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Warson Woods Municipal Court

Warson Woods Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Warson Woods, MO Traffic Court
Warson Woods Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Warson Woods, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Warson Woods traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Warson Woods Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Warson Woods?

This page contains Court information and links for Warson Woods, Missouri.

Warson Woods Municipal Court
424 N. Sappington Rd
Warson Woods, MO 63122

Phone: 314-909-3003
Fax: 314-965-2912

City of Warson Woods, MO website. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Presiding Judge
Hon. John P. Lord, III

Court Administrator
Cassy Kollmeyer

Prosecuting Attorney
Ed McSweeny

Court Hours
Monday-Thursday
7:00am – 3:00pm

Court is held every other month on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00pm.

Payments can be made online at www.ipaycourt.com/warsonwoods

Des Peres Municipal Court

Des Peres Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Des Peres, MO Traffic Court
Des Peres Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Des Peres, Missouri?

Des Peres issued 614 tickets in 2017.
Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Des Peres traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Des Peres Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense

This page contains Court information and links for Des Peres, Missouri.

Des Peres Municipal Court
12325 Manchester Rd
Des Peres, MO 63131

Phone: 314-835-6119

City of Des Peres, MO website. Check the website to find a list of fines.

Presiding Judge
Charles H. Billings

Court Administrator
Amie Clemonds

Court Hours
Monday-Friday
8:00am – 4:00pm

Wellston Municipal Court

Wellston Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Wellston, MO Traffic Court
Wellston Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Wellston, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Wellston traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Wellston Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Wellston?

This page contains Court information and links for Wellston, Missouri.

Wellston Municipal Court is now held in St. Ann.

10405 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann, MO 63074

314-428-6811

Sean O’Hagan, Municipal Judge

Angela Chatman, Municipal Court Administrator

http://www.stannmo.org

 

Click here to pay your fine online

http://www.stannmo.org

Winchester Municipal Court

Winchester Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Winchester, MO Traffic Court
Winchester Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Winchester, Missouri?

Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Winchester traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.
Winchester Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Winchester?

This page contains Court information and links for Winchester, Missouri.

Winchester Municipal Court

City of Winchester, MO website.

As of August 27, 2019, Ballwin Municipal Court is handling all Winchester Municipal Cases. The Ballwin Police Department began providing police service and emergency dispatch services on October 1, 2019.

Woodson Terrace Municipal Court

Woodson Terrace Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Woodson Terrace, MO Traffic Court
Woodson Terrace Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Woodson Terrace, Missouri?

In 2018, Woodson Terrace Municipal Court issued 1527 tickets.
Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Woodson Terrace traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.

Woodson Terrace Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense
Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Woodson Terrace?

Our Woodson Terrace traffic lawyers handle speeding ticket defense, where “no points” is the goal.
Let our Woodson Terrace traffic law attorneys start helping you today. Fill out the form on the side of this page.

This page contains Court information and links for Woodson Terrace, Missouri.

Woodson Terrace Municipal Court
4323 Woodson Rd
Woodson Terrace, MO 63134

Phone: 314-427-2600 ext 147 or 131

City of Woodson Terrace, MO website.

Court Hours

Monday-Friday

8:30am – 4:30pm, on Court days the office will close at 4:00.

The Court tries matters such as violations of traffic code, maintenance code and other ordinances; and is held on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30pm, unless the first Wednesday falls on a holiday, in which case the rescheduled date will be posted on our calendar.

Please note the following important information about paying fines:

  • Speeding Violations are not“automatically set up” to pay online and require a call to the court’s office.
  • Case(s) represented by an attorney that have received recommendation are also not “automatically set up” to pay online and request a call to the court office as well.

For information regarding warrants and disposition none will be given over the phone, you must appear in person with photo id.

Understanding Bonds:

A $100.00 cash bond is posted in person at the W.T. Police Station with either a State License or State ID card to cancel a W.T. Warrant and obtain a Court Date.

Once a bond is posted and a Court Date issued, then the bond may be applied in person on or before (depending upon case disposition) the court date given, at the court building, with State License or State ID. A Bond Consent Form must be filled out.

Bellefontaine Neighbors Municipal Court

Bellefontaine Neighbors Municipal Court Traffic Attorneys
Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO Traffic Court
Bellefontaine Neighbors Traffic Lawyers

Did you get a ticket in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri?

In 2018, Bellefontaine Neighbors Municipal Court issued 1498 tickets.
Stop Sign, Electric Signal Violation, Driving While Suspended, Possession of Marijuana, or any other ticket, our Bellefontaine Neighbors traffic lawyers can handle it where “no points” is the goal.

Bellefontaine Neighbors Speeding Ticket Traffic Law Defense

Did you receive a Speeding ticket in Bellefontaine Neighbors?
Our Bellefontaine Neighbors traffic lawyers handle speeding ticket defense, where “no points” is the goal.
Let our Bellefontaine Neighbors traffic law attorneys start helping you today. Fill out the form on the side of this page.

This page contains Court information and links for Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri.

Bellefontaine Neighbors Municipal Court
9641 Bellefontaine Rd
Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO 63137

Phone: 314-867-0076
Fax: 314-867-1790

City of Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO website.

Presiding Judge
Hon. John Duepner
Court Administrator
Alysa Stewart

Municipal Court convenes at 6:30pm on the second Wednesday of each month in the Courtroom, located at 9641 Bellefontaine Road. Doors to City Hall open at 5:30pm. Cases are heard on a first-come, first-served basis. The Judge will call defendants in the order they have entered the Courtroom. Any payment is expected at the time of court appearance.

DAY COURT
Municipal Court will also convene at 1:00pm on the third Wednesday of each month in the Courtroom. Doors to the Courtroom will open at 12:30pm. Attorney call will be at 1:00pm. Day court will cover Housing cases, Trials, Bond Forfeitures, and DWI’s.

RULES OF COURT:
Appropriate dress is required
All Defendants, under the age of 18, must appear with a parent or legal guardian
All electronic devices must be turned off

FEE SCHEDULE (Dated 01/2016)

MUNICOURT.NET: You can track your case or check on court/payment dates. https://www.municourt.net

Blood shot eyes, alcohol breath not enough for intoxication

A Missouri Western District appellate court recently ruled in favor of a driver charged with a DWI. Basically it said law enforcement use of evidence of the smell of intoxicants from Defendant’s breath and observing the driver’s bloodshot eyes was insufficient in of itself to show intoxication.

In this case, Defendant was pulled over by a state trooper for expired tags, not because of erratic driving. Defendant refused to blow. Defendant is appealing the circuit court’s judgment affirming the Director of Revenue’s decision to revoke his driving privilege for one year for refusing to take a chemical test pursuant to Section 302.574.

The defendant contends that the circuit court’s finding that there were reasonable grounds to believe the defendant was driving a motor vehicle in an intoxicated or drugged condition was not supported by substantial evidence.

The appellate court said that after reviewing the record, there was no indicia of intoxication present at the time of Defendant’s arrest to support a finding of probable cause for that arrest. Trooper testified at trial that he was concerned that Defendant was intoxicated due to “the odor of intoxicants and then the bloodshot eyes and he admitted to drinking prior to the stop.” The Trooper testified that “I believed that he was under the influence, too impaired to drive.” However, he also testified that the only evidence of impairment was the smell of alcohol and Defendant’s bloodshot eyes. Defendant told Trooper that his bloodshot eyes were due to being tired. Although Defendant had admitted to drinking, his reported last drink was fifteen hours prior to the stop.

The State Trooper’s following testimony of what he observed failed to establish intoxication:
• Observed no other evidence of intoxication from Rocha’s eyes; he observed no glassy eyes, staring eyes, constricted pupils, slow reaction to light, dilated pupils, or anything else that Cool was trained to look for as evidence of intoxication.
• Observed no gross motor movements that would suggest impairment.
• Observed no signs of uncertain balance, swaying, staggering, stumbling, or falling.
• Trooper followed Defendant for almost two miles before stopping Defendant, and during that time he observed nothing about Defendant’s driving that would indicate impairment.
• Observed that when Trooper’s emergency lights went on, Defendant stopped almost immediately.
• Observed no verbal indicators of impairment such as slurred speech, confusion, incoherency, stuttering, or mumbling.
• Observed nothing about Rocha’s clothing or footwear indicated impairment, and Rocha exhibited no unusual behaviors.
• Observed that Defendant recited the alphabet correctly.

The appellate court reversed the lower court and remanded the case. The case was Carlos Rocha v. Department of Revenue. The case was heard before Division Four Judges: Judge Mark D. Pfeiffer; Presiding Judge, Gary D. Witt; and Judge, Anthony Rex Gabbert.

Out-of-state DWI’s can be used to elevate a DWI to a felony

Interesting case here from the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District. It is a good example of how the court analyzes out of state DWI related convictions to determine whether they are the equivalent of a Missouri DWI conviction. This is important when it comes to using the out of state DWI convictions to charge an individual with a higher charge under the Chronic Offender statute.

In Missouri, four prior of intoxication-related traffic offenses (“IRTOs”) means the state can charge you with chronic offender status, thereby making it a felony a Class B felony.

The Prosecution admitted evidence of six previous occasions of IRTOs from Arkansas. Defendant appeals the admission of four of these previous IRTOs.

The court found two of the underlying charges to be distinguishable from the ruling in the case of State v. Coday, 496 S.W.3d 572 (Mo. App. 2016), which did not find IRTO convictions in Kansas, because they failed to meet Missouri’s evidentiary standards for a DWI. Kansas Law punishes persons operating or attempting to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated. In order to use an IRTO out of Kansas, there must be evidence that the individual was convicted of operating a motor vehicle as required for a Missouri DWI.

In this case, two of the underlying charges were municipal ordinance violations. The record did not provide the wording of these municipal ordinance. The court held: “Moreover, “a judgment that, on its face, shows a guilty plea or a finding of guilt of an [IRTO] can be treated as a prior conviction for purposes of enhancement under § 577.023.” Craig, 287 S.W.3d at 681–82 . . . Stated another way, we cannot say here that it was unreasonable for the trial court to infer that a conviction for “driving while intoxicated” was a conviction for driving while intoxicated.”

While, two of the proffered charges may have been thrown out following the ruling in Coday as the statute provided for operate or be in physical control. The court already had 4 prior IRTOs so it declined to make a decision.

Bottom line, if you have previous DWIs in another state, make sure you present the wording of the statute or ordinance in order to exclude the IRTOs as not complying with Missouri Law.

Cities causing home owners to make up for traffic ticket revenue drops

Drivers are no longer the only people that need to watch out for overzealous small cities seeking to raise money instead of raising taxes. Now homeowners are being aggressively targeted to pay fines related to housing violations.

Apparently, the use of traffic violations is not the only way small cities are raising money to run their towns. A recent trend, especially in the St. Louis region since the post-Ferguson Court Reform that capped the amount of revenue raised from traffic tickets, is for cities to pursue neighborhood ordinance nuisance violations.

What we saw in the St. Louis metro area since post Ferguson also takes place around the country. New stats compiled shows that many cities are using these tactics to raise money and that several St. Louis area municipals remain among the top practitioners.

Cash-strapped towns and cities across the nation don’t want to raise taxes to pay the costs of running their cities. Instead, they are using their nuisance laws — with fines and fees for minor traffic violations and violations of local housing codes — to balance their budgets.

For example, in Mountain View, Colorado – a town of around 500 people — made $621,099 in citation revenue in 2013, almost half its annual budget. Several other small Colorado towns in 2015 made more than 30 percent of their revenue from issuing traffic tickets.

The Institute for Justice has filed lawsuits around the country taking on these practices. One lawsuit in Pagedale, Missouri (a town of 3,300), notes that some 1,336 tickets were issued to 896 individuals for housing violations between a seven-year period (January 2010-September 2017). That would mean 39 percent of the city’s adult population was cited.

Violations could include failure to “neatly” hang drapes or curtains; small tears in screen doors; hosting a barbecue in front yards; failure to keep beer away from the grill; etc. A consent decree was negotiated recently that settles the case. The settlement includes reforms on how the City identifies, tickets, and tries those accused of violating its municipal code.

Below is a list of several jurisdictions that heavily rely upon the use of fines and fees to raise revenues. Many of this are right here in Missouri. Statistics were gathered from a 2012 analysis of cities by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2017. Here’s an excellent article on that best explains and breaks down this trend towards taxation by ticket.

Dependent Cities using fines and fees to raise revenue
CITY STATE FINES AS PERCENT OF REVENUE

Saint Ann Missouri 30.40%
North Hills New York 25.60%
Clarkston Georgia 24.40%
Morrow Georgia 22.70%
Stone Mountain Georgia 22.10%
Doraville Georgia 20.60%
Cedarhurst New York 18.80%
Riverdale Georgie 18.70%
St. Johns Missouri 18.00%
Willow Springs Illinois 17.10%
Great Neck Plaza New York 15.80%
Riverdale Dark Maryland 15.70%
Sunset Utah 14.50%
Oakland Tennessee 14.50%
Bellafontaine Neighbors Missouri 14.40%
Millersville Tennessee 14%
College Park Maryland 13.60%
Ferguson Missouri 12.90%
Lake Dallas Texas 12.80%
Maryland Heights Missouri 12.60%
Snellville Georgia 12.40%
Gretna Louisiana 12.20%
Dardenne Prairie Missouri 11.90%
Laurel Maryland 11.80% $66,355 7.80% 29.50%
Los Fresnos Texas 11.50% $39,149 33.10% 1.20%
U.S. AVERAGE 1.40% $54,651 15.60% 78.30%

Court privacy ruling protects driver of borrowed rental car

Picture yourself driving a rental car that was rented by your friend or a family member. You are then pulled over by the police. The police want to search the vehicle. Do you let them? Do you even have a choice?

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week gave us clear answers. This Country’s high court said that people who borrow rental cars from family or friends are generally entitled to the same protections against police searches as the actual authorized driver who rented the vehicle.

The decision was unanimous. If a person is in lawful possession and control of the rental car they are deemed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car, even if the rental agreement doesn’t list them as an authorized driver. Therefore, the police will have to have probable cause of a crime committed or a warrant to search the car.

The argument by the current administration was that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy of an unauthorized driver in a borrowed car. Therefore, police could search it without the unauthorized driver’s consent. Attorneys who argued against the search stated that around 115 million car rentals occur each year in the United States. And if the government wins their argument, police would be given an incentive to pull over a rental car driver who commits a traffic violation because they would know they have the right to search it if the driver is not on the rental agreement.

The case involved a driver named Terrence Byrd who in 2014 was driving his fiancée’s rental car on a highway in Pennsylvania. A state trooper stopped him alleging he had committed a minor traffic violation. The troopers observed that Byrd was acting nervously during the stop and he went on to admit that he had a marijuana cigarette in the car. The officers then searched the vehicle, telling Byrd that they did not need his consent because his name was not on the authorization form. When they opened the trunk they discovered 2,500 bags of heroin and body armor. Byrd would later admit that he planned to sell the drugs for $7,000. Byrd received a 10-year prison sentence.