Judge Dierker wins red-light camera fight

Listen to this article

A St. Louis judge who fought his red-light ticket has won.

A special judge assigned to hear the traffic case ruled Wednesday that the city couldn’t meet its burden of proof and found St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker not guilty.

Dierker was on vacation last week. In a brief e-mailed response he said he was “claiming victory” and would be available for further comment later.

The city and Dierker, who represented himself, submitted filings and agreed-upon facts to Judge Ralph Jaynes, who issued a one-page ruling based on those. The parties waived a trial.

An attorney who handled the case for the city counselor’s office didn’t return a call seeking comment by press time.

Dierker had argued that the city couldn’t prove it was him driving the car. The red-light cameras take a photo of the license plate but not the driver and then tickets are issued presuming the car’s owner was also the driver.

There have been several legal challenges to red-light tickets, but the majority so far have failed, with courts finding cities have a right to use the cameras to improve public safety.

In his motion to dismiss the case, which failed, Dierker argued that the city ordinance allowing the citations is unconstitutional. He claimed it’s a violation of due-process rights for the city to presume that a car’s driver is also its owner.

In his case, Dierker said that’s a particularly unfair assumption because his household has five licensed drivers.

The fine for such a ticket is $100.

Dierker argued, among other things, that the fine is improper because it’s not expressed in the ordinance and is more specific than the general range of punishment for ordinance violations. Plus, he claimed the fine amounts to a fee for vehicle owners and hence violates a state constitutional provision that prohibits increasing fees without putting the issue before voters.

Last month, Jaynes denied Dierker’s motion to dismiss without elaboration.

At that time, the company that operates red-light cameras, American Traffic Solutions, hailed the ruling as another legal victory for the process.

“Once courts are adequately briefed on how the red-light camera safety programs operate, time and time again the courts find these programs are constitutional and lawful and improve safety on the roadways by reducing red light running which cause unnecessary crashes, injuries and deaths,” George Hittner, the company’s vice president and general counsel, said then in a written statement.

The case is City of St. Louis v. Robert H. Dierker, 0922-CR02861.