Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991 TAG: 9103260481
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A motorist coming into Virginia for the first time might not know fuzz busters are illegal here (though large signs on highways crossing Virginia's borders make the point). But what is William "Billy" Robinson Jr.'s excuse?
The state delegate, a Democrat from Norfolk, is a lawyer. He's a former commonwealth's attorney, and a former assistant attorney general. He's been a member of the House of Delegates since 1981.
Robinson was stopped last week for driving with a radar detector in his Mercedez Benz sedan bearing General Assembly license plates. He was given a ticket, which carries a $100 maximum fine, and is scheduled to appear in traffic court April 25.
Asked by the policeman if he knew radar detectors were illegal, Robinson said: Yes, he knew, "but it's one of those things."
It is apparently among the things Robinson does not think should be illegal. He's been involved in several unsuccessful legislative efforts to lift the ban on radar detectors.
Or did Robinson mean the ban is one of those things that should be applied to ordinary folks but not to important people like him?
The lawmaker reportedly told the policeman that he was "exempt from just about everything." Oh, really?
The state constitution protects legislators from arrest "in all cases except treason, felony, or breach of the peace" during legislative sessions. It also protects them from arrest "under civil process" for 15 days before and after sessions. The policeman, using a device to detect radar detectors, spotted Robinson's use of the illegal gadget 13 days before the start of the assembly's scheduled session.
The constitutional section giving assembly members immunity from arrest was designed to protect them from interference in their legislative duties. The extension of that protection to 15 days before and after sessions is a relic of horse-and-buggy days, when it might have taken a week or more for a legislator, say, from Lee County to make it to Richmond.
As Robinson no doubt knows, such a trip takes a lot less time now. There should be more haste to reduce this absurd immunity for legislators than to repeal the ban on radar detectors.
At any rate, one lawmaker has demonstrated utter disdain for the law and for the law-enforcement community. Robinson's arrogance is an affront to those who elected him and to the legislative body in which he serves. He may weasel out of having to pay the ticket, but he ought to have to pay for the affront.
by CNB