photo radar evidence of driving w/ suspended license?

[chris06422]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AZ

Hi,

I received a red light photo radar ticket while my license was suspended. From what I understand photo radar tickets must be personally served. My question is: Can the photo radar ticket be used as evidence for driving with a suspended license?

I received a call from the scottsdale police department saying that I need to come to the station to receive the citation for driving under suspension. If I go to the station he says I will be handed the citation and on my way shortly. However, the officer stated that if I do not come to the police station he will have a warrant issued and I will be arrested + spend a day in jail before going to see a judge. I have not spoken to the officer - this is all through voicemails.

Is this accurate? If I am not personally served can the ticket still be used against me for driving under suspension?

Thank you in advance for any information provided.

[Some Random Guy]

If you are recognizable in the photo, then it is certainly photographic proof of you driving on a specific day. If your license was suspended on that day, then its proof that you were driving while suspended.

Just make sure that you get a buddy to drive you to the police station.

The penalties for driving while suspended depend on why you were suspended. In some cases, jail time is involved. Since this is a misdemeanor, you may want to get a lawyer.

[url=http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/28/03473.htm&Title=28&DocType=ARS]Format Document[/url]

[Maestro64]

Think about it this way, have you plead guilty to the RLC ticket and paid the fine. If not then police are assuming you were driving and they can not suspend your license. If you fight and win, you could argue the photo ticket was illegal so that evidence is not admissible against you for a suspended license charge.

Now if you paid the ticket and admitted guilt, that fact alone can allow them to suspend your license.

A good lawyer can win this for you...

[Some Random Guy]

If not then police are assuming you were driving and they can not suspend your license.

Uh, his license is already suspended. That's the problem. Driving while suspended. They can certainly give you a ticket for it. Once ticketed, you can then defend yourself as you see fit (it wasn't me, my license was valid, etc)

If you fight and win, you could argue the photo ticket was illegal so that evidence is not admissible against you for a suspended license charge.

You can argue that the photo ticket was invalid because "It wasn't me", "it was calibrated wrong", "it radared the wrong car", etc. But that only matters to his driving under suspension ticket if the photo was not him or if the photo was illegally obtained (not sure how this would be).

[Maestro64]

Simply put, it is call fruits from the poise tree, and a lawyer can get the suspended license charge drop if they can get the first ticket dropped.

This happens all the time, lawyers beat DUI, drug , and driving under suspended license charges all the time because those charges came about because of traffic stop which turn out to be not valid.

Yes the police and courts would like you to believe the second offend would hold even if the first which lead to the second is not valid.

[Some Random Guy]

This happens all the time, lawyers beat DUI, drug , and driving under suspended license charges all the time because those charges came about because of traffic stop which turn out to be not valid.

Yes, but in those instances the lawyer is showing that the evidence is improperly gathered due to no probable cause or other violations of the rules of evidence. But in this case we are dealing with photography and not a vehicle stop. No probable cause is required to photograph a vehicle. There is no requirement that a vehicle be speeding in order for the police to photograph it.

you say

A good lawyer can win this for you...

But where in here is any evidence, or even any hint of evidence that the photo was taken improperly? His only obvious defense here would be to claim that it wasn't him driving. Unfortunately he hasn't even seen the photo to know if that defense is valid.

[chris06422]

Update:

Spoke w/ an attorney today. He said the photo can be used as evidence of driving w/ a suspended license. I was thinking if the ticket is no good or I avoid service of it then that will take care of the driving w/ a suspended license citation.

Attorney said they'll issue a warrant.

May hire an attorney, not sure. For example, if I'm going to get 2 days in jail and $2k in fines without an attorney then not sure I see a point in retaining one. Was quoted $2,500 retainer.

[Maestro64]

So it is not worth $2500 to stay out of jail... Think about the long term affect of have jail time on your permanent record. This alone can cause you more problems than you could imagine. Simple lots of companies do back ground checks before hiring and this could keep you form getting a good job.

Now you know how lawyer work, it was a simple ticket, it would have been a few $100, but since it jail time he wants a retainer which could end up being more if it drags out. You might want to shop around.

[chris06422]

Hi Maestro64,

For this offense I have to spend 48 consecutive hours in jail because my license was originally suspended from a DUI. If it was the difference between 2 days in jail and 10 days then that would be worth $2,500 definitely (I want some of my vacation time this year for a cruise!). As far as a job right now I'm a younger professional and doing ok but it certainly does make it more difficult. My goal though is to branch out on my own within a couple years...we'll see.

Also, I received another response from an attorney:

"A warrant can't be issued until you are served, so you can expect a cop or someone to knock on your door and serve you, but you don't have to go pick it up from the police station. Likely as not, they want to take you into custody and that is why they are telling you to pick the ticket up. But, it is up to you on how you would like to handle the matter."
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This is why I am confused - one attorney says the picture itself is good enough for evidence to issue a warrant but another attorney says that I must actually be served the red light ticket first. I'm not sure who is correct here.

[Maestro64]

Actually, it sounds like the second lawyer was saying they must serve the driving under a suspended license ticket to you directly. The reason they want you to come pick it up is to make it easy for them to take you into custody, since you were probably in violation of your DUI driving suspension. They are basically say come to us so we can arrest you under the guise that it is only a ticket.

Also, yes the RLC ticket must be properly server to you to be valid ticket. However, considering what you are looking at in total here that is the least of your concerns. My point above was if you can get the RLC ticket dismissed on any number of grounds, then there might be a possibility to have the driving on a suspended license drop as well.

This all will take good lawyer, now understanding what your whole background is, explains the high retainer the lawyer is asking for. He is obviously expecting to invest lots of work to keep you out of jail.

So your choice at this time is pay the fines and do the time or hire a lawyer and hope he can find legal grounds to get this all tossed.