Massachusetts: Supreme Court Approves Charging Innocent Ticket Recipients
Innocent drivers can be charged $75 to fight a traffic ticket, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled.
Motorists issued a traffic ticket in Massachusetts will have to pay money to the state whether or not they committed the alleged crime. According to a state supreme court ruling handed down yesterday, fees are to be imposed even on those found completely innocent. The high court saw no injustice in collecting $70 from Ralph C. Sullivan after he successfully fought a $100 ticket for failure to stay within a marked lane.
Bay State drivers given speeding tickets and other moving violations have twenty days either to pay up or make a non-refundable $20 payment to appeal to a clerk-magistrate. After that, further challenge to a district court judge can be had for a non-refundable payment of $50. Sullivan argued that motorists were being forced to pay "fees" not assessed on other types of violations, including drug possession. He argued this was a violation of the Constitution's Equal Protection clause, but the high court justices found this to be reasonable.
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/35/3592.asp
Well this is common sense folks. The courts don't pay for themselves. Driving is a privilege, not a right. If you want the privilege to argue a traffic ticket in front of a judge, you are going to have to pay for that privilege and the court's time. Don't want to waste your time sitting in court? Then just pay the fine and be done with it. After all, we know that 99.9% of people who get tickets are guilty anyway. Why should we, the taxpayer, have to pay for your privilege to stand before a judge on the matter and pretend you are not guilty?
Just pay the damn fine and shut up. Do you want safe highways or not?
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