpetrator,†Schock said in case briefs.
Even police acknowledge that in a significant number of cases the driver may not be the car’s registered owner, Schock said. A ºüÀêÊÓƵ police officer testified that drivers during in-person traffic stops are the sole vehicle owners about 70 percent to 80 of the time.
Tupper and Thurmond are asking the Missouri Supreme Court to void the ºüÀêÊÓƵ red-light camera ordinance and block the city from carrying out the program.
“The case is very fully briefed,†Schock said. “Everybody has worked hard.â€
MOLINE ACRES CASE
One other high-profile case, , challenges the speed-camera ordinance in Moline Acres. Brennan was ticketed when his car was caught on camera going 11 mph over the speed limit on a stretch of Missouri Highway 367 in the city limits in July 2012.
Brennan is challenging whether the municipal ordinance can turn moving violations into a civil matter that doesn’t result in points against a drivers license. He added that Moline Acres’ speed camera ordinance violated his due process rights.
Brennan’s case was dismissed after ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Circuit Judge Mary Bruntrager Schroeder determined the city’s ordinance conflicts with state law, which requires points be assessed for such violations.
Moline Acres officials argue the ordinance is a legitimate use of its police powers to ensure the health and safety of its residents. The officials insist that the ordinance results in a municipal infraction for vehicle owners and does not conflict with state laws governing speeding violations. They argue that it doesn’t violate due process rights.
Moline Acres Mayor Michele DeShay said Monday that the speed cameras are no longer in place but “there is a possibility†they could return, depending on how the court rules.
ST. PETERS CASE
The third case involves the use of red-light cameras in St. Peters.
In 2013, because convictions don’t result in penalty points on a drivers license. House dismissed a ticket received by Bonnie A. Roeder but did not void the city’s camera ordinance.
“Failing to stop at a red light is by any definition a moving violation,†House said, adding that the city’s lack of assessing penalty points is “in irreconcilable conflict with state law.â€
Roeder’s attorneys blasted the St. Peters law in their brief to the state’s high court, saying the city’s ordinance made use of complex notices of violation and other measures to leave drivers with the impression they had no choice but to pay.
St. Peters officials said the circuit court “erred†in dismissing the citation, and that the state director of revenue has designated red-light violations caught by photo enforcement as nonpoint violations.
St. Peters officials suspended the city’s red-light camera program on Sept. 1.