Colorado Court Throws Out Photo Radar
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Photo Radar - Colorado Supreme Court throws out photo radar Photo-radar ruling against city upheld The Colorado Supreme Court Monday refused to hear the city's appeal of a lower court ruling dismissing four photo-radar tickets. Last January, Denver County Judge Mary Celeste dismissed the $40 tickets because they weren't issued by police officers, as required by current law. In May, a district court judge dismissed the city's appeal of Celeste's ruling. Denver District Judge Joseph Meyer said the city can appeal county court rulings dismissing traffic tickets only when a statute is declared unconstitutional or unenforceable. The city then appealed to the Supreme Court, which now has refused to hear the case. The ruling pertains only to the four tickets challenged by Denver lawyers Gary Pirosko, Stuart Barr and one of their clients, Adell Shaflee, but the case already has had a broad impact on Denver's program. The city dropped 446 pending photo-radar cases - each potentially worth at least $40 to the city - in response to Celeste's ruling. The city also temporarily suspended photo radar to address the challenges raised in the case. Photo-radar vans were put back on the street in June under a newly enacted state law confining them to residential neighborhoods, school zones and parks. A separate class-action suit seeking refunds for people who already had paid photo-radar tickets was dismissed by another Denver district court judge in September. |
