JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Putnam County couple says they shouldn't have to pay the ticket they received for running a red light in Jacksonville.
Joeann and Randy Mace got a ticket in the mail after a red-light camera showed their license plate on a car running the red light. They say neither one of them were behind the wheel, In fact, it wasn't even their car.
The couple went to traffic court Friday and decided against paying a fine to make it go away.
"No points and a cost of release of $200. How do you plead?" the judge asked.
"Not guilty," Randy Mace announced.
Instead, they decided to opt for a trial in traffic court. They plan to prove the car caught on camera was not theirs even though it has what appears to be their license plate.
"If you're guilty pay it. If you're not fight it were fighting this," Joeann Mace said.
The couple says they want to make sure what happened to them doesn't happen to anyone else.
"I thought it would be through and over with today, but they wouldn't let me say anything. I had all my evidence with me: pictures, tag, pictures of my car," Keith Mace said.
The Maces say they don't know how the mix up happened.
They own an orange Dodge Charger, and the car caught on the red light camera is light colored.
"I shouldn't be here, be the one here, so whoever was driving that car is the one that should be here," he said.
For the Mace's, trying to clear this up has meant months of taking trips from their home in Palatka to Jacksonville, and getting no answers from anyone at the courthouse.
Now, as they get ready for the next step, a trial, they hope it won't happen to anyone else.
"If this shall come up again with somebody else, I'm hoping they'll be somebody at the courthouse who won't just dismiss it. Or find the person who's done this," Joeann Mace said.
The Jacksonville Sheriffs office says they haven't heard of anything like this happening since they installed the red light cameras here in Jacksonville.