Speeding Charges Dropped in Photo Radar Court Challenge

The first motorists challenging the use of Pasadena’s controversial photo radar received a windfall in court Tuesday when the city prosecutor decided to drop all speeding charges against the defendants.

Before their hearings began in Pasadena Municipal Court, defendants Charlene Gagnier, Benjamin Huang and Joe Walgenbach said they were skeptical about their chances of successfully challenging the machine and were doing so only to avoid another ticket on their records.

But in a move that startled police officers and experts assembled in court, Assistant City Prosecutor Christopher Smith reduced Gagnier’s speeding violation to a $50 parking ticket and dismissed Huang’s case. Later in the afternoon, Smith allowed Walgenbach to plead guilty to a parking violation and pay a $68.50 fine.

The fines were equivalent to those that would have been imposed for the speeding tickets.

“All right!” exclaimed Gagnier, who had said her main line of defense would have been to beg for mercy. “I was just going to sit there and jabber.”

“I feel great, just great,” Huang said. “It restores my faith in the system.”

Huang’s case was dismissed because Smith believed that the photo-radar picture of Huang’s car was unclear, making it difficult to positively identify him as the driver.

Smith said he decided against prosecuting Gagnier, Huang and Walgenbach for speeding because he wants to argue the legal issues at a single trial, most likely one scheduled for Sept. 8.

The defendant in that case, Joseph Logsdon, has hired an attorney and plans to challenge the use of the machine on constitutional grounds.

Smith said he will allow all motorists fighting their tickets before Sept. 8 to plea bargain. There are six photo radar cases scheduled for trial in Pasadena Municipal Court before that date.

“We’re going to have a trial real soon when all the issues are going to be litigated,” Smith said. “Then we’re going to clamp down hard on this.”

‘Very Disappointing’

The group of a dozen police officers and experts who appeared in the courtroom of Judge Judson W. Morris Jr. were frustrated with Smith’s decision, saying they believed that the defendants could have been convicted.

“It was very disappointing,” said Police Cmdr. Bruce Philpott. “But this is just one round. The prosecutor has his strategy to deal with the more in-depth legal ramifications and we have to defer to him.”

Pasadena is one of two cities in the country now using the Swiss-made Zellweger Uster photographic Doppler radar unit. Paradise Valley, Ariz., which began using the device last October, is the other one.

The photo radar is a combination of a standard traffic radar coupled with a microcomputer, a camera and a flash unit.

A police officer dials in the maximum speed and the device, which is mounted at the back of a car, automatically photographs any vehicle moving faster than the maximum speed.

Photos Stored

The information is later printed out and a citation sent to the registered owner of the vehicle. The photo is stored in case of a legal challenge.

Since June, when the city began using the device, 1,344 motorists have received photo radar tickets, according to Traffic Monitoring Technologies, the Friendswood, Tex., company that distributes the machines in United States.

Of those citations, 10 people have asked for court trials so far.

Logsdon’s attorney, Thomas D. Hogue, argues that the photo radar is a violation of an individual’s constitutional right to due process.

Hogue said most drivers are unaware that they have been ticketed because they are not stopped by an officer. The driver, as a result, often has no recollection of the incident and is unable to mount an adequate defense.

He added he believes that the city has illegally deployed the device because state law requires that vehicles used for traffic enforcement be clearly marked.

Looked Into Issues

Hogue said from the rear, the car looks like “what a den mother uses to take the Boy Scout troop to the beach.”

Smith said the city looked into the issues before using the photo radar and rejected them as unfounded.

In Paradise Valley, there have been about 300 drivers who have challenged their tickets in court, according to Town Atty. Charles G. Ollinger.

Ollinger said about 75 cases have been dismissed because the registered owner of the car who received the ticket was not the person in the photo.

But of the rest, the city has not lost a single case, he said.