Yesterday the Court of Appeals of Ohio Third Appellate District overturned the conviction of a FedEx driver who was fined for speeding in 2012.
Ardjan Bardhi was a FedEx Driver in December of 2012, when a State trooper “visually estimated” the driver’s speed. This was confirmed by handheld radar, and the Trooper made the traffic stop. Bardhi was convicted of in a Paulding county Court of a misdemeanor traffic violation and ordered to pay $50 fine and court costs.
Bardhi’s conviction included a violation of R.C 4511.21(D)(3), a statute which prohibits vehicles greater than 8000 pounds from traveling more than 55 miles per hour on the freeway (Bardhi was allegedly going 67). During the course of the trial, however, Bardhi states that the weight of the truck was never brought into question, and as such an essential element of the charge was never sufficiently proven.
Bardhi appealed this conviction, and yesterday the Third Appellate district ruled that without proving the weight of the vehicle in question, the matter of speed was moot; without sufficient evidence to support the weight of the truck, the violation was not sufficiently proven, depriving Bardhi of due process.
