BREAKING: CMPD used radar guns with faulty certifications since 2008
Expect defense lawyers to be busy as more details emerge
Good afternoon! Today is Wednesday, February 15, 2023, and we’re coming to you with HOT BREAKING NEWS.
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City discovered annual accuracy tests were performed improperly; potential ‘gold mine’ for lawyers on tens of thousands of traffic tickets
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have been using improperly certified radar guns since 2008, the city said Wednesday. (Shutterstock photo)
by Tony Mecia
Oh man, are defense attorneys going to have a field day with this one.
The city of Charlotte said this afternoon that it recently discovered that for more than a decade, it has been improperly certifying the radar guns Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers use to help catch speeders.
At a news conference this afternoon, officials said that they discovered on Jan. 31 that annual accuracy tests on the city’s radar guns “were not done in accordance with state legislation” — and that the improper certifications have been going on since 2008.
“We must hold ourselves accountable to the fact that we did not adhere to the state requirements,” said Reenie Askew, the city’s chief information officer.
It’s a little early to say what that news means, and city officials referred questions to how it might affect pending and past speeding tickets to the district attorney’s office, which didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
But it’s not a stretch to think that it calls into question the validity of tens of thousands of speeding tickets — though city officials stressed that they are confident the radar guns have been working properly and that not all speeding tickets rely on radar guns. Some of the accuracy tests were conducted by trained workers who lacked the proper credentials. The city said it is still investigating and does not have all of the details. All radar guns are expected to be properly certified by March 1.
Lots of tickets potentially affected: CMPD officials were not immediately able to say how many traffic citations they believe to be affected, or how many speeding tickets they write annually. The Ledger reported in 2019 that CMPD wrote 30,000 traffic tickets in 2018.
Defense lawyers sound as though they are salivating.
“It’s going to be a nightmare for the DA’s office,” said George Laughrun, one of Charlotte’s best-known criminal and traffic lawyers.
Laughrun said even years-old cases could be revisited if they were based on improperly certified equipment. It could also affect pleas or guilty verdicts on more serious offenses such as reckless driving or driving under the influence if motorists were initially pulled over for speeding.
And if some of those resulted in paying court costs or higher insurance premiums?
“To me, that’s where it would be a gold mine for the lawyers,” he said.
Laughren said he heard rumblings that something big was happening on speeding tickets in court today but didn’t have the details until The Ledger told him this afternoon.
“Thanks for making my day!” he said.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project