The hearing occurred on December 19th in Wicomico County District Court, Courtroom 2. According to reports from two motorists all citations from Salisbury that day were dismissed. One motorist provided the following account:
"The judge began by addressing those of us who had traffic cam citations that the Statute only allowed two defenses for a ticket, one being that your car was stolen at the time, and the other that you had loaned it to a friend, and you give the name of the friend. Then as we were called up one by one, he told us that the State has decided not to prosecute and the judged Nolle Pros, sit down on the bench and wait for your paperwork and we will get you out of here as quick as we can. I’m guessing 10+ of us, 5 minutes, we were walking out."
The defendants stated that no operator or representative from Brekford was present. Neither the judge nor the city's representative gave a reason for the dismissals, according to the defendants' accounts.
In some cases a jurisdiction will "Nolle Pros" (decline to prosecute) a case when some witness or piece or required evidence is unavailable.
Last year the Maryland Drivers Alliance worked for months to obtain calibration records from the city of Salisbury through public records requests. When documents were eventually released, our examination revealed discrepancies and gaps in calibration periods. No large scale refund has been announce by the city.
Several motorists have written to us disputing the accuracy of the speed readings on their citations. In a few cases the claims of inaccurate speeds appeared to be supported by calculations based on our examination the images, though this does not appear to have been the reason these citations were dismissed since no such evidence was presented.
18 comments:
just curious, who was the judge?
Would not matter much who the judge was in this case, the article says that the state (prosecutors) choose not to prosecute. The judge really had no choice. The question is why the SA's office didn't prosecute. Hopefully they are getting the message that these cams are unconstitutional.
Stop the scam cams. Find more inventive ways to steal our money.
Oh no! Please tell me this is a lie. Please tell me that the beloved cash cow that some of your readers have been strongly defending doesn't have issues. Lmao I wonder how many people have been ticketed wrongly. Yet as many of you have stated if you drive within the speed limit you have nothing to worry about. Well guess what people this happens daily across the USA .what about the people that just pay the fines and go on with life? I guess we just let it slide. Who cares if a few innocent people are wrongfully charged along the way. This is the new USA under Obama fines will become the norm for most Americans. The middle class will be gone in 10 years so if your not in the top 1% get used to it .
One of the cams in this town is 25% off, and ticketing at 2-3 mph over, and I can prove it.
Take those tickets to court, folks! The judge HATES those cameras!
i got one in delmar for 5 miles over limit. Mph sign was obscured, but when I realized where I was (near that school) I braked & that's when the camera caught me. you can see the lights on my car in the pic. I suddenly realized I was trapped.
In Delmar the money aint being used for what the law says anyway. It was supposed to be used for the police department but instead the town cuts the police budget the amount brought in by the speed cameras. And so the money is really being used by the town for other stuff anyway.
If you dont live in Maryland they cant suspend your license for no paying the ticket anyways. In Delmar the police chief owns a collection company that will force you to pay but if you dont he will make your credit bad if you don't pay.
How can the Police Chief own a collection company that collects fines when the money goes directly to the police department? Isn't that illegal? That would be a conflict of interest. Thats corruption!
Is that really happening in Delmar? Thats my town. I think thats an ethics violation. Do the mayors and commissioners know about this? If they do and don't do anything about it they are just as bad as the Chief of Police. Maybe they are getting kickbacks! Joe, please look into this. If anyone had the B***s you do.
That whole town is corrupt. One of the public works employees got caught steeling from the town and the town manager didnt fire him. The same employee got caught steeling again. This time it was thousands of dollars worth of scrap metal from the town. He got charged by the Delmar cops. Maybe the town manager should get fired for not doing her job and covering up for the theif who is related to her. And the mayors do know about it. Maybe the Anderson guy doesn't want to make waves while he runs against Conway. If the Delmar people ever found out he knows about this and did nothing it would be a big scandal and ruin his chances of winning.
anonymous 11:16, Let's get a few things straight here. There's Delmar Delaware and Delmar Maryland. Two Mayors. The THEFT was on the Delaware side, just to make things perfectly clear.
It should also be noted that it takes BOTH Mayor's to make a decision about these matters, including anything to do with the Chief of Police. I personally believe ONE Mayor has the stones and the other had his snipped a long time ago.
Why does everyone come here asking Joe to do their job. If you are a Delmar resident...do YOUR job and go to a meeting every once in a while. Call town hall and ask questions. Call the elected officials. Don't just sit on your duffs, listen to half of a story and then speculate. And please, if you want to sound intelligent, make an attempt at spelling correctly. It is stealing, not steeling. And,if any of this has any truth to it to begin with, how do you know nothing has been done? Please enlighten us.
anonymous 1:26, Let's go in order, because people are lazy and think I have all this free time to look it up for them.
More people should go to the meetings but I will say, even I have been challenged verbally by the Town Manager to be careful what I publish. More like, if you know what's good for you... Never bothered or scared me, obviously.
There has been alleged theft as described but it was dropped because of certain relatives that work for the Town. How convenient.
Delmar is VERY complicated because it takes BOTH Mayor's to get certain things done. You must have a yes or no by BOTH Mayors or it gets dropped.
No disrespect intended Mr. Albero. Just making a point that No matter who fails to act on any alleged corruption, they will all look involved. If one side fails to act, the other has a responsibility to tell their tax payers whats going on. To intentionally keep it from them is almost as bad as having a hand in it. As far as the theft being on the Delaware side, the material belonged to the entire town of Delmar. Not one side or the other.
I understand your point Joe. Though the word alleged in this case is the key. I don't know the facts, but if he's been charged for theft, then there has been a solution to the problem. If it was in fact, a theft in Delaware, then the decision to charge would have had to come from the Delaware side? Is that how that works? As far as the speeding tickets, can we say for sure that nothing is being or has been done? And who would be making sure it got done? It does seem very comnplicated. What I'm saying is that it doesn't appear anyone really has facts but they take things and run with it. Funny how you read about Delmar being some great place to live, but they turn around and eat their own at every opportunity, true facts or not.
Not true 1:29. Obviously, you don't know how the budget works in Delmar, so you really should keep your comments to yourself. The employee is a problem of both sides of town, that is correct. Employee fired, that problem solved. If the material was stolen from something paid for by Delmar, Delaware, then that mayor and council is responsible for acting on it in a legal manner. If the materials were stolen from something Delmar, Maryland paid for, then that side of town is responsbile for acting on it it a legal manner. Think of it this way. If someone stole something from your house, I cannot be the one to press charges no matter how much I wanted to. If you live in Delmar, Delaware, and in fact the materials were stolen from Delmar, Delaware, then your officials are responsible for advising you if they see fit. If you don't like the way it has been handled, call them. You are the one who put them in office.
You can't be serious, 1:39. Are you hearing yourself? If one side of town doesn't act, it is up to the other side to tell you? There are actually two budgets. Delaware gets their own revenue, Maryland gets their own revenue. Delaware has their own expenses, Mayland has their own expenses. There are, of course, joint expenses (police department, town hall, salaries). Delaware pays 40%of those expenses and Maryland pays 60%, which has been an arguement in itself. It happens quite frequently that one side of town wants something and the other side of town doesn't. Instead of having a council to match the money (6 Maryland, 4 Delaware), Delware gets equal say for less money. So now you want the people I elect (Maryland) to act on your behalf? I'm sorry, but as a taxpayer and voter, I pay them to represent me, not you.
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