On May 8, 2009, I appeared in court­room 108 for the 20th Judi­cial Cir­cuit Court in response to a Notice to Show Cause aris­ing from a traf­fic ticket issued in 2006 by Collinsville, Illi­nois. The pre­sid­ing judge was Zina Renea Cruse (pic­tured here). It appears that this court­room is for first appear­ances relat­ing to traffic/misdemeanor. Judge Cruse called my name and I approached the bench. When I ques­tioned why I was being ques­tioned about a dis­missed charge, Judge Cruse attempted to tell me that, since Collinsville is in both Madi­son and St. Clair Coun­ties, the Madi­son County part of Collinsville was dis­missed, but not the St. Clair County side. I asked her if there were two charges aris­ing from one inci­dent which were filed in two coun­ties by one munic­i­pal­ity; to which she replied, “yes”. What that implies is that one traf­fic ticket issued by Collinsville sub­jected me to the juris­dic­tion of both Madi­son County and St. Clair County. That is either a bold-faced lie or an expres­sion of incom­pe­tence. Fur­ther­more, how would Judge Cruse have any infor­ma­tion regard­ing the Madi­son County charge when she is sit­ting in St. Clair County? The charge from Collinsville was a munic­i­pal charge and the set­ting was munic­i­pal court in Collinsville. Read on… →