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Monday, January 25, 2010
Ind. Courts - "Senate bill intended to crack down on Marion County's traffic court"
Updating this ILB from Dec. 8, headed "Lawsuit challenges Indianapolis traffic court fines," and the last line of this entry from Jan. 20, Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star had a lengthy story yesterday on SB 399, headed "Fighting a ticket in Marion County could cost you less: Bill limiting fines for drivers who lose their cases follows a suit against Marion County court and its judge." The story begins:
Penalties as high as $500 could be a thing of the past for most motorists who contest traffic tickets under a bill intended to crack down on Marion County's traffic court.The bill in the state Senate is the latest response to some motorists' complaints of stiff fines and a gruff atmosphere under a judge who took over at the court in early 2009. Objections from drivers who contest their tickets and lose, drawing what they see as punitive fines, were bolstered by a lawsuit filed last month against the judge and the court.
Advertisement"This allows them to go, have their day in court, present their evidence, and if they lose, they're not penalized just because they lost," said the bill's author, Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis.
His bill was advanced by a Senate committee last week on a 10-1 vote after testimony from several motorists about the fines and what they considered intimidation at the Marion County court, the state's busiest.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 25, 2010 12:54 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts