My overall experience with the City of Tolleson Court House has been ridiculous.  On September 20, 2010 I received a citation for failure to stop at a red light.  I received my paper work in the mail and read through it thoroughly. On Friday October 22nd I called the court house to ask a few questions about my upcoming hearing on the following Wednesday. No one answered so I left a message which was returned on Monday. I asked the woman, I believe court clerk if I could still receive my free legal aid because I didn’t write into the court house asking for it. She responded “yes when you come into court Wednesday you can file paper work for that which will depend on your income and you will also plead guilty or not guilty”. I also asked if could speak to the prosecutor before my hearing to arrange a plea deal. She said “yes when you come in you will be given the prosecutor’s number so you can talk to him about your case”. So my understanding was that I was coming into court for an arraignment and to file paper work for my free legal aid. I didn’t bother to write down the polite woman’s name because I thought she gave me good information. I show up to court Wednesday the 27th to see the judge and the officer waiting for me. Judge Quezada starts the hearing; I immediately stop her and tell her what I have been informed. She responds “free legal aid is only given to criminal cases”. I was very confused because the information he court house sent me said nothing about that. I also told her I was expecting an arraignment today. She responded “you have known for a month now that this hearing was going to happen today”. I also said that the unnamed woman told me I was going to be able to talk to the prosecutor. She explained to me that civil traffic court doesn’t have a prosecutor. I told her I was extremely unprepared for the hearing but she decided to continue anyways. Officer Smith went first explaining his version of what had occurred then I followed. I asked the officer a few questions but like I said before I wasn’t prepared at all. I pleaded my case saying that I didn’t have enough time or distance to safely bring my vehicle to a stop before the light. I also explained that I went through the light clearly on yellow. The judge looked right at me and said “did you know it is illegal to go through yellow lights in the state of Arizona”? I was shocked and repeated her question to make sure I understood what she said. She acknowledged that she did say that and I responded no I did not. I was found responsible for my actions and had to pay the fines. Due to my citation being a red light violation I was also told I had to complete mandatory Traffic Survival School. I left the hearing furious and immediately contacted my brother who is my personal lawyer. We both talked and came to the conclusion that what the judge said couldn’t possibly be true. I later researched Arizona’s traffic signal law. Section 28-645 2a states absolutely nothing saying it is illegal to go through yellow lights. This law is very straight forward and doesn’t leave much of a gray area for interpretation. I believe judge Quezada convicted me of a law that doesn’t exist. Her actions resulted in my insurance rates going up for three years and having to pay hundreds for dollars in fines. This also affects my job because my driving record is a crucial part for keeping my employment. No one is perfect but we all should be held accountable for our conduct. I followed up the day after my hearing to find out who gave me false information on Monday the 25th. I talked to the court clerk supervisor Olivia Perez explaining exactly what had happened. She told me she has no record of the court house ever calling me on Monday. I told her I have phone records of that call being made to me from Verizon Wireless. She told me there is nothing she can do about it. I said I have evidence on someone under your supervision not doing their job. Since she was no help, I talked to her and the Judge’s supervisor Adrais Madrano. He was very disturbed by the conduct of is his employees and told me I should file a report with the Commission on Judicial Conduct and include what had happened with the court clerk. I filled a report and am waiting for their response. My friend introduced me to this site recently and said Freedom's Phoenix would definitly be interested in this.