Alabama
Alabama judge unfairly imposes jail time for a speeding ticket Friday, February 26th, 2010
A woman attended traffic court in Dothan, Alabama earlier this week to contest a speeding ticket. She was found guilty. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail.
Stacie Flowers Rae certainly wasn’t expecting jail time when she made the decision to contest her Alabama speeding ticket. She claims District Judge John Steensland sentenced her to jail for the speeding charge in order to send a message to the rest of the people in traffic court Thursday who planned to contest their tickets.
Rae said she was handcuffed and placed near the front of the courtroom while Steensland heard other cases. Based on what she saw, she felt the Judge’s intimidation strategy worked. She was the first bench trial of the day and she watched others who originally seemed intent on contesting their charge as she did enter a plea of guilty instead.
Her last piece of evidence convincing her that she was used as a prop to scare the other motorists? At the end of the court session, the judge reduced her sentence to fines and court costs. Court records indicate Rae was found guilty of speeding at 9:38 a.m. and sentenced to 10 days in jail. At 11:17 a.m., her sentence was changed to zero days in jail. Her total fines and court costs were $209.
Steensland says he did it because she was “lying”. Maybe she was (we’ll never know) but the fact that she was the first case of the day, sentenced to jail time and left to stand handcuffed in front of the rest of the motorists only to see her sentence reduced once the other motorists finished their cases seems a little suspicious.
While Steensland denies the original sentence was an intimidation tactic, he ultimately issued an apology. Bottom line is no one should ever be discouraged from having their day in court. The odds may be stacked against a typical traffic violation defendant, but at very least everyone should have a chance to contest the charges against them without fear of minor court surcharges to cover the extra time a hearing takes or penalties, such as imprisonment, that are way more severe than the penalties given to similarly charged motorists who enter a guilty plea.
If you have any questions about an Alabama speeding ticket or other Alabama traffic ticket. please contact and consult with an Alabama traffic ticket lawyer.
Scott Feifer
NYC Traffic Ticket Lawyer