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HELMET TICKET(S) by quig |
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The Watsonville citation offers a promising result. The court for hearing the matter will be the Superior Court Annex in Watsonville, the Honorable Judge Heather Morse presiding. Judge Morse has a reputation for doing things by the book. No politics. She's the type of rare jurist (that's the respectful word for "judge") that will follow the law, even if it favors the likes of bikers . . . even the likes of me. Initially, the citation was dismissed, "with prejudice," upon sustaining my demur on November 13, 2003. Next thing I know, in December 2003, the Watsonville City Attorney showed up in court asking for a second bite at the apple. He wanted to file an Opposition to the Demur, late, and schedule a new hearing. I figured, what the Hell? I wanted the hearing in the first place, so let them make their best arguments. We found out that might have been a mistake. We didn't fight the motion because we wanted the legal issues heard in an impartial court, and Judge Morse was our best chance in Santa Cruz County. On January 23, 2004, the City Attorney filed their Opposition to Demur. Go ahead, read it. What a crock! Lawyers joke among themselves: "If the facts don't help your client, argue the law. If the law doesn't favor your client, argue the facts." The Watsonville City Attorney, however, coined a new one — "If neither the facts or the law favor your side, dazzle them with brilliance. If that don't work, baffle them with bullshit!" The bullshit meter is pegged out on this one. On January 30th, I filed my response to their opposition. Trust me, they didn't like it. I'm starting to get fed up with lawyer bullshit, and it shows. All I want for my troubles is for them to bring the law to the table so the court can rule on the law. All they want to do is play games. It's pathetic. (NOTE: On the original date set for the hearing — which was moved back a week for personal reasons — February 6th, Watsonville Police Officer Ridgeway was patrolling my neighborhood — Aptos, California — with the California Highway Patrol in some sort of a joint task force mission, when he stopped and cited me again for allegedly violating the helmet law by wearing my "it looks like a stocking cap to me" helmet. That Court put the two citations together into the same case. One case, two counts.) The Demur hearing took place on Friday afternoon, the 13th of February. If you've got a strong stomach, you can listen to the audio record of the proceedings by clicking here. It's probably the worst appearance I have ever made in court, all 58 minutes of it. It makes me cringe to listen. On the other hand, it's worth hearing what the Judge was trying to say (over my objections) about the seeming validity of my arguments. Like I said, it was a terrible appearance by me. I will be putting up a transcript some day, replacing all the stuff I said with "bla, bla, bla" — because in spite of my diatribe, what the Judge had to say may prove to be real important to the future of the helmet law. The next hearing was held March 12th. The Judge carefully considered our arguments and set the demur for a hearing on March 19th. It's not so bad, and there's some important testimony for the citing officer. You can listen in by clicking here. On March 19th, without ruling on the ultimate question as to whether or not my headgear qualifies as a "motorcycle safety helmet" for purposes of complying with California's helmet law, Judge Morse overruled the demur — which means nothing more than that the citation sufficiently states a cause of action to which I was required to enter a plea. I made the court enter a plea. The court pled "not guilty" and set a tentative trial date of May 7, 2004. That hearing is available by clicking here. After leaving the courthouse, a Watsonville cop (who was apparently hanging around waiting for me to leave) issued a third Watsonville PD ticket. This moves the whole thing up one more level. There's no need to keep writing tickets. The judge has already said so. This ticket is pure harassment. I decided I had to try for yet another form of relief — something a little quicker. On April 9, 2004, I filed a "Petition for Writ of Mandamus" (a fancy name for a court order) which you're welcome to read by clicking here (a pdf file), and the order I'm asking for the Judge to sign by clicking here (also pdf). The hearing on the Petition is set for May 14, 2004. On May 14th, the court ruled that the Petition(s) had been filed in the wrong court, that I would be required to file the Petition or Petitions with the Superior Court, Civil Division, in downtown Santa Cruz. That might happen. In the meantime, I filed a Motion to Dismiss, and Points and Authorities in Support of the Motion to Dismiss, for a hearing scheduled for June 11, 2004. The City Attorney's Response to Motion to Dismiss came in on June 2, 2004, and I filed a Response to that Response on June 3, 2004. The next hearing is scheduled for June 11th at 1:30 p.m. I'll keep you posted on the outcome. BREAK On June 11th, everything changed. As I was leaving the court, on my way home, Watsonville Police Officer Katich came at me again (the first ticket was a month or so earlier, as I was leaving court from a scheduled appearance) . . . this time with a vengeance. Katich sat through enough of the court hearing on the Motion to Dismiss, and long enough to hear me complain about one last ticket from the CHP on Memorial Day (May 31st) over my helmet style. Long enough to hear me explain to the Judge that I was done trying to comply — that 30 tickets for wearing the same headgear, without anyone ever having to prove it did not comply with the requirements of California's helmet law, was too, too much. That I would be riding bare headed until such time as the cops tried as hard as I to follow the law. Apparently that was all Katich needed to hear. As I walked out of the courthouse, I noticed Katich riding by on his motorcycle, looking in the direction of where I had parked my motorcycle. I knew he was laying in wait for me, but I decided that as a Free and Natural Person (see Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution of California), that I would ride home regardless of the pending problem. Sure enough, Katich chased me down and pulled me over. He cited me for not wearing a helmet. THEN he threatened me with arrest if I rode off without a helmet. I asked what he considered a helmet, and he pointed at his. Assuming he did not want me to actually take and wear his, I responded by telling him to either arrest me, or shut up about it. He repeated his threat. About that time, his sergeant arrived. I complained to him about Katich's threat. The sergeant informed me that he was in support of the notion that I could be arrested for riding away without a helmet. I explained that I was headed home when Katich stopped me, and that nothing had been said that would change my mind, again asking them to either arrest me or shut up about it. Following a rather lenghty moment of silence, I flipped off the lot of them, made a rather unflattering comment, started my bike and headed out.
I don't remember when I've ever been more pissed. When Katich released me from custody, I immediately got in touch with a friend, borrowed the $200+ to get my bike out of impound, retrieved my bike and headed home, still without a "helmet" — riding right through the middle of the downtown Watsonville area — without so much as a second glance from either of the two cops I saw before I got out of town. I know they saw me, but they also apparently figured out I was seriously bent about having been arrested and having my bike stolen by Katich. Anyway, the charge of "willful failure to obey a lawful order from a police officer" (a misdemeanor) was dismissed by the court, and the decision upheld on appeal. The helmet citation, along with the other issued by Katich (and the 2 issued by Watsonville Police Officer Ridgeway, a GOOD cop), were eventually ruled "correctable" fix-it tickets by the court (Judge Michael Barton having replaced Judge Morse, who did not prove to be the jurist I had hoped she was.) and — after obtaining a court order forcing them to do so — signed off by the Watsonville PD, and dismissed. I will be filing suit in Federal Court soon against the City of Watsonville, Katich and the Watsonville PD for false arrest and theft of my motorcycle on June 11, 2004, sometime soon. The tickets are gone, and I am once again free to ride in Watsonville without fear of being harassed by Katich or any of their other gang-brained thugs in uniform. A fitting ending to the story. As of today, June 2, 2005, the only remaining active tickets are CHP tickets which the court ordered the CHP to sign off as correctable fix-it tickets. Elsewhere on the site, the conclusion to those tickets will be available as soon as they are signed off and dismissed. Out of 34 tickets, 9 show up as convictions (although there is some question as to whether or not any of those convictions were lawfully imposed), and the rest have been dismissed for one reason or another. Not bad, eh? Life is good, at least for me. I don't have any fines pending, and the issue of how the helmet law operates is now, finally set for a ruling from the higher courts as to whether or not the statute should remain in effect. quig |
