Finding Justice in the American System

America touts itself as the epitome of democracy, human rights, freedoms, justice, and the American Dream. One thing in particular is the focus on finding justice in the court system. While this may be true in many circumstances involving crimes that involve serving a jail term this isn't often the case when it comes to minor infractions, traffic tickets, parking tickets, and other minor incidents. Those of us who have received tickets, whether or not we deserved them, and tried to fight them in court usually find the traffic court judges far less accommodating than we would like. Last week I found myself in one of these courts seeking justice and hoping, just hoping, that somehow I would get lucky.

A little over two months ago, during the middle of December, my buddy Rich and I decided that 12" of fresh powder was too much to pass up, even on a school day. So we packed our gear and drove up to the canyon. Those of you who have driven Little Cottonwood Canyon after a snowstorm know how crazy the roads can get and so as part of preventing people with two door Focuses and Civics from going up the canyon under these conditions the Salt Lake County Sheriffs deputies are often at the bottom screening cars to make sure they have all wheel drive, are 4x4s, or that you have chains and have put them on your vehicle. This was where Rich and I found ourselves on a somewhat snowy day in December. We saw the cops, we knew they were screening, but I had just had brand new studded snow tires put on exactly for these types of driving conditions. (While I recognize studded snow tires are not the same as chains, they are not far off from some of the cars with chains that were traveling that same canyon.) Rich and I thought we might as well give it a try and pulled up to ask the officer if the studded snow tires on my vehicle were sufficient to allow us up the canyon. After all, it never hurts to ask right? Wrong! The man glares at me then asks, "What did the sign say?" Being the smart intellectual that I am and having not read what the sign said since the weather conditions and the placement of the sign make it almost impossible to read coming from the south road I said hesitantly, "4 wheel drive or chains?" At which point he asked for my license, told me to turn my car around and then join him in the front of his vehicle.

Now this is the confusing part. I was baffled as to what he was going to say, why I we were even having this conversation, and what he would cite me for, since I knew I was being cited for something. You never have to sit inside of a police car unless you are going to be cited. They reserve the lectures for the side of the road, usually. As I sat down and watched him pull up my record, I asked why I was getting a ticket and he said it was for failing to abide by posted signs. Whatever. I pulled up to ASK if I could go up the canyon, I hadn't even entered the canyon yet and I'm getting a ticket for "failure to abide the posted signs?" To top it off, the car immediately behind me before I was told to turn around was a Porsche 911, it was allowed up because it was "all wheel drive." I'm sorry but in a snowstorm in a canyon an "all wheel drive" Porsche with only 3 inches of clearance is not going to do so hot, my car would handle just fine, but the officer didn't seem to think that mattered, the Porsche fit the parameters. Ten minutes later I've received my ticket, we've parked the car and just missed the last bus for the next hour up to the blissful powder waiting for us at the Bird. Luckily we were able to hitch a ride, on a vehicle sporting chains, and had an amazing day skiing.

This brings me to last Thursday. I had my court date. I felt the ticket was simply wrong. I understand if the officer doesn't feel that my vehicle is safe to travel the snow covered canyon roads. I can accept that. I can even accept him requiring me to turn around, find a place to park, and find some other way to get up the canyon--even if it takes an extra hour. What I can't accept is receiving a ticket for something that I'm not even sure is illegal. So there I was in court amidst a bunch of other people, most of who were there because they were caught driving on the left side of the road, didn't have a license at all while driving, or didn't have insurance. Also, a majority of these were old, 5-10 years. As I stood in front of the judge she told me my options and suggested that the best option I had was basically a form of pleading "guilty" without actually pleading "guilty." I paused for a moment, asked if there was any way we could talk about having it dismissed altogether or else I would just plead "not guilty" and take my chances at a real trial. Wrong is wrong. Even though the ticket was only $80 and this would take time and effort, I couldn't sit back and let injustice be served. She recommended I talk to a prosecutor and see what we could work out. Short story: I talked to the prosecutor representing the county, he was a third-year law student, he looked at my file and said, "failure to abide posted signs, huh? That usually means running a red light." "Ah, ha" I thought, "that's what that jargon meant." I told that in this circumstance I hadn't run any red lights and wasn't even sure I had done anything illegal. I told him everything I told you and he looked at me quizzically and said, "I'm not even sure that qualifies under that statute." At which point he picked up the 3 inch thick Utah traffic code book--3 inches really, for traffic codes? The one they give you in drivers school is only about 1/4 of an inch thick, at the most. I don't know whether he actually found the section he was looking for or just realized it wasn't worth it, because he closed the book and said, "Yeah, we'll go ahead and dismiss this." I think he realized that if I took it to court there really wouldn't be a legal case.

Back to the Judge. I told her we had decided to dismiss it. She seemed somewhat surprised, the bailiff, also a Salt Lake County Sheriff deputy, voiced some surprise, "what? really." Thankfully, the prosecutor came in, validated what I said. The forms were signed and the two hours I had spent listening to dozens of others voice their concerns and hope for mercy paid off. I walked away free from the ticket, free from any further time commitment, and free from any fines that would have been levied at me. I found justice right where I wanted it to be and in a way it made me believe a little more in our system of government, in our courts, in our judges, and in America. And why shouldn't I? In the end I didn't have to pay for the ticket I never should have received. It all worked.