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Originally Posted by Mink Islander
I guess if I got a ticket for not having a life jacket in my boat (which I am required to by law), rather than argue that the "stop" was illegal, I think I would have paid the modest fine and learned a lesson. Maybe to some it's a beautiful exercise of a citizen's right to appeal. Not me. Seems to me to support and even breed a view that rules are to be broken and, if caught, use any loophole available to avoid being held accountable.
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I agree this is a pretty minor case but there are important priniciples involved, and not just the right to a trial. Would you have the MP ignore it's own rule about "articulable suspicion" ? If the courts don't hold the various policing agencies accountable it won't be very long before we're being stopped for no reason whatsoever (see Supreme Court ruling vs Cinncinatti PD). Would this be acceptable to you ? Now I might be amenble to both parties commiting a "crime" to being fined and/or punished as a way of holding everyone accountable whilst not ignoring the evidence ....