A suit challenging the use of photo radar in Oregon has failed before the state’s Supreme Court.

Area resident Christine Dahl received a ticket after a Portland, OR, police officer using photo radar determined her car was exceeding the speed limit. The device took a photo of the car and driver.

According to papers filed by the Supreme Court, she contended that giving her the ticket, which was mailed to her, without gathering any other evidence amounted to a presumption of guilt, and therefore was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court disagreed, which means Dahl will have to pay the $85 fine.

“The primary question that this case presents is whether the state may rely on a statutory presumption to prove a traffic violation,” the court wrote in its opinion. “We hold, as did the trial court and the Court of Appeals, that it may do so and accordingly affirm the Court of Appeals decision and the trial court's judgment.”

The court ruled that the police and prosecutors did not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Dahl was guilty; instead, because the matter involved a traffic citation instead of a criminal violation, a lower standard was all the police had to meet.

Dahl did not try to prove she was not driving the car, but only that police had to prove that she was.