Judge sides with driver trying to beat computer-printed DUI ticket

You’re probably an experienced user of e-mail. But have you ever gotten an e-citation?

And if the police have given you one, did you beat the criminal charge because of a glitch? A man in Baltimore County might.

E-citations are tickets that Maryland State Police troopers have been handing out since March 2008. Instead of writing out an old-fashioned ticket, a trooper swipes a driver’s license through a device in his car to send the information to the district court’s computer system, then prints out a citation for the driver.

Last week, according to a story in The Daily Record, defense attorney Raphael J. Santini argued in Baltimore County District Court that his client’s citation improperly listed more than one DUI-related offense per count. “Each count, you can only be charged with one offense,” Santini said.

“We have a constitutional right to be notified what the charges are against us.”

Judge Philip N. Tirabassi went along with his reasoning. According to County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, Tirabassi made a preliminary ruling but didn’t dismiss the case. The defendant can be charged again after the trooper redoes the paperwork, Shellenberger said.

Is this a mistake that could happen only with a computer? No – the same situation could occur when a trooper or other officer filled out a ticket in pen incorrectly.

A State Police spokesman said the police are looking into the judge’s ruling to try to prevent this from happening again.