SAN DIEGO -- A judge denied a motion Wednesday to dismiss the prosecution of several tickets issued due to red-light cameras.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Styn ruled that the city was within its constitutional rights to install the cameras. However, he also ruled that the evidence provided by the cameras was "untrustworthy and unreliable."

The decision will no doubt have repercussions around the country, as a number of cities had been eyeing the case closely.

Lawyers Coleen Cusack and Arthur Tait had asked Styn to shut down the red-light camera program permanently and throw out all tickets already issued.

The two lawyers delivered a four-sided argument against the implementation of the cameras, saying that:

Intersections where cameras had been installed had been chosen on the basis of which ones would generate revenue, and not for proper police purposes.
Yellow light durations are too short at certain intersections, and lengthening the durations was a better way to reduce violations.
The flash from the camera causes a hazard.
The red light cameras infringe upon drivers' constitutional right of privacy because:
Lockheed-Martin, the cameras' operator and manufacturer, is given access to drivers' confidential records held by the Department of Motor Vehicles
A driver's constitutional right of privacy is violated when notice is sent to the registered owner, if the owner was not the person accused of running a red light.

In his decision, Styn addressed each of the issues, finding that none of them justified throwing out the tickets already issued, or preventing the cameras from operating again.

The city's 19 cameras had been shut off during the case.

To the question of camera placement, Styn ruled that the city was within its constitutional power to place the cameras where it did. He said that when police had chosen the intersections based on the number of violations that had been issued, they did so out of concern for public safety. Defense lawyers had argued that police had used the violations to determine where the cameras would earn the most profit.

To the issue of extending yellow light duration, Styn ruled that it was not the position of the court to make such a decision.

"It is not the role of the Court to determine whether there are other alternatives," he wrote. "And the existence of alternatives does not make the red-light camera system unconstitutional."

Styn ruled that neither side had either proved or disproved that the camera's flash could be bothersome.

"As there is no evidence of any accidents caused by the flash, the defendants have failed to show that there is an increased danger as a result of the flashes from the strobe lights," he wrote.

On the issues of privacy, Styn wrote that San Diego police and Lockheed-Martin had taken the proper steps to insure drivers' constitutional right to privacy, and that sending a photo of the registered owner, who may not necessarily be the driver, does not violate the driver's right of privacy.

"The Court is not aware of any expectation of privacy when one is driving a motor vehicle on a public street," he wrote.

Can Pictures Be Used As Evidence?

However, the two sides will be back in court to decide whether the pictures taken by the cameras can be used as evidence. The city has been ordered to explain "why all evidence obtained from the red light camera system should not be excluded from admission into evidence."

"The evidence obtained from the red light camera system as presently operated appears so untrustworthy and unreliable that it lacks foundation and should not be admitted," Styn wrote.

Styn pointed to the testimony of one officer who admitted that even if he was 95 percent sure that the person in a photo was not the owner of the car, because of an obvious gender difference, he would still issue a citation "on the theory that he was not 100 percent certain."

For example, if the officer was 95 percent sure that the driver in the photo was a man, but the owner was listed as Lucy Smith, the officer would still issue a citation because he was not 100 percent sure.

Styn also said that the system suffered from a "total lack of oversight," and that Lockheed Martin "should not have a financial interest in the outcome of the citation."

Lockheed Martin gets $70 per ticket and the city receives $73, with the rest going to various state funds and for police training.

Styn said he believed that the system "can be cured," but admitted that pending tickets may still be dismissed.

The city will try to explain its use of red light camera evidence Aug. 31.

A civil lawsuit filed by another law firm that seeks to halt the use of the red-light cameras and vacate all convictions remains pending in San Diego County Superior Court.

Since San Diego's red-light camera program began in August 1998, nearly 84,000 citations were sent out. At $271 each, they are among the most expensive camera-issued tickets anywhere in the country, said Kathleen Dezio, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin IMS.

Here is a list of red-light camera locations throughout the county, courtesy of PowayOnline.net:

City Of San Diego Camera Locations

College Area

College Avenue S/B to E/B Montezuma Road
El Cajon Boulevard W/B through 43rd Street

Downtown

A Street E/B to 163 Fwy (10 Street)
F Street W/B through 16th Street
Harbor Drive S/B to E/B Grape Street

Kearny Mesa

Aero Drive W/B to S/B Murphy Canyon Road

Mira Mesa/Miramar

Black Mountain Road S/B through Gemini Avenue
Black Mountain Road S/B to E/B Mira Mesa Boulevard
Mira Mesa Boulevard E/B through Scranton Road
Miramar Road W/B through Camino Ruiz

Mission Beach/Pacific Beach

Garnet Avenue W/B through Ingraham Street
Garnet Avenue E/B to N/B Mission Bay Drive
Mission Boulevard S/B through Garnet Avenue
Mission Bay Drive N/B to W/B Grand Avenue

Rancho Bernardo/Carmel Mountain

Bernardo Center Drive N/B to W/B Rancho Bernardo Road
Carmel Mountain Road E/B to N/B Rancho Carmel Drive

San Ysidro

Palm Avenue E/B through Beyer Way

South Bay

Harbor Drive W/B through 32nd Street

South San Diego

Imperial Avenue W/B through Euclid Avenue

University City

La Jolla Village Drive W/B to S/B Towne Centre Drive

Additional San Diego County Camera Locations

El Cajon

Broadway W/B through Mollison Avenue
Fletcher Parkway W/B to S/B Magnolia Avenue
Fletcher Parkway W/B to S/B Marshall Avenue
Fletcher Parkway N/B to W/B Navajo Road
Main Street W/B through Mollison Avenue
Washington Avenue W/B to S/B El Cajon Boulvevard

Poway

Camino Del Norte E/B through Pomerado Road
Poway Road W/B through Community Road
Poway Road E/B to N/B Pomerado Road
Scripps Poway Parkway E/B through Pomerado Road
Ted Williams Parkway E/B to N/B Pomerado Road