A Ticket On a Taurus Grows Into Much More

Before he was unjustly ticketed, Eberth's only formal legal training had been a three-hour Navy class on military law. Since then, he has spent hundreds of hours poring over law books, consulting lawyers and scouring the Internet.

"I didn't expect it to take six years," he said, "but I decided I was in it for the long haul."

What Eberth discovered early on was that his biggest challenge would not be getting the ticket dismissed; it would be to get himself convicted so he could appeal to a higher court.

Overturning Prince William's right to ticket uninspected vehicles was never Eberth's goal. His objection, rather, was that his Taurus had been cited while parked in a private lot -- equivalent, he thought, to ticketing a car in a residential driveway.

Through his research, Eberth learned that state law was written to give police access to private roads within developments containing 100 or more residential lots, such as a subdivision with at least 100 home sites. Prince William had enacted a law allowing tickets where there were 100 or more residential units, such as in an apartment building.

The result, Eberth thought, was that police were aggressively ticketing in apartment complexes where "people are least likely to have the resources or the will to get through the rigmarole I went through."

Eberth fought his first ticket from Prince William General District Court to Circuit Court, and then in a retrial. But a county prosecutor finally dismissed the case, saying, Eberth recalled, that he was doing so "out of gratitude" for Eberth's military service. Eberth found himself in the awkward position of objecting to his own acquittal. The judge overruled him; case dismissed.

But Eberth wouldn't quit. He had covered up the Taurus to avoid additional tickets, but after the first citation was dismissed, he removed the cover -- deliberately baiting parking-enforcement officers to cite him again.

He got another ticket Feb. 20, 2002, and, for his purposes, a new ticket to court. Once again, the judge dismissed the citation, Eberth said, out of sympathy for his situation.

"I'd blown a second opportunity," he said.

So Eberth went fishing a third time and was cited again Aug. 25, 2004. That time, he walked into court with a dismissal-proof plan. He plotted to make the case "a test of manhood." When Eberth arrived in Circuit Court, he got right in the prosecutor's face and dared him to proceed.

"I tend to spit a little when I'm animated, so I'm sure he got a full face, too," Eberth said. "I wanted to get him mad."