igotocollege
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MISSOURI
I live in an apartment building. I awoke one morning to find a ticket on my car --- which was parked in my apartment building's small parking lot. The ticket was for "expired vehicle registration sticker on license plate." My car has been properly registered every year. I always put the new registration sticker on my car each year when it comes up for renewal. Thus, I was surprised to find a ticked indicating that I did not have the sticker on my car.
(as an aside: In St Louis, crime related to stolen vechile registration stickers is well-known and reported in the news regularly.)
Immediately after noticing my ticket, I purchased a replacement registration sticker (about $100), and submitted a plea of "not guilty" to my ticket.
My question goes back to a point I made in the description of my incident --- my car was legally parked in my apartment's small parking lot. Approximately 6 cars fit in this small lot... one car per unit. My car was not on a city street, or even in reasonable ease of public view. To get to this parking lot, one has to go into a narrow back alley behind the building. You cannot see my car while walking on the sidewalk or in the neighborhood --- one has to be wandering through the back alley of this building, which one would never have reasonable cause to do. ONLY residents of my apartment building may park in this parking lot. There is a sign that clearly indicates that this is private property and only residents may park here.
If I had lived in a single-family home with a garage, my car would have been concealed inside my home. However, I don't have a house. I live in an apartment building with exterior parking. EVEN IF I had purposefully not renewed my vehicle registration, two points must be made:
1) if i had lived in a home with a private garage, police would be unable to invade my home with reasonable cause just to "see if all cars had current registration stickers". Invasion of property without just cause, freedom of search/seizure, etc.
2) forgetting any hypothetical situations... in my current situation, police had no way of knowing that I was even driving my car on a regular basis. It could have been stored, sitting on my private property, and never driven, for all they know.
Do I have a case? Was it wrong or unlawful for the police to give me this ticket, given all points mentioned? Do my arguments hold merit?
Thank you.
I live in an apartment building. I awoke one morning to find a ticket on my car --- which was parked in my apartment building's small parking lot. The ticket was for "expired vehicle registration sticker on license plate." My car has been properly registered every year. I always put the new registration sticker on my car each year when it comes up for renewal. Thus, I was surprised to find a ticked indicating that I did not have the sticker on my car.
(as an aside: In St Louis, crime related to stolen vechile registration stickers is well-known and reported in the news regularly.)
Immediately after noticing my ticket, I purchased a replacement registration sticker (about $100), and submitted a plea of "not guilty" to my ticket.
My question goes back to a point I made in the description of my incident --- my car was legally parked in my apartment's small parking lot. Approximately 6 cars fit in this small lot... one car per unit. My car was not on a city street, or even in reasonable ease of public view. To get to this parking lot, one has to go into a narrow back alley behind the building. You cannot see my car while walking on the sidewalk or in the neighborhood --- one has to be wandering through the back alley of this building, which one would never have reasonable cause to do. ONLY residents of my apartment building may park in this parking lot. There is a sign that clearly indicates that this is private property and only residents may park here.
If I had lived in a single-family home with a garage, my car would have been concealed inside my home. However, I don't have a house. I live in an apartment building with exterior parking. EVEN IF I had purposefully not renewed my vehicle registration, two points must be made:
1) if i had lived in a home with a private garage, police would be unable to invade my home with reasonable cause just to "see if all cars had current registration stickers". Invasion of property without just cause, freedom of search/seizure, etc.
2) forgetting any hypothetical situations... in my current situation, police had no way of knowing that I was even driving my car on a regular basis. It could have been stored, sitting on my private property, and never driven, for all they know.
Do I have a case? Was it wrong or unlawful for the police to give me this ticket, given all points mentioned? Do my arguments hold merit?
Thank you.
