Ca motorist beats fourth traffic ticket through the mail (red-light camera slapped down!)
By Martin Hill
LibertyFight.com
February 15, 2013
http://libertyfight.com/2013/Ca_motorists_beats_Corona_red_light_ticket_through_the_mail.html
"Traffic rules account for most of the contact by average citizens with law enforcement and the courts. Enforcement of laws which are widely perceived as unreasonable and unfair generates disrespect and even contempt toward those who make and enforce those laws." The Appellate Department, in People vs. Goulet
John Shanahan of southern California, who's a constitutionalist, electrical engineer and a licensed member of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, just beat his fourth traffic ticket through the mail. This time, John had received a red-light camera ticket in Corona, Ca. He won by simply filling out and mailing a TRIAL BY DECLARATION form, without ever appearing in person. The court mailed back his $490 bail, his insurance rates were not raised, and he did not pay the state a dime. As we reported back in 2009 after his second victory, we love to brag about these victories and show people that it's very easy to do, encouraging everyone to do the same. It's very important to remember and exert our presumption of innocence.
As we reported in October 2012, "John Shanahan, who received a red-light camera ticket from Corona in July, originally had a court date in August but has gotten three extensions (two over the phone and one in person). His initial arraignment date will therefore take place long after the system has been scrapped, making it highly unlikely that the prosecution witness will appear, or that the city will comply with lawful demands of intricate discovery requests and cross examination of witnesses."
Part of John's defense was the fact that Corona Police had put a phony legal directive on their website regarding red-light camera tickets and left it there for 5 years. They removed the fraud from their website after being exposed by LibertyFight in October 2012, and removed their cameras entirely in November. In his declaration, Shanahan referred to the line on the police website which stated "if you are the registered owner and you were not driving the vehicle at the time of the violation, you must provide the name and address of the person driving".
Shanahan referred to the excellent red-light camera website HighwayRobbery.net and wrote, in part, "Even though this sentence appears to be a blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, I thought that it would be difficult enough to challenge this ticket without having to overcome this gross mistatement of the law and the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. It was sometime last month when I heard tht the Corona Police Department had removed this one-sentence misrepresentation of the law. In summary, if the CPD had concentrated more on safety and public service and less on performing the functions of bagment or revenue agents for the city government, they would never have put such an egregious directive in writing on their website... Of course, if the CPD and the local government did have the best interests of the people in mind in the first place, they would never have contracted with an out of state corporation to install these cameras in 2009..."
The defendant had also had trouble delivering his documents to the court. In a letter to the commissioner separate from his trial by declaration, Shanahan wrote "In all of my rather short discussions with Corona Court employees who were leaving the building last Friday afternoon (as well as my one discussion this morning with a woman over the intercom), I noticed a dismissive attitude towards my efforts to deliver the subject document for my case. I can only theorize that, since I am considered part of the public, that I hold some responsibility for the budget cuts... In summary, Mr. Commissioner, if the Corona Court is so financially incapactitated by budget cuts that it annot allow for off-hours delivery of court documents by means of a drop box, perhaps, in the interest of fairness, the Corona Court should simply dismiss all contested cases such as mine."
Commissioner William A. Anderson ruled that Shanahan was "Not guilty" on 2/4/13 and ordered the $490 bail returned to defendant. All the documents in the case can be found here.
Below are John's 3 prior cases that he won through the mail and links to our archives. Thanks to the great website helpigotaticket.com for their excellent free help to California motorists. I have beaten over ten tickets, including one in California Superior Court of Appeals, (without a lawyer) using the knowledge and procedures I learned on that site. Keep up the fight for liberty! (full article here: http://libertyfight.com/2013/Ca_motorists_beats_Corona_red_light_ticket_through_the_mail.html )
Martin Hill is a Catholic paleoconservative and civil rights advocate. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Daily News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Contra Costa Times, Pasadena Star News, Silicon Valley Mercury News, Long Beach Press Telegram, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, L.A. Harbor Daily Breeze, Whittier Daily News, LewRockwell.com, WhatReallyHappened, Infowars, PrisonPlanet, Economic Policy Journal, FreedomsPhoenix, Veterans Today, The Wayne Madsen Report, Devvy.com, Rense, Antiwar.com, IamtheWitness.com, National Motorists Association, RomanCatholicReport.com, Republic Broadcasting Network, WorldNetDaily, The Orange County Register, KNBC4 Los Angeles, Los Angeles Catholic Lay Mission Newspaper, KFI 640, The Press Enterprise, Redlands Daily Facts, BlackBoxVoting, and many others. Archives can be found at LibertyFight.com.
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Motorist refers to traffic cops as "revenue agents (bagmen) for the
government", wins case
Freedom advocate beats third traffic ticket through the mail
City
of Corona, CA claims that traffic defendants must be compelled to testify
August 21, 2012
City continues giving fraudulent legal advice
to ensnare motorists [Featured on WhatReallyHappened.com.]
Corona, CA to Axe red-light camera program on Guy Fawkes day September 15, 2012
Police remove phony legal threat from their red-light camera website after being exposed by LibertyFight October 23, 2012[Featured on WhatReallyHappened.com and RepublicBroadcasting.org]
How I beat a $700 ticket in 30 seconds in court [featured on WhatReallyHappened.com]
San
Bernardino, CA terminates red-light-camera program, but doesn't tell the
public December 20, 2012 [Featured on
WhatReallyHappened.com.]
Motorist
puts police in their place at suspicionless internal checkpoint December
2, 2012
[Must see video- Featured on PrisonPlanet.com].
Victory! TRAFFIC TICKET ARCHIVES
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