Lawyers in San Francisco are challenging automatic camera-generated tickets for running red lights -- at $341 a pop -- in roughly 200 cases.
Defense attorneys are questioning the admissibility of the photos in their clients' cases on three primary grounds. They contend that the photos are hearsay because they can't be properly authenticated, and that the red-light camera system�which includes a camera, sensors and a computer�doesn't meet California's test for determining the admissibility of scientific evidence.
The San Francisco defense attorneys also argue that the city's red-light camera system isn't operated by a government entity, as required under the state Vehicle Code, but by a privately contracted company.
The latter argument was successful a couple of years ago in San Diego, the National Law Journal reports here.