While Duck fans patiently wait for the final decision surrounding junior Oregon cornerback Cliff Harris‘ @@checked@@future on the team, in the meantime his family is looking to defend him against at least one of three citations he received last week on Oct. 24.
Harris was stopped because a Eugene Police Department officer initially noticed he was not wearing his seat belt while he was driving; the officer later discovered Harris was driving without proof of insurance as well as driving with a suspended license.
With Harris’ license suspension officially having started on Aug. 28, this citation comes exactly four days before it was over on Oct. 28. After these citations, Harris was suspended until further review, missing Saturday’s game against Washington State.
According to The Register-Guard, @@checked@@his father said the family produced proof of insurance for the car Harris was driving during his stop, and if his family is serious about fighting these charges, this evidence will need to be presented at an optional hearing next Monday, Nov. 7, instead of just paying a fine.
“Typically what will happen is if you get cited for not having insurance, but you actually have insurance, there is a lesser charge of failure to carry,” said Jenna McCulley, EPD spokesperson. “If you can’t prove it at the time, we don’t have a way to know that you actually have insurance.”
Jeff Perry,@@http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/24880232-41/downtown-court-eugene-municipal-perry.csp@@ a court administrator of the Eugene Municipal Court, @@checked@@discussed the specifics of what could happen if Harris decides to present the proof of insurance on Nov. 7.
“We won’t know what he intends to do until his court date,” Perry said. “But if he requests a trial and provides proof that he had insurance while he was driving the car, we will dismiss it.”
If such a request is made, there will be a review of this evidence, and that will determine the result. The major difference is that he had to have the insurance while he was driving, not insurance that was acquired since the incident. If he chooses to challenge either one of the other two violations, it will have to go to a trial by judge as well.
“Regarding the different violations he may end up with, that will be up to the courts,” said Shelley Snow, an Oregon Department of Transportation spokesperson.@@http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/nr11082301.shtml@@
McCulley clarified the one reason Harris might have been able to drive in California but would still be cited in Oregon.
“If you’ve received some type of traffic infraction in Oregon and you return to your home state, you might still have driving privileges in that state,” McCulley said. “However, no matter what, you will not have a valid license in Oregon until the suspension period is over.”@@true that@@
The Register-Guard reports Harris’ family is currently looking for legal council to help determine their best course of action.
“The harshest punishment at this time would be a second license suspension in Oregon,” McCulley said.
It eventually will be up to the DMV to review the case to determine whether or not his license will be suspended once again.
As for Harris’ position on the football team, the athletic department has yet to reach a decision since the suspension last Monday.
“There has been no change in his status on the team,” said Dave Williford, the executive assistant of media services for the athletic department.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Dave+Williford@@ “There is not a timetable of when we will have a decision.”