A second Richmond-area Judge has issued a ruling finding Virginia’s Abuser Fees scheme unconstitutional:
Judge Thomas O. Jones of Richmond General District Court became the second area judge to declare the state’s dangerous-driver fees law unconstitutional.
Jones called it a “no-brainer” that the law violates the U.S. Constitution because it imposes the fees, which are assessed upon conviction of certain traffic violations, on Virginia drivers but not those who are residents of other states.
The decision came in the case of Joseph C. Fields, who was convicted July 7 of reckless driving and was fined $100 and costs. Defense lawyer G. Barton Chucker made a motion challenging the constitutionality of assessing a danger-driver fee on his client.
“The court does find that the law requiring the assessment of civil remedial fees only upon the citizens of the commonwealth does violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” Jones wrote in his ruling.
Another nail in the coffin.
August 13th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
hurray….