My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California, city of Riverside.
August 2013. I received a 'Notice of Traffic Violation' from The Riverside Police Department. The ticket was for 'Failure to Stop at Red Light' (CVC 21453a). On the ticket it said that I had until September 30th to respond to the Moreno Valley Court. The red light camera was located on University Ave. and Iowa. The camera is no longer there, it was taken down by the city on September 30th. Coincidence that my last day to contact the court was the same day the camera was shut off? So I ended up ignoring the ticket and never responded to the court.
Earlier this month I got a nasty letter from the DMV. It said, 'Your drivers license is suspended as of Jan 30, 2014.... because you violated your written promise to appear and/or you failed to pay a fine pursuant to section 42003(A) V.C.' The letter went on to say that 'the suspension would remain in effect until all FTA's and FTP's have been removed from my record.
I went to the Moreno Valley court last week and spoke with the clerk. She was not friendly or helpful. I got the feeling that she was just trying to railroad me into pleading guilty. I told her that I needed to talk to the judge about my ticket ASAP because the DMV was about to take my license away. She said I could not talk to the judge without paying my entire fine for bail. The original fine was $500 but it's now up to $900 because I didn't show up for court. I told her that I didn't have the money and she said my only other option was to go online where I could make payments. I went to the website and it does give me the option to pay $300 as a partial payment but I'd be pleading guilty by making a partial payment.
I want to plead not guilty. I think I can beat this ticket since the camera is no longer there but I don't have $900 for bail. i could be wrong about this but doesn't the court have to prove that there were 'photo enforcement' signs posted when the camera took the pictures/video? How can they prove that if the camera and all the signs are no longer there?
I checked the website and the pictures from the red light camera were still there. I have to go to the Police Department in Riverside if I want to see the video again though. So they still have all the footage even though the camera was removed which didn't surprise me.
Is there anything else about the camera no longer being there that would help me get my ticket dismissed in court? How can I talk to the judge and plead not guilty without paying the full $900 fine?

