Archive for June, 2010

Think about the last time you received a traffic ticket.  The officer writes down your name and address, vehicle information, and then he or she signs the ticket, right?  Well, when a traffic camera catches you driving through a red light, it works a little bit differently.  The officer reviews the photos at a computer terminal and “signs” the tickets electronically, simply by pushing a button.  The ticket is then printed out in another state, and it is mailed to you and the court.  Attorney John Clark of Spokane is challenging this process; he points to the law that requires an officer’s “signature” on each ticket.  See article.   Does a computer generated signature count?  How many of you have signed a check or signed a rental agreement with a computer generated signature?  Probably not many.  However, my guess is that the court will uphold the legality of these computer-generated signatures.  While we typically think of a signature as a person writing their own name, usually in cursive, a signature can take many forms.   According to Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th edition, “A signature may be written by hand, printed, stamped, typewritten, engraved, photographed or cut from one instrument and attached to another…And whatever mark, symbol, or device one may choose to employ as representative of himself is sufficient.”  Additionally, while it may not be widely known, the “electronic signature” is actually becoming more and more common.  It is not like the police invented this practice.   Last year, when I borrowed money for my older son’s college tuition, I “signed” the master promissory note online with an electronic signature.  I guess we will see how the court rules on this whole thing.

Speaking of red light tickets in Spokane, I saw last week a photoshield on a license plate.  A photoshield is a clear plastic cover a person buys to put over their license plate to prevent a red light camera from reading their plate.  The cover is transparent but creates glare for the traffic camera.  The same glare effect can also be created by a spray-on can.  These devices have already been outlawed in some states, such as Pennsylvania, but are still apparently legal here in Spokane.  We will see how long that lasts.   Below is a video from Tech TV on the subject.   As an attorney, I would advise people to avoid these products.  Let’s say you use this product on your car, and you do actually injure someone in a traffic accident.  How is it going to look to a judge or jury when the state trooper testifies about the covering to your license plate?  There is a special term we use in the law to describe a plan, formed in advance, to break the law.  The term is “premeditation.”

For previous stories on the intersection of technology and the law, see Drones and Privacy, C.S.I. High, Taser Cams, Robbery on Video, & Twitter and Public Meetings.

The Republican Spokane Prosecutor candidates will square off tomorrow (Monday the 21st) for the first time in a debate hosted by the Republicans of Spokane County. The three Republican candidates are Steve Tucker, David Stevens, and Chris Bugbee.  It starts at 6:30 p.m. at Quality Inn Suites at I-90 and Argonne in the Spokane Valley.  See story in the blog Spin Control.  The “moderator” will be Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.  You have to wonder a little about what they were thinking in having Knezovich handle this thing.  It seems that the best moderators are the ones who do not draw attention to themselves, and rather help educate the voters about the candidates.  Ozzie Knezovich may have not endorsed any particular candidate, but he is hardly impartial.  The incumbent Steve Tucker is actually Knezovich’s lawyer, at least in the sense that Tucker is the county attorney, and his office gives legal advice to county departments.  Knezovich is also busy himself in pushing for the new jail he wants, and this project has been hampered somewhat by the fact that Steve Tucker has had a hard time filling the current jail with convicts.  Knezovich announced layoffs of 57 jail employees in Spokane last month.  See story.  Meanwhile the Spokane Police Guild has already endorsed one of Tucker’s opponents, Chris Bugbee.  The Guild, in a public statement, opined that Tucker is too inclined to settle cases, and that Bugbee is more inclined to “fight regardless of the consequences.”  The other thing about the debate is that the public who attends will want to hear about the candidates from their prospective, not necessarily from the prospective of the sheriff.  The Spin Control blog jokes with readers that at least having the Sheriff there will keep the peace.  But my guess is that the event will be pretty bland.  A better bet for excitement will be across town, as the Spokane City Council considers again an ordinance granting more powers to the local police ombudsman.  The City Council meeting is at City Hall (of course) at 6 p.m. the same night as the debate.  I have blogged in the past about the need for reform in this area.  The new proposed law before the city council would give the independent ombudsman greater authority by conducting independent investigations of police officer actions.   Lately, the ombudsman reversed his stance and is now asking the council for the right to examine allegations of police misconduct independent of the police internal investigation.  Apparently he had said last year that this was unnecessary.   Some of the same people who have been pushing for police reform are also strong critics of Steve Tucker (see this blog for example).   It looks like Tucker will get a little break Monday night, as proponents of police reform cannot be in two places at once.

A couple of years ago, the state Access to Justice Board tried to increase the presence of pro bono legal services in the rural parts of the State.   The Northwest Justice Project opened four new offices across the state, including an office in Colville.   The office is at 132 W 1st Avenue where the barber shop used to be.  It is right next door to Cafe 103.   The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is a not-for-profit statewide organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income people.  For you Facebook junkies, the NJP just started a site right here.  It is low on content and friends, but was just started last week.  What does NJP offer?  Well, they are having a class in Colville on your rights as a tenant.  I don’t do eviction cases, so I was glad to post their flyer in my lobby.  The class will be taught by NJP lawyer Kerry Summers and one other lawyer whose name escapes me.  If you live in Ferry or Pend Oreille County, you don’t have to drive to Colville.  There will be classes coming to Republic and to Newport too I believe.

Dennis Morgan is running for prosecutor this year against Mike Sandona.  As I mentioned in a blog post last April, appeals work can be pretty low profile.  At least that used to be true before TVW.  TVW is the CSPAN of Washington State.  Dennis Morgan is often on TVW because he often makes the drive from Republic to Olympia to argue cases at the  State Supreme Court.  Dennis Morgan has been practicing for about 35 years, and is recognized State-wide for his legal abilities. Check him out in his most recent appearance on TVW.
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If you look closely, you can see some of the Supreme Court Justices I have blogged about in the past.  Justice Richard Sanders is present, who I blogged about here.   Also, Justice Gerry Alexander is present, who I blogged about here.

The Dennis Morgan / Mike Sandona prosecutor race is set for August for the primary, and November for the general election.  Morgan’s Facebook campaign page is here.  I look forward to seeing the candidate’s night featuring Dennis Morgan and Mike Sandona.   The general election will decided the race for Ferry County Prosecutor on November 3rd, 2010.  Mike Sandona was elected to the position in November 2006 in a race against James Von Sauer and Alexander Wirt.

I was looking at the Spring/Summer issue of Mac|Life this week, and was a little blown away at the announcement that private drones would soon be available to “surveil you’re enemies from above.”   If you ever tried an old remote-control helicopter, you know that they are shaky and unreliable, and often crash.  This new flying machine is a quadricopter (four rotors), and comes equipped with two video cameras.  You control the drone with your iphone, and it streams the video back to your screen.  Check out this YouTube clip for an idea of how it works:

You have to wonder about the writers at Mac|Life who suggested that this invention is the “best app ever”.  Mac|Life’s adoring “review” of this product has no thoughtful discussion of its potential for abuse.  It is one thing to understand theoretically that the C.I.A. can read a license plate off of your car, or to know that Google Earth has a grainy photo of your backyard online.  But it is another thing entirely for the geeky neighbor kid to be flying this around outside your second story window.  It is one thing to be “watched” from above, and another thing to be watched from all sides.

I remember in law school learning about the legal principle that states that a property owner owns his or her parcel all the way from the center of the earth up to the heavens.  I looked this principle up again today, and the notion dates back to William Blackstone, who in 1766 wrote  it in Latin: “Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad caelum et ad inferos.”  So is it trespassing to fly this over your neighbors house and spy on him?  As with most laws in Washington, the RCW code takes a while to catch up on new technology.  Example:  In July 21st, 2000, a perv named Richard Sorrells ran around Seattle Center with a mini-video recorder in his hand that he pointed up girls skirts.  He was arrested, but he beat the charges because he never actually touched the girls, and there was no law that prohibited such filming.    Well, it took about three years, but the slow-pokes in our state legislature finally figured out video cameras were now smaller than a Super 8 mm.  On May 12th, 2003 the legislature enacted RCW 9A.44.115 which made such filming a felony.  How long will it take for the legislature to prohibit someone from buzzing a drone through your yard while you are having a barbecue?

Would it be permissible for the police to fly a drone over your garden to look for marijuana plants growing?  It will be interesting to see how how this develops.   Basically, under Washington law, the police are allowed to fly over your house and look for marijuana gardens.  The State Supreme Court ruled in State v. Wilson (1999) that such a flight does not invade a persons privacy as long as the planes comply with the FAA rule that fixed-wing aircraft remain at an altitude of 500 feet.   Currently, the only marijuana-spotting drones in use by law enforcement in the U.S. are in Northern California.  There, the Forest Service uses drones to look for large marijuana gardens on public lands.  Under law, an individual has a lesser expectation of privacy while on public land, than at his home.  In Europe however, the police have begun to use drones to fly-over and observe activities on private property.   The police in the U.K. used a drone to catch a car thief, before being told such use was not allowed without a permit by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority.  See story.  In the Netherlands, the police have begun using drones to look for marijuana grows.  See video:

Is it just me or is this drone technology pretty scary? Where are we going to be in 5 or 10 years on this issue? What do you think?