Section 45-27-210.05

The circuit court hearing an appeal pursuant to this part shall use the procedures that apply to criminal convictions in municipal court with all of the following qualifications: (1) The proceedings shall retain their civil nature on appeal with the circuit court applying the preponderance of the evidence standard. (2) If the person is adjudicated by the circuit court to be responsible for payment of the civil fine, circuit court costs shall be owed by the person adjudicated responsible, with all of those court costs retained by the circuit court. Court costs in the circuit court shall be calculated and distributed in the same manner as court costs for criminal appeals from the municipal court, and in the event the circuit court finds the person appealing not to be responsible, no municipal court costs shall be owed to the municipality. (3) Regardless of the civil nature of the proceedings, the circuit court may assign case numbers in the same manner as for criminal appeals and place an appeal on the criminal docket in the same manner as criminal appeals from municipal court. (4) The circuit court shall sit as trier of both fact and law in the civil proceedings of the circuit court. (5) The municipality shall be responsible for providing an attorney to represent the municipality and to prosecute the civil proceedings in the circuit court.